When revenues decline, and profits are non-existent, companies often believe that if they buy or merge with another company, the increased revenues will solve their profitability problems.  In my experience, however, these “solutions” often exacerbate the problems.

To be successful, all companies need the essentials:

• A capable leader
• A carefully conceived plan
• A system for ensuring accountability

When these pieces are missing, a joining of two financially and operationally troubled companies is destined to fail.

An example from one of my clients:

• Company A was in an FDA-regulated industry
• The industry was experiencing both intense pricing pressure and consolidation.
• Company A, with multiple manufacturing and distribution facilities, was not only losing money but was also experiencing both product contamination and delivery problems.
• Company A, which was bleeding cash, bought Company B, which was also bleeding cash.
• Neither company had any of the three essentials listed above.
• After the acquisition, the expected “economies of scale” did not materialize; costs for the combined entity actually increased as a percent of revenues.
• The already stressed delivery system was now even more stressed.
• Expected  revenues did not materialize because frustrated customers switched to other suppliers.
• Chaos ensued.

We were able to save the company, but it was a close call…..a very close call…..

Two wrongs don’t make a right, and two sick companies do not make a healthy one.

Recently, I sent an email to key business contacts letting them know my turnaround client needed a new CFO.  I received approximately 160 resumes.

The quality of the  emails most candidates sent was appalling.  Based upon what arrived in my inbox, here is my advice to those looking for work:

1. Read the job announcement. If you send a lengthy email in response to an ad that includes the word “turnaround”, you should  assume you will not be considered.  Turnaround experts are looking for people who can cut to the chase and won’t waste their time.
2. Use bullets not paragraphs. Time is money. Cash is king.  Make my life E-A-S-Y.  I am getting hundreds of emails a day.  Which emails do you think I am likely to read? Those with 5 lengthy paragraphs or those with 5 concise bullets?
3. Make sure that the file name of your resume includes your name. If your resume does not have your name in the file name, you are out-of-the-running with me because I have to take time–my time–to change the file name before I save it.  Please, make my life E-A-S-Y.
4. Don’t be a pest. If the job announcement says “send email to,” please don’t call.  If you do, it appears that you have no respect for my time.

Renee’s Rule™: Think before you respond. If you were in my shoes, what would you want to know?

• What has the applicant DONE?
• What is he/she LIKE?
  • Will he/she be able to work in a highly charged, fast-paced environment?
  • Will he/she be the kind of employee who anticipates what his/her supervisor needs?  who will make my life E-A-S-Y?

Renee’s Rule™: Make my life E-A-S-Y!

Over the years, I have had the pleasure of working with many wonderful CPA’s who truly put their clients’ interests ahead of their own.  They ask the key questions.  They know what they don’t know.

I have also, however, seen some CPA’s do some really appalling things; e.g.,

• Providing inappropriate advice  ( When I arrived at my very first client, the company was on credit hold or COD with all vendors, bleeding cash, and faced with a threatened shut-down by the IRS.  The CPA, blissfully unaware of the severity of the problems, was billing the customer for business planning assistance.)

• Being unwilling to recommend a change of CFO when that CFO was clearly unqualified  (I’ve seen this multiple times and don’t know whether this happened because the CPAs did not realize the failings of the CFOs or because the CPAs did not want to risk losing their clients.)

• Recommending consultants based on industry or turnaround “experience” rather than on RESULTS   (For the dangers related to this, please visit my post, THE EXPERIENCE FALLACY.)

• Giving false assurances  (Several years ago, I had as a  client a third-generation family-owned business.  The company had experienced increasing losses for three years straight.  The CPA had told the elderly majority shareholders, “Everything will be all right.”  When I arrived, however, the company was at Death’s Door.   The company survived, but it was  an extremely difficult situation.  We had to implement an out-of-court Chapter 11.)

• Preparing unrealistic financial projections because the CPA did not understand the business

It is really important that CPA’s–and other professional advisors–know what they don’t know.

Both national and regional bankers have told me recently that they expect a second wave of troubled companies…..For those companies that may be at risk, here are my key recommendations:

1. Renee’s Rule™: Don’t sell to customers who won’t pay.
2. Prepare worst-cast cash projections for each of the coming 6 months; if necessary, take action now to prevent a meltdown.
3. Solicit ideas from employees and advisors; implement those that will have the greatest impact in the shortest time.
4. Implement changes to company processes that will lower costs and improve customer service.
5. Renee’s Rule™:  If you think you may need help, you probably do.
6. Renee’s Rule™: The sooner, the better.

The “headline” of my post today is the headline of the June 9th post on the VC Task Force Blog.  The post features some of the high points of Kristin Jones’ recent interview of me.

If you are not familiar with VC Task Force, it is a Bay Area-based organization designed to assist all stakeholders in the venture community.  Take a peek–Lots of heavy hitters are involved.

When is it “safer” to hire a “big” professional firm rather than a smaller one?  This is a topic I’ll be exploring in several different posts.  For the moment, here is an instructional story. (The names and some details have been withheld to protect the guilty.)

Some time ago, a principal from PE (private equity) Firm A, with investments across the country, called me to take the place of the CFO they had hired because he was a consultant with a national (”big”) consulting firm.  Why was the PE firm replacing him?  When the portfolio company’s lender conducted its audit, guess what they found?  The “F” word: Fraud.  (I did not accept this engagement for a variety of reasons I’ll discuss in a later post.)

Several months later, PE Firm B interviewed me for a turnaround in an industry in which I had successfully turned around more than one company.  Did they hire me? No.  Why did they pick someone else?

• He’s from a national firm, so that’s “safer.”
• He has industry “experience.”
• We know him.

Here is what I know about this person:

• He IS a consultant with a national firm.
• He was involved with a company but definitely did not lead a successful turnaround in the “industry.”
• He was the person who was removed by PE Firm A because bank fraud occurred while he was CFO.  (Evidently, PE Firm B didn’t really “know” him.)

I also know that the company was not, in fact, successfully turned around.

Let me be clear:  There are some times that a bigger firm really IS safer; nonetheless, there are many lessons to be drawn from the above story.  Stay tuned for further posts.

In the meantime, remember these Renee’s Rules™:

• When hiring, RESULTS are more important than “experience.”

• Always check references.

• There is no substitute for common sense.
  

I have been shocked by the number of companies I’ve met recently that have been placed on COD or credit hold by their vendors but have not put any of their own, troubled customers on COD or credit hold.

Whether you are the CEO of a company, a law firm, or an accounting firm: Stop selling to customers who can’t or won’t be able to pay.  There is no way to overemphasize this point.  When a company is faced with declining revenues and profits, uncollectible accounts receivable make the situation worse and—in extreme cases—can be the tipping point that causes the company’s demise.

Today, it is absolutely not safe to assume that customers who have always paid on time will be able to pay on time—or, for that matter, at all, so review your credit policies and procedures and define carefully

1. Who can have credit?
2. Who can authorize credit, and what are the guidelines?
3. How does the company verify current credit worthiness of customers?
4. Who is responsible for monitoring timeliness of accounts receivable collections?
5. What are the company’s collections policies; e.g.,
   • What steps does the company take when payments are late?
   • At what point is a customer put on COD or credit hold?

I will provide additional information about sound credit policies in a future blog post.  In the meantime, another Renee’s Rule™ applies: “The sooner, the better.”

Recently, I visited a potential client.  The company was at Death’s Door.  Their bank had not required any financial statements from them since September 30, 2008.  Their bank had not suggested they get any outside assistance–even now.

Over and over again, I am seeing companies whose lenders have waited entirely too long to get timely financial statements from their customers and to take action to help the companies.  Given the economy today, 3-6 months is entirely too long to wait to see how a company is doing.

In the case of the company above, I declined the engagement because these people were going to commit bank fraud because they saw no other way out.

There are some companies that can be saved–even with declining sales–but they need help at the earliest possible moment.

It seems like every minute a new book with the “latest” business “secrets” hits the market.  In reality, however, running a business profitably and well boils down to taking care of the basics; i.e., having a well-conceived plan, having a capable leader, and implementing a carefully crafted management control system.  It is astounding to me that so many companies lack these basics—not just family-owned, but also publicly and private equity-owned (You know some of their names.)

Much of the information in this blog may sometimes sound like nothing more than common sense, but common sense and an attention to the basics are too often missing-in-action.

An example from my personal experience: In 2007, a private equity firm interviewed me for a turnaround project.  The company had been losing money for three years; there was no business plan; the president was clearly not qualified; and there was no effective management control system in place.  After I mentioned that the company needed these basics, the managing director said, “We know that.” (As in, “do you think we are idiots?”)  So…if they knew all of that, then where had they been, and what had they been doing for the past three years?  And these were people with MBA’s from prestigious institutions, who, presumably, have a fiduciary duty to their investors and definitely know better.

Find a way to step back from your business, to take a cold, hard look at where you are and what your real prospects are…Are you making money or losing money?

Approximately 20 years ago, I began compiling Renee’s Rules, which I will share from time to time on this blog.  (My son Jason created a great “talking” set of the original Renee’s Rules™.   If you would like a copy of the executable file, please contact me.)

Rule #1:  It never hurts to ask.

This true story illustrates the point:

Shortly after I began working as Interim CEO of a manufacturing company, it became apparent that the company was going to lose  its proverbial shirt on a large job.  The selling price was approximately half the direct cost of the job.  The company had not yet started the job.

We scheduled a meeting with the customer, explained the problem honestly, and told him that we could complete the job only if we doubled the price.

Instead of pulling the job, he agreed to the new price.

In these troubled times, cash-strapped companies simply cannot afford to sell below their direct costs.  They need to be better off–not worse off-on cash.  Period.

CEO’s of deeply distressed companies need to find a way either to reject cash-losing jobs or to increase the prices so that the company is better off on cash after the job than it was before.

It never hurts to ask.  For many companies, doing so may spell the difference between survival and liquidation.