In the past 20 years I have led and grown small teams of dedicated employees that served a market that began with $0 in revenues to generate over $150 million in annual revenues 5 years later. I have opened an overseas subsidiary and saw new orders triple and revenues double within the first 6 months.
I have seen that success, our success, tossed aside as egos and fiefdoms became more important than continuing to invest in creating a great workplace and inspired and loyal customers. I have quit that business where I had been supported in and created so much success for so many, including myself.
I have been CEO of a small company where we generated revenue growth of 80% while at the same time competitors drove prices down by over 70%. And I shifted our business model from competing on price to competing on quality. And we executed that transition and sustained and even grew our cash-flows...even after we were forced to reduce our prices by over 70% not to stay competitively priced, but just to stay in the conversation.
Succeeding in these different competitive settings educated and prepared me ( in ways I never dreamed) to help other companies grow, adapt, sustain, innovate, inspire, engage and occasionally close their doors. Despite the distance in time, the change in markets, the different economic periods, the vastly different technologies available...there were common elements found with each of these successes.
* Leadership
* Purpose
* Strategy, tactics
* Innovation
* Engaged, enthusiastic, even evangelical employees
* Customer evangelists
* Word-of-mouth
My consulting practice can help companies with each of these challenges. I focus on startups through companies with 20 employees.
You are not hiring just my expertise and knowledge gained from over 20 years experience. I also bring the expertise and solutions from other business experts who have shared their solutions, expertise, tips and resources as guests on my radio show and other CEOs whose lessons were shared and who I assisted while members of a CEO roundtable.
Most clients call me when they see problems with their employee engagement, or their customer relationships and/or they wonder, as do most businesses still, where does this social media thing fit in...or even begin.
But all the conversations end up focused on the very real topic of cash-flows. Cash-flows are the lifeblood of a business. Positive cash-flows keep your company vibrant and growing. Your environment can remain exciting when any vision of possibilities can be kept alive with the cash-flows needed to bring those ideas to life.
Cash is king. And positive cash-flows make you master of destiny.
So, you should expect our conversations about your challenges and obstacles, solutions and their execution, to end up with a clear discussion of their impact on your cash-flows and your cash balances. If not, ask. If their impact on your cash-flows is not made clear...ask me to make them clear.
I will listen to your needs and desires and goals. But we both tend to be restless for action and results. From there, I will develop a plan to assess your business and will make recommendations supported by detailed tactics.
You pay; I work. I work on an hourly, project or retainer basis. I generate results and you pay for more. Or we say enough is enough.
I know how to identify root causes quickly and make recommendations that you can actually implement. That is a skill I learned in the challenging environments of startups, rapid change in markets and products and services, rapid growth, limited resources and demanding expectations. I have always experienced that every business challenge can be overcome with clarity, data, logic and engagement. And our willingness to change.
Contact and follow:
- Email: zane.safrit at gmail dot com.
- Phone: 641-919-0964
- Twitter: ZaneSafrit
- Facebook, personal: Zane Safrit
- Facebook, Radio Show Fan Page: Zane Safrit Radio
