INSIGHTS From Trenton Services

INSIGHTS

Trenton insights into the day to day process of making good business decisions.

Great reads in small bites.

Hate Interviewing? Try this…

Interviewing and selecting the right candidate can be nerve racking. However, if you use this approach, you will increase your odds of success. In my prior article, I talked about screening candidates. If you’ve screened well, you should know by now if the candidate is qualified. So next is interviewing with the goal to…

Spend Less Time Recruiting

Recruiting employees is time-consuming, but there are approaches you can take to reduce the work. One time-consuming step is screening candidates. Let me suggest three approaches to save time. Hire recruiters that screen candidates for you. Access cloud services that help screen for you. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can help you screen candidates. If you…

Hiring Prep

Begin by defining what you need in an employee. As we’ve learned, there are no perfect job descriptions. As soon as we hire someone the job responsibilities change. I suggest the 80% rule – define the 80% you know. A good job description will be multi-dimensional and include: List of responsibilities Relational skills needed (internal…

Hiring Regrets

When we make snap hiring decisions, we invite a host of problems: under-skilled workers, personality conflicts, poor work ethics and unhappy employees. To lessen these risks, I use a process that has greatly improved hiring practices for myself and my clients. Set-up an applicant grading system based on the position you want to fill. I…

Employee Turnover

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) studies show that the cost of employee turnover is estimated at 33% of that employee’s compensation. I’m sure your first reaction is that number seems high, so let me clarify. The study divides these expenses into two categories: hard (33%) and soft costs (67%). The hard costs come…

Running on Empty

Managing a business without a financial plan is like driving a car while running on empty. Running out of gas can be unfortunate, but running out of cash is a painful way for a business to fail. The best financial plan is a financial forecast. Forecasts are popular in Fortune 500 companies, but also easy…

Visionary

For most of us, being a Visionary means we create a Vision Statement that is our business plan overview. I usually suggest you set your Vision for three years. Ask yourself, what are the top two or three achievements you envision accomplishing in the next three years? Here is a link to a sample 1…

Mission Possible

As you develop or review your business’ Mission Statement, you should ask yourself: Why does the business exist? I’m not being glib; it is important to know. Often the answers are some form of the following: 1. It’s the only business I know. 2. I can make a lot of money. 3. It’s our family…

Keep It Simple

When I was with a Big 4 Consulting firm, one of the services we provided to clients was business planning. Our plans were normally dozens of pages chock full of charts, graphics, and illustrations. However, when we met with the client to check on their progress, we discovered our plans were sitting on the shelf…

Bulletproof Plan

Our team was asked to implement a healthcare electronic medical record (EMR) system in each of our physician practices across the country, but we ran into an issue. The company Chief Executive Officer had already dismissed two outside firms who had offered proposals to do the implementation, so my team was nervous. I assured them…

Planning to Fail?

I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. – Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower Early in my career, I was assigned a position to manage projects, which was a great experience for me. What I love about project management is that it mimics running a business. It includes sales, operations, marketing,…

Hire A-Listers

Don’t compromise quality for speed. When it comes to hiring, we often make compromises and thus decisions we regret. A stable workforce is always less expensive than high turnover. Patrick Lencioni says, “Engaged, enthusiastic, and loyal employees are pivotal drivers of growth and health in any organization.” As business leaders, we need to ask ourselves…

Technology Without the Headaches

Technology is a Hassle – Do you ever feel that way? Of course, we all have. Several times in my career I’ve had the opportunity to write about technology, including a favorite article titled “Get Out of IT”! So what did I mean? I suggested that most business owners didn’t go into their business to…

Innovation

When we think of innovation, new product development is what first comes to mind. But sometimes innovation can come through simple changes. I got a call from a business acquaintance whose profitability had begun to slip. As a result, their equipment and facilities became dated and began to fail. After my assessment, I made several…

High Rise Buildings - large and small business

Living Large – Small Business, Large Image

There is no shame in being a start-up or small business. Every large business was once small. But just because you are small, you don’t have to appear that way to your customers. Business owners often believe that projecting a large image is expensive, and fortunately that’s not true. Remember, your desire is to create…

Branding and Strategy

We all have a brand. What’s yours? The dictionary defines brand this way: “kind, grade, or make, as indicated by a stamp, trademark, or the like”. A brand is most often represented by a logo, but it is far more than a logo. Whether we like it or not, brands or logos evoke an emotional…

Books and Computer for Lifelong Learning

Do I Know Enough?

I was so proud when I joined Ernst & Young. On my first day, they handed me a box of cards giving me the title of Senior Consultant. I remember thinking, senior to what? I had graduated from college just a few years earlier and didn’t feel senior to anyone. Fortunately, working for this prestigious,…

Start-up Capital

The number one reason businesses fail is lack of sufficient capital to continue to grow and improve. Business leaders often plan financially for the obvious: inventory, staff, and rent. But their downfall is insufficient capital to cover a negative cash flow; this reserve is vital to keep afloat until your business is profitable. Sufficient funds…

What’s Next?

Are you at a crossroad in your career journey? Maybe you are considering changing jobs, purchasing a business, or even starting one. Now is a good time to examine your goals. Whatever your plans, consider your future and ask yourself these questions: • Will you still enjoy this choice in 20 years? • What are…

Self-Awareness

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. Albert Einstein Self-Awareness For all of us, life has its sentinel moments – those moments when something touches us so profoundly it changes our trajectory. For me, one of those events occurred when I was 15. It was a beautiful Spring Day, and…

Trenton Announces New Service

As a firm, we regularly poll our clients for their professional service needs. Their feedback has caused us to expand our scope to include branding, marketing & advertising, technology selection & deployment, talent acquisition, and learning & development. We are excited to announce that we have added accounting and bookkeeping services. This allows Trenton to…

The Extraordinary Business

As I write, it is early 2021 and I’ve just completed writing and editing my first book, The Extraordinary Business. It’s hard not to be proud because it is a lot of work to write and edit a book. I call it my Covid book because I began writing it in the early stages of the…

Financial Forecasting

Throughout my consulting career I’ve learned that business owners do not like budgets. They perceive that budgets tell them what they should not spend, and I can’t disagree. So instead I pivot the conversation to financial forecasting. What’s the difference? Forecasting focuses on the future; what we expect during a fiscal year for revenue and…

Crisis Management

Once this crisis has passed and business begins to ramp up again, history will show that some companies will have fared better than others at crisis management. Also, it begs the question, what did their leaders do differently? They took three simple actions: 1) Think 2) Plan 3) Improve. Therefore, take advantage of unplanned flexibility…

Client News

Implementing an integrated Commission system for a client

Serving as an interim COO for a local client

Starting a new ERP system implementation

Just completed a client
Team Building Session

Working with clients on Strategic Plans for 2020

Added a Marketing Client

Completed an Annual Customer Survey

Helping with Ownership Transition

Local client nominated for Kennesaw State Award.

Picked up a Lean Management Initiative

Partnered with a client to revise Accounting Practices

Company News

Brought on board a Consulting Director with a specialty in Executive Coaching

Launched a new executive assessment tool using Birkman

Welcomed a new Consulting Director

Converted to new HR and CRM systems

Rebranded Trenton

Launched new company website