Practice and Value-Adds

Many privately-owned businesses need help – more fail than succeed! Whether new or established, large or small, they decline/fail when they don't anticipate change, and develop effective responses to the challenges at hand. Too often business managers don't establish the internal data/analysis/reporting processes to enable accurate visibility to business performance in the weeks and months ahead. Eventually the business begins to run out of time, capacity, and money. Many owners and managers have to wear several management 'hats' and the problems and opportunities they face can easily overrun available skills and experience. Adding permanent staff in time to address these needs is a difficult, lengthy, risky, and expensive proposition.

Frequently, value-added governance and strategic/tactical planning is a particular challenge, and few businesses are successful in developing this key function. Skilled, independent, and objective peer-to-peer counsel is an obvious solution, but formal (legal) Board participation has become high risk in the Sarbanes-Oxley era, D&O insurance costs are rising and for many, coverage may be severely conditional or may not be available due to specific circumstances. Sippel Glidden offers it's clients a substantial menu of practiced, professional skills that directly improve business performance across the full range of function necessary for growth and success – from strategy to execution. Our engagement approach is appropriate, flexible, low risk, and affordable.

Lessons from Our Practice Experience

Investing in broad-form business advisory services is challenging for smaller businesses, even when outside advice and support is badly needed. Often, too much time is spent trying to manage/match cumulative hourly rates (billings) with budget or cash flow realities, rather than solving problems, and seizing valuable opportunities – moving clients forward!

This situation typically results in somewhat unfortunate behaviors where clients aren’t getting advisory talent when they really need it, and the contractor ‘over-serves’ the client with extra documentation that largely exists to support/justify increments of billable time. We believe there is a better, and more straightforward way to work together – one based on active, honest communication and continuous performance. A way that aligns priorities with progress in a team approach!

We seamlessly and cost-effectively integrate the client’s access to our talent for strategic advice and planning, with our capacities to assist in tactical implementation. It insures that progress is faster, better, and continuous, by reducing the granularity of tasks or assignments and by encouraging frequent phone, email, and personal interaction.

Clients are best served by a TEAM-like relationship that eliminates many of the gaps of timing and/or talent that often create disconnects between strategic planning, and the execution of useful management or marketing decisions and initiatives – resulting in compromised solutions and/or benefits.

The result for our clients will be more and better service, at less cost, delivered responsively enough to drive higher Client revenues and end-user satisfaction, with the benefits of:

  1. Full, easy access to the breadth and synergy of our talents
  2. Lower effective hourly rates with higher productivity
  3. Predictable investment sized to fit budget/cash-flow
  4. Flexibility to scale/adjust to the urgency of problems/needs