YES! Emphatically yes. Process documentation is not only crucial to long-term survival and growth in your business but also maximizes your business value. Today, we chat with two experts in this field, Charlene Aldridge and Todd Hunter from Aldridge, Kerr and Associates, Inc. They give us compelling reasons why it is so vital that business owners take this seriously. They spell out the risks involved if you don't document your processes, how you can get started, and share their experiences of how their clients and companies have benefitted from documenting their business processes.
Aldridge, Kerr and Associates, Inc. is a consulting practice that for over 20 years has helped and continues to help companies build and sustain operational efficiencies with efficient and effective processes. Aldridge, Kerr focuses on helping our clients understand the risks that get in the way of operational effectiveness and define what is needed to mitigate those risks for longterm success. Unlike many consulting firms, we roll up our sleeves and provide our clients with a roadmap to create sustainability and to optimize their growth. More information available at aldridgekerr.com
Charlene Aldridge is the founder and President of Aldridge, Kerr, and Associates. She has vast experience and extensive knowledge at all levels of various industries in operational excellence and efficiencies with over 18 years in the corporate world. When she's not helping companies sustain and grow by building an operational foundation through efficient, effective processes, she is involved in her community and church through volunteering, serving on boards, and providing pro-bono services. She also enjoys reading, travel, walking, cooking, and the arts. Reach out to Charlene: charlenealdridge@aldridgekerr.com.
Todd Hunter is a Senior Consultant with Aldridge, Kerr and Associates. After spending many years in various corporate industries from financial banking to national security, Todd originally was a client of Aldridge, Kerr and Associates before he became one of their associates. He is passionate about helping companies benefit from what he has learned throughout his tenured career. Contact Todd at toddhunter@aldridgekerr.com.
Tom Bronson is the
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Episode Transcript
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Announcer (00:05):
Welcome to the maximize business value podcast.
This podcast is brought to youby Mastery Partners, where our
mission is to equip businessowners to maximize business
value so they can transitiontheir business on their terms.
Our mission was born from thelessons we've learned from over
a hundred business transactions,which fuels our desire to share
our experiences and wisdom.
(00:26):
So you can succeed.
Now, here's your host CEO ofMastery Partners, Tom Bronson.
[inaudible].
Tom Bronson (00:37):
This is Tom Bronson and welcome to maximize business
value.
A podcast for business leaderswho are passionate about
building long- term sustainablevalue in their businesses.
In this episode, I'd like towelcome our guests, Charlene
Aldridge and Todd Hunter.
Charlene is president and Toddis a senior consultant of
(01:00):
Aldridge, Kerr and Associates, aconsulting practice that helps
companies build and sustainoperational efficiencies with
efficient and effectiveprocesses.
If you've read my book"maximizebusiness value" or listened to
this podcast, you already knowthat I am a huge fan of
(01:20):
documenting your processes,having and following efficient
and effective processes really,and genuinely drives long- term
sustainable value in businesses.
I've known Charlene for manyyears through the servant
leadership organization,business navigators, and I've
had the opportunity to meet Toddearlier this year, turns out
(01:44):
we're both avid snow skiers.
So not only that, I'm a big fanof the work that they are doing
at Aldridge Kerr.
So welcome to maximize businessvalue.
Charlene and Todd.
Charlene, tell us a little bitabout Aldridge Kerr.
Charlene Aldridge (01:51):
Thanks Tom.
By the way, we appreciate thisopportunity to share with you a
little bit about what we do.
And I think you've done a greatjob of summarizing who we are
for over 20 years.
Aldridge Kerr has focused onhelping our clients understand
(02:15):
the risks that get in the way ofoperational effectiveness and
define what is needed tomitigate those risks for
longterm success.
Unlike many consulting firms, weroll up our sleeves and provide
our clients with a roadmap tocreate sustainability, to
optimize their growth.
Tom Bronson (02:35):
Awesome.
Awesome.
That's a pretty succinct, uh,Todd, what's your background and
how did you come to AldrichKerr?
Todd Hunter (02:43):
Yeah, thanks Tom.
Uh, so I started my career andspent many years of it in
various industries, corporateindustries, financial banking,
uh, national security, uh, andin almost all situations found
exactly the problems thatAldridge Kerr deals with and had
(03:04):
Aldridge Kerr come in andcorrect those problems and help
us move to a different state.
And so about three years ago,uh, I had the opportunity to
what I call kind of jump to theother side of the tracks and
take all of my industryexperience and, and provide that
same benefit back to the clientbase.
(03:24):
Uh, so I joined Aldridge Kerrabout three years ago.
Tom Bronson (03:27):
Oh, awesome.
So you are a client before youbecame an associate.
That's awesome.
Todd Hunter (03:34):
So you can lead a horse to water.
Tom Bronson (03:40):
you're like Victor Kayam, you know, he's not only a
president, he's a client orsomething like that.
Yeah, exactly.
So, uh, we're talking about, ofcourse, about documenting
processes.
Uh, tell our audience what youmean by process documentation.
Charlene Aldridge (04:01):
Tom process documentation quite simply is
outlining the steps necessary tocomplete a specific task or
process.
Todd Hunter (04:11):
Well, and I would add to that.
I mean, it's not just simplydocumenting the existing process
steps, but they also have theopportunity to do what we call
ultimately documenting orlooking at their desired state.
And that is where they start tosee some greater process
improvement, efficiencies, etcetera.
Tom Bronson (04:35):
So as you already know, I love documenting
processes.
I just, I think it adds so muchvalue to businesses.
I'll tell a story about thatlater, but why do you think that
documenting a company'sprocesses is so important?
Charlene Aldridge (04:55):
We could give you a really long list, but we
want it.
We have several though.
I have several, and I bet you,Todd will jump in with a few as
well.
I'm going to share four withyou, u m, creating consistent
repeatable p rocesses.
This is actually a bigger dealthan companies believe or
(05:15):
realize.
Ironically, the number one issuethat w e see when we work with
our clients is lack ofconsistency.
And this lack of consistency cancreate confusion, increases
probability of mistakes andmakes it harder to train new
employees.
Secondly, it minimizes knowledgegaps.
(05:39):
We like to refer to it goingfrom tribal knowledge within an
organization to institutionalknowledge, three gaining insight
into what is working well andwhat isn't, you would be amazed
that we h ave every processdocumentation project we have
done.
And we've been in business forover 20 years.
(06:01):
Every single time.
I t has unearthed something thatsurprised company management.
So companies find out whatchallenges they have and
opportunities simply by lookingat their processes, fourthly, we
comply a nd w e, it helpscompanies comply with regulatory
and compliance requirements.
(06:21):
Believe it or not, Tom, almostall industries have some kind of
requirements around documentingtheir processes.
For example, there is acompliance requirement that even
small firms must document theirprocesses if they want to do
business with certainindustries.
So in reality, very fewcompanies are exempt.
(06:43):
If a company wants to sustainitself long term.
Todd Hunter (06:49):
You know, I would add to that Charlene.
Um, there are important factorsthat by doing this, it really
assists new employees as theylearn about the organization.
Uh, it's a great training andreference tool currently in our,
in our current kind of remotework environment, documented
processes, give new employeescoming into a company, great
(07:10):
access to information in aremote setting.
Uh, I would also say that ithelps define expectations on how
a task should be performedwithin the company, certainly
helps clarify process so that itcan better utilize with a new
system, a new strategy, the newline of business within the
company.
And it also helps position acompany for business
(07:32):
interruption, which as we knowis so relevant today, it also
helps with rapid growth andexpansion or being able to
position the company to be soldthe knowledge of a process and
the ability to improve.
It also means money reducingcycle times, better use of staff
(07:53):
time.
Why is Mary performing thisprocess?
And she costs twice as much asanother employee.
This all leads to savings forthe companies.
Tom Bronson (08:03):
So you both brought up a couple of really good
points there that I, that I wantto, um, tag onto just a little
bit.
Number one, I hear from a lot of, uh, uh, business owners, CEOs
that it takes months and monthsto get people on speed when they
come to work for their business.
(08:24):
And I argue that if you havewell-documented processes that
it just makes the training gofaster and that you can get
people up to speed faster.
Do you agree with it?
Charlene Aldridge (08:36):
Absolutely.
In fact, we use a documentationmethodology that was invented by
a Harvard professor who believedthat documentation should have
one set of documents should havevarious rules, so they can be
used for training.
They can be used for reference,they can be used for audit
purposes.
So that's, I think what's sovaluable about the approach we
(08:58):
take, but for documentingprocesses and it can be so
valuable across various purposesand it, it, because we're able
to standardize and make moreconsistent how they do, um,
document what they do, then thattraining gets easier.
Tom Bronson (09:16):
Oh, so much easier.
I mean, it's, if you can givesomebody an outline of here's
how you do your job, I mean,just help them get up to speed
so much faster.
The other thing you mentioned,go ahead, Todd.
Todd Hunter (09:27):
I was just g oing t o add to that, that, y ou k now,
it's almost Always when we're intalking to people and we'll say,
why do you do that?
They say, because that's how Iwas trained to do it.
Then it could be a step thatdoesn't even exist and hasn't
existed in the company for 10years, but somebody learned it
one way and trained it that wayto everybody else that came in
(09:49):
the company.
Tom Bronson (09:51):
There's a great story that Gino Wickman, uh, uh,
describes that in his booktraction, uh, which she,
everybody knows I'm a huge fanof traction as well and the
entrepreneurial operatingsystem.
But he mentions that, um, hiswife was preparing Thanksgiving
dinner and she was getting readyto cook the ham.
She cuts the back of the ham off, uh, and then puts it in the
(10:12):
pot.
And he says, well, why do you dothat?
And she said, well, that's why,that's the way my mother, it
turned out that her mom wasthere.
And so she said, why do you cutthe back of the ham off?
And before you cook it and shesays, that's the way my mother
did it.
Well, it just so happened as thestory progresses that grandma
was even coming for dinner thatyear.
And she said, and he said, so Ihave to know why, why do you cut
(10:33):
the back of the ham off beforeyou cook it?
She said, because when, uh, whenwe first got married, my pot was
too small and I had to cut offthe back in order to be able to
cook it.
That's how many, that's, howpeople sometimes define their
processes.
Charlene Aldridge (10:47):
Absolutely.
Tom Bronson (10:50):
Another thing that you mentioned, uh, Charlene is
that, uh, even small companies,um, can benefit from documenting
processes or more importantly,maybe required to document
processes.
Isn't that a great example ofthat is if you're in a business
that, uh, takes a credit cardfor payment, uh, in order to, to
(11:12):
maintain your, uh, PCIcertification, that you can
accept credit cards, you have tohave a documented process.
Charlene Aldridge (11:20):
Absolutely.
Tom Bronson (11:22):
It's something that is so important that, that, I
mean, you think about itretailers, restaurant tours, but
what business doesn't takecredit cards anymore.
We're almost a cashless society.
You've got it.
And you're required to havethat.
So a docu documenting processesis not just for the big
companies.
(11:43):
I want to be sure we, we gotthat out.
So tell me, uh, what is, or aresome of the value added outcomes
for documented documenting aprocesses?
Charlene Aldridge (11:54):
Well, Tom, we actually, when we were talking
about, in your last question tous, we actually listed quite a
few of the reasons why there'ssome real value.
In addition, we have this longstanding client that many years
ago made a comment to me thatI've just remembered so well.
And he said, the process ofevaluating a process is as
(12:18):
valuable, if not more valuablethan the end product of having a
documented process, looking at aprocess,
Tom Bronson (12:26):
say that five times fast.
Charlene Aldridge (12:28):
I know, but the whole point is taking the
time to look at what you do,reaps the benefit, even before
you write it down, right?
Every time a company takes atime to look at that process,
there are huge benefits andsometimes surprises, which we've
all almost always identify.
And that in evidently willimpact positive results.
Todd Hunter (12:52):
I, a couple other value added examples around
creating consistency, how thecompany does business, how it
standardizes and createsconsistency in terminology.
We completed a project for aclient earlier this year, and
not only did we address realprocess issues, but once we got
(13:13):
staff talking from variousfunctional areas of the company,
they quickly realized they allcalled the same thing, something
different.
And so a real value add was thatwe helped them create a
corporate glossary, which helpsthem to aggregate all of the
things they used to callsomething and also really agree
(13:35):
on what they want to call itgoing forward.
And that's just really valuable,uh, across the company to bring
those different terms and to, tosettle on a, uh, a single
definition.
Um, one other huge value is itallows those processes that are
most critical to accompanysuccess, to be evaluated and
(13:56):
optimized.
A company can have hundreds andhundreds and hundreds of
processes, but the mostcriticals, what we try to get
people to focus on focus onfirst, and that really results
in consistent, efficient andeffective processes.
They become repeatable andposition as a company very well
from whatever's going to comenext for that company.
(14:20):
Tom,
Charlene Aldridge (14:20):
I just want to take a moment and interject a
comment about efficiency andeffectiveness.
People talk about that all thetime.
We want to be really efficient.
We want to be really effective.
What we have found thatcompanies often are really
efficient at the wrong stuffthat makes them ineffective.
(14:41):
And so getting a company tobecome efficient and effective,
both is really valuable.
We have a business associate whoalways makes the comment that
being efficient is getting upthe ladder really fast, being
effective is making sure theladder is leaning up against the
right wall.
So, so efficiency andeffectiveness are not the same
(15:03):
thing.
And we try to get people tounderstand that they need to do
both of those.
Tom Bronson (15:07):
No, I, I agree completely.
Are there, are there risks ifyou don't document your
processes?
Charlene Aldridge (15:17):
Well, let me share.
And Tom, I know I've shared thisstory with you in the past, um,
personal experience in 1998, myfather passed away when I was
visiting the family in Ohio andat Christmas time, totally
unexpected.
And obviously my energy andinterest was helping the family
(15:38):
and myself deal with that loss.
I was very, you know, busyhelping plan the funeral and
deciding what to do with mydad's house, et cetera.
Fortunately, we had documentedall our processes and I was able
to easily reassign my staff totake on tasks.
They normally didn't do becausethey had documented processes.
(15:58):
I've thought over the years howmy company probably would not
have survived during that time.
If it hadn't been for the factthat we had well-documented
processes so that other peopleon the team could step up and
take over areas that theynormally didn't do.
Tom Bronson (16:15):
That's huge.
It sounds like you actuallypractice what you're preaching.
and that's
Charlene Aldridge (16:18):
We drink the kool-aid, Tom.
Tom Bronson (16:23):
What risks do you think of not documenting process
?
Todd Hunter (16:27):
Well, I mean, obviously a very current
scenario being prepared forunknowns, right?
This pandemic we're in is agreat example of how much better
companies that have reallydefined and documented processes
have done through this time thanthose that have had to scramble.
And suddenly staff are workingremotely.
(16:47):
I mean, I've heard and readdigital transformations that
should have been planned andprocesses associated with that
over years that we've beentalking about it have had to
been done in a week or overnightor whatever.
And so, you know, by having theprocess in place, people can go
into that mode and respondquickly and knowing, you know,
(17:11):
what impact that's called, thebeauty of knowing your processes
are also a linkage to so muchit's understanding roles and
responsibilities, betterunderstanding what other people
in your organization do daily.
I mean, the list is endless ofthat benefit.
Tom Bronson (17:31):
Uh, you know, I think of, of the risk of losing
a key person who has all of thattribal knowledge, uh, that's not
documented.
And, and now what do you do?
It leaves you an lurch if youdon't have these things
documented.
But that, that also isParticularly for small
businesses, the business owner,I'm a big fan of business owner,
(17:53):
documenting all, everything thatthey do so that if something
happens to them, somebody elsecan pick up the pieces and take
it forward because many smallbusinesses are very dependent on
the business owner.
So, so I encourage them.
So when you think about the riskof, if one of your key people
left to take that tribalknowledge with them, what
(18:15):
happens if you are gone, whathappens to the business?
Do you, do you leave that thento your family to deal with or
to your employees to deal with.
It's way better.
If you can document that, evenif you don't want to share them
with somebody yet, you've got adocument that they can get to
when they need to.
So, so what are some commonmistakes that companies make
(18:36):
related to documenting theirprocesses?
Charlene Aldridge (18:40):
One mistake that we regularly see is that
the person who performs theprocess attempts to document it.
Now, I'll be honest with you,Tom.
I have spent my wholeprofessional career, both in
corporate America, and now withmy own firm documenting
processes, I started out as amethods analyst and moved up the
(19:00):
ranks.
In fact, I'm certified inmultiple methodologies around
documentation, but if you askedme to document one of the
processes I perform, I know I'velearned painfully that I'm going
to miss steps.
I don't communicate it clearlybecause I'm just too close to
it.
That's why we always recommendour clients that someone other
(19:23):
than the person who performs theprocess document it.
Either hiring a firm like Aldridge, Kerr support that
effort, or having someone elsein the company who's far removed
from that process to document itfor them.
Also documenting processes oftenget put on a back burner because
other priorities take precedent.
We believe until leadersunderstand the value of process
(19:46):
documentation.
It's always going to besomething they put aside.
Tom Bronson (19:52):
I agree.
I agree, Todd.
Todd Hunter (19:54):
Yeah.
A couple other mistakes we seeare once processes are
documented, they're not testedto make sure it's concise and
correct.
We typically recommend someonewho's far removed from the
process, review it for clarityconciseness.
One goal of documenting theprocesses in the first place is
(20:16):
can it be used for training andreference?
So what good is documenting, ifyou aren't sure it's clear and
concise and that anybody in theorganization can understand and
perform that process, um alsothinking documenting processing
is done and done as, as we referto it.
So evaluating your processesshould be an intricate part of
(20:38):
supporting the ongoing successof the organization.
We encourage clients to reviewtheir existing documentation at
a minimum every three to fouryears, if not more often, And
make sure it's still relevant.
And that the process has beenperformed and documented as
documented.
And if not, then they can takeaction to correct it.
Tom Bronson (20:59):
And I think a super easy way to do that, that I
advise our clients is that onceyour processes are documented
and if you're using them as atraining document to teach new
people, if you, if they're, ifyou pair up a new hire with,
with say a pro, that's alreadydoing the work and you together
follow the process and the progoes, Oh, wait a minute.
(21:22):
We don't do that anymore.
You start making those notes sothat you can update the
processes right there.
It's not a it's, it's a living,breathing document.
It's something that needs to beused, uh, on a, on a regular
basis.
And Charlene, you brought upanother point, um, you know, uh,
it's hard to document your ownstuff because you can see things
(21:45):
that other people are.
You don't see things, you missthings that other people won't
miss.
You know, same thing, you know,as I'm writing my books or
writing articles, I need aproofreader because I know what
I wrote and my mind fills in thegaps.
Even if something's missing andsame thing with processes, your
(22:07):
brain, you already know what todo and your brain is filling in
the steps.
So it's important to getsomebody else to look over your
shoulder.
Um, before you, before we take abreak, uh, I, I did want to ask
another quick question.
Cause Todd, you mentioned a fewminutes ago that, you know, you
might have hundreds of processes, uh, in your business.
(22:30):
Now most of the listeners ofthis podcast are small business
owners.
Uh, and all businesses probablyhave hundreds of processes,
whether you realize it or not.
Uh, and, and certainly most ofthem are, are typically not
documented.
Do you have to document all ofyour processes?
Charlene Aldridge (22:50):
You're making us smile.
No, we, we,
Todd Hunter (22:54):
I actually going to laugh.
Charlene Aldridge (22:56):
We don't think you should have to
document all your processes.
We do think you should documentat minimum what we call our
critical processes.
Tom Bronson (23:07):
What's a critical process.
And how do you know what's acritical process?
Charlene Aldridge (23:11):
Well, first you have to define what critical
means, right?
You have to decide for eachorganization is going to have
something different on how theydefine critical.
It could be the criticalprocesses could be the ones that
aren't working well.
The critical processes could bethe ones that are done more.
Most frequently.
The critical process is going tobe the ones that are done least
frequently.
(23:31):
We help a company define what iscritical, and then they
establish what processes arecritical based on that
definition.
So to put things in context,every organization, even if it's
a one or two man shop havedifferent functional areas, they
have an accounting, finance, andmarketing.
(23:54):
They have sales, operations, etcetera, et cetera.
Each of those functionalfunctional units have at least
on average, 12 to 18 processesand of those 12 to 18 processes.
Typically based on what we'velearned, there are between five
(24:14):
to six to seven of thoseprocesses that are critical,
some cases only three.
So for example, in accounting,accounts payable and accounts
receivable are typically almostalways critical processes
regardless of how you definecritical, right?
But are there other tasks youperform in accounting?
(24:34):
Probably not, are not ascritical.
Todd Hunter (24:38):
You know, I would add to what Charlene and I see,
we love doing these sessionsbecause the dynamics are just so
incredible.
But, but one of the things thatwe see a lot is that the various
functional areas will show up inthe room and every single one of
them believes there's are mostcritical.
And it's not until we have thisconversation amongst functional
(25:01):
units, accounting, marketing,sales, et cetera, that they come
to some agreement that, Oh mygosh, the sales ones are most
critical first.
And we needed to look at thosebefore we're looking at the
accounting side.
Tom Bronson (25:15):
Todd, stop it.
There is look, you know, I'vebeen in business for 35 years.
I have never had a financeperson telling me that a sales
process is more critical.
Oh, I get it.
I totally get it.
So what you're saying is weshouldn't be in our silos.
(25:37):
We should actually talk aboutthings.
Charlene Aldridge (25:38):
novel idea,
Todd Hunter (25:41):
You can't just point the finger.
Tom Bronson (25:43):
Hey, so we're talking with Charlene Aldridge
And Todd Hunter.
Let's take a quick break.
We'll be back in thirty seconds.
Announcer (25:46):
mastery partners, equips business owners to
maximize business value so theycan transition on their own
terms.
Using our four step process.
We start with a snapshot ofwhere your business is today.
Then we help you understandwhere you want to be and design
(26:07):
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You execute that strategy withthe help of our amazing resource
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And ultimately we help youtransition your business on your
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What are you waiting for moretime, more revenue, if you want
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(26:28):
Now is the time get startedtoday by checking us out mastery
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learn more.
Tom Bronson (26:42):
we're back, Charlene Aldridge, Todd Hunter
of Aldridge, Kerr andassociates, and we're talking
about documenting processes.
So I thought it would be fun toshare a story with you about a
company that we worked withabout why documenting processes
is so important.
(27:02):
This company happened to be inan industry that was trading at
about six times earnings, uh,when they went to go sell their
business.
But the big difference aboutthis company and other companies
in their business was that theyhad rock solid, uh, performance
(27:22):
metrics and rock solid processesthat were well-documented and
followed by everybody in theorganization.
In fact, it was their processeswere so well-documented and so
well followed that they becamesort of a rock star of their
industry.
Well, when it came time for theowner to retire and sell that
(27:46):
business, he started lookingaround at what his options were.
And it turned out that there wasan enormous company in their
space that really took aninterest to them.
And as we were talking about thecompany and why this big company
would be interested in this verysmall company, it all boiled
(28:07):
down to you have great processesand we want to implement them in
our business.
So at the end of the day, thetail of the tape on this is the
processes is what attracted thebuyer to this seller.
Number one, and number two, inthat industry, they were trading
at six times on average, all thetransactions in that industry,
(28:32):
this seller got 22 timesearnings.
Why, because that's what theyreally wanted.
The buyer realized that if theypay that premium for this
business, they were going to beable to take their business to a
higher level.
And so that's why it is soimportant.
(28:53):
That's one example, but that'swhy it is so important to
document those processes.
So, uh, with that in mind, tellus how documenting your
processes can move a companyforward.
Even during challenging timeslike we are while this is being
recorded.
Charlene Aldridge (29:12):
We keep hearing Tom from more and more
companies that they willprobably not return to their
offices for the foreseeablefuture.
In fact, we've even heard fromsome companies that have told
their employees that they're,they need to plan to work from
home for the next several years.
(29:33):
With that in mind, And you thinkabout a company longer term in
the example you gave, it's agreat example of the fact that
understanding what you do is socritical, no pun intended, and
as they hire more employees,cause if it's a strong company
growing, they're going topotentially need more employees,
(29:55):
how best to have them train themsustainable established
processes that can be used sowell for training.
And by the way, in thisenvironment, this also impacts
the need for creating apaperless environment for
building folder managementmethodologies and creating
(30:17):
version control.
But we're not talking about thattoday.
Tom Bronson (30:24):
Right.
Todd Hunter (30:25):
Well, and I would also add that the word we are
using a lot recently is aroundresiliency.
Um, and I think that in orderfor companies to survive during
these times, they need to makesure that their resiliency level
is really high, that they haveall of the tools they can muster
(30:47):
to ensure their position forwhatever comes next and whatever
comes next could be tomorrow orthe next week.
I mean, originally we kind ofgot into this and thought it was
going to be over April 10th.
Right.
Um, so having a robust,relevant, documented process, uh
, set or process set ofprocesses is certainly one of
the strong tools for thecorporate toolkit.
Tom Bronson (31:11):
So ironically, one of the things that, u h, that I
talked with our clients about,of course, in addition to all
the other processes that we asked them to document to me, one
of the most important processesthat you can document is your
disaster recovery plan, u m,
Charlene Aldridge (31:27):
and business continuity,
Tom Bronson (31:29):
business continuity.
Exactly.
And, and, um, our clients thathad already documented their
disaster recovery or businesscontinuity strategy, we're so
much more prepared for, uh, theadvent of this pandemic, uh,
than the ones who hadn't.
But I said, look, here's theadvantage to, to those of you
(31:50):
who haven't, you've now livedit.
And while it's fresh in yourmind document, what happened
document, how are you recoveredso that you at least now have a
basis for, uh, for creating adisaster recovery plan?
Uh, well, when you're back towork.
And so, uh, so it's in a way forat least the businesses, it
(32:14):
could recover very quickly, uh,gave them, uh, kind of an easy
way to be able to do that whileit's fresh in their mind, right.
Can you give us two or threetips on how to get started?
Charlene Aldridge (32:29):
We talked about this a few minutes ago,
trauma, where we recommend theclients first figure out which
processes are most critical.
That's so valuable.
And as Todd said a little whileago, it's so fun to get the
right people in the room and getthem talking about which
processes are critical becausegetting consensus on what's
(32:50):
critical is as valuable ashaving that list, right?
Getting the CFO to see the valueof what the sales folks think,
et cetera, et cetera.
Like we just talked about a fewminutes ago.
So understanding what processesare most critical we think is,
is a good way to get started andcreate and or establish a
consistent format for how yourdocuments are going to look.
(33:14):
We call that a template so thatevery time somebody picks up
another process to review, andI'm talking about looking at it
electronically, nobody has hardcopy processes anymore, right?
Um, every time you pick one ofthose up and look at that, they
all have little, same look andfeel.
So you only have to look at thecontent, not what's what the
(33:36):
order of information is.
And that becomes so powerful forour company.
I think Todd has one too.
Todd Hunter (33:44):
Well, I mean, it's hard.
This is really hard, right?
I mean, but you have to committo the longterm.
Um, and, and I think, you know,it can be overwhelming if they
have hundreds of processes, ifthey get them down to a critical
set of processes that does takeit down to, uh, a nice start
(34:05):
point and then they can startsmall.
I mean, we have a term we usewithin the firm called doable
chewable chunks, right?
So just start small, it'sdoable.
You can realize the success, youcan start to fill it form some
momentum in the company withrespect to people, understanding
what you're doing, they see thebenefit of what you're doing,
(34:27):
and then they buy into it forthe longer term process.
So that planning the evaluatingand documenting your processes
and on an ongoing basis, to me,it, it's not something that
necessarily it's, it's, it'sfinished, but it just is a, it's
a strategy that, you know, wash,rinse, repeat, right?
(34:49):
I mean, that's almost what youhave to keep doing with this to
keep gaining the benefits.
Tom Bronson (34:55):
So it's possible, um, for, for businesses to do
this on their own, uh, and, andto invent templates, or maybe
even find some on the internet.
I don't even know if AldridgeKerr offers some sort of a
template, but it is possible todo it on your own, but why
should a business owner considerusing a firm like Aldridge Kerr
(35:18):
to document the company'sprocesses?
Charlene Aldridge (35:21):
Well, for one reason is we're experts.
You know, we know how to dothis, you know, we've done it
over and over again.
We have great experience withthat.
I have actually personally beendocumenting my pro documenting
processes my whole in corporateAmerica, once I started my own
firm.
So we're experts the other,another reason.
(35:44):
And I like to share this storybecause it makes me actually
laugh is, um, we were engaged bya company to come document their
processes.
And the first day we went in theconference room with the
president and his direct reportsand he introduced us and he
said, we've hired Aldridge Kerrto document our processes
because they don't care.
(36:05):
You know?
And he said, they don't carethat you have other priorities.
They don't care what level youare in the organization.
They don't care what otherthings you have going.
We've given them a job to do,and they're going to get it
done, come hell or high water.
So they don't care about theother stuff you're doing.
(36:25):
They're focused on deliveringwhat they, and I think that's
the real value of consultants.
They have a very narrow focusand they are able to get things
done.
Tom Bronson (36:34):
Yeah, I got, I got to say, I see a new tagline on
your, on your website, AldridgeKerr.
We just don't care.
Charlene Aldridge (36:44):
I know I bought last year of my life when
he said that.
Tom Bronson (36:48):
No, it's awesome.
It's it is so good With ourclients.
You know, the beauty of what Ido is, um, I am a completely
disinterested third party.
You know, all I can do is tellyou what I see.
Right.
Todd Hunter (37:05):
Well, in the, the other side of that is why, you
know, I appreciate Charlenestating our expertise, but we
also get to ask the really dumbquestions that nobody else
wanted to ask.
Right.
And it's because we don't care.
And it's, you know, the why,why, why?
And you keep pressing the folksand you just really make some
(37:25):
breakthroughs.
But the one other big benefit ofhiring a firm like Aldridge Kerr
is the number of years we'vebeen in business.
The number of clients we'veengaged with the number of
industry sectors that we'vecrossed.
And it's bringing all of thesecollective lessons learned back
to our clients and back to theprojects that we're performing
(37:50):
on their behalf.
And I really think that's thereally important kind of
collective knowledge that webring to the client.
That's important.
Tom Bronson (37:57):
I'm so glad that you said why, why, why?
You know, it almost is like a,like a three year old child,
right.
Well, why, why is the sky blue?
Why, why is t he grass, u m, I'ma big fan of Dean Graziosi.
Y ou k now, he's got some greatbooks a nd, and, u h, sort of a
life coach, w hatever.
I need some pick me up juice.
I just go listen to one of hisvideos because he's just, he is
(38:21):
on fire all the time.
But one of the things that heteaches in one of his mastermind
classes is take the question whyseven levels deep.
Y ou should ask the question whyseven times, and then you'll
actually find the root of whatthe issue is.
Now.
I don't know if it's seven deepright.
(38:41):
I n, in processes, but, u h,it's u h, it's you do have to
ask that question over and overand over again.
When someone in the organizationmight be unwilling to do that,
because they'll look stupid orbecause, w ell, everybody else
must know the answer to this, orI it's intuitive to me, but y
(39:01):
ou, you have to ask those, b elike that, like a, like a four
year old child.
W hy, w hy
Charlene Aldridge (39:07):
We call it peeling back the onion, think
about it when you peel back theend and there's something else
to feel bad and there'ssomething there and that's, you
know, that's what makes it funfor us when we, the discovery we
get to uncover.
Tom Bronson (39:20):
That's awesome.
So I have one last question foryou, and I think I already know
the answer to this, but I wantto give you a chance to answer
it anyway.
So this podcast is all aboutmaximizing business value.
What, what do you believe is theone most important thing that
you would recommend businessowners do to build value in
(39:44):
their business?
Charlene Aldridge (39:45):
You're going to be surprised by our answer.
Tom Bronson (39:50):
I might be.
Charlene Aldridge (39:50):
We believe the number one thing companies
should do is to clearlyunderstand its priorities.
Tom Bronson. (39:58):
I am surprised by your answer
Charlene Aldridge (40:03):
Because then you can read the greatest impact
for success.
We see all the time wherecompanies flitter around
different priorities, dependingon the day of the week or a time
of the day.
And they just don't have clarityon what they are, what they want
to accomplish, where they wantto get and how they're going to
get there.
(40:23):
If they understand that that'sthe foundation for moving
forward.
Todd Hunter (40:30):
Well, and, and, you know, I know each of us could
tell probably 50 stories aboutbeing in an offsite strategy
session and how fun it is andhow engaging it is and how blue
sky we all thought about all thegreat things for the company.
But just what Charlene said.
I mean, disstill that down towhat's critical and put a plan
(40:52):
together around working throughyour critical processes, working
through your criticalpriorities.
And if a company knows this andthey know where to put their
energy and resources, you know,they'll definitely know what
needs to be done first, whatprocesses need to be documented
first?
Why do those need to bedocumented first?
(41:12):
How's that implementing where wewant to go as a company, how we
want to grow, how we want tosupplement that strategy that we
all feel really good about.
And, you know, Charlene said inthe past, and I've, I've learned
from the master that this is notthe sexy stuff.
Right.
But it's a very essential thing.
(41:33):
And I think that's What makes itmost critical.
Tom Bronson (41:36):
Okay.
I can tell you that, uh, thatdocumenting processes was a sexy
thing to that business owner whobasically quadrupled the value
of his business, because thatwas, that's my definition of
sexy.
Right?
Charlene Aldridge (41:51):
There you go.
Todd Hunter (41:51):
And he, when he checked his bank account, you're
right.
Tom Bronson (41:55):
You know, it's funny when, if you, it, no
matter the size of yourbusiness, right?
If you've got, what's called aleadership team or management
team of, of more than threepeople, uh, actually probably
more than one person, uh, thenif you pull them independently
and ask them, what are thepriorities of the company, I'd
be willing to bet that, uh, that, uh, most businesses would have
(42:19):
different answers from differentpeople.
Charlene Aldridge (42:22):
We know that for a fact, cause we do it all
the time.
We give them pre-work.
We ask everybody to tell themwhat their most critical and
what their priorities are.
And this is almost like a doublenegative.
We never have had them all comeback with the same answer.
They always come back with somevariety.
Maybe they'll have one that arethe same.
(42:43):
And that's, what's so painfulfor an organization that has to
be fixed.
Getting clarity aroundpriorities is the first step to
do a thousand really amazingthings.
Tom Bronson (42:54):
Yes.
Yeah.
And, and you know what, thereare so many things that are,
that are built on that, right?
I mean, not only the documentingprocesses, but running the
business, communicating, um, um,you know, if you look at, um,
EOS, uh, or at, uh, uh, MikeRose's book, R O E uh, powers
ROI.
(43:15):
It's all about that effectivecommunication and getting people
on the same page.
I mean, heck I'm reading again.
Cause I love it so much.
Jack stacks, a great game ofbusiness, all about getting
consensus on what are thepriorities, right.
And you can go and do that.
Well, thank you that, thatrestored my faith in humanity.
You gave me an answer that Iwasn't expecting so well.
(43:38):
And because of that, I'm goingto ask you my bonus question.
Anybody listens to our podcastknows that this is always
coming.
So first to Charlene, whatpersonality trait has gotten you
in the most trouble through theyears?
Charlene Aldridge (43:55):
My tenacity, I am like a dog with a bone.
I won't give it up.
And I got to tell you, Tom, thathas helped me a lot in my
career, but it's also gotten mein lots of trouble with people.
Cause they just want me to goaway.
I'm just very tenacious.
Tom Bronson (44:14):
Uh, you know what, uh, that is an excellent choice.
Cause, uh, that's probably wouldhave been the label that I would
have given him because Charleneand I served on a board
together.
She does.
She is.
She digs in and goes and youknow what?
It helped drive our organizationto a better place.
Charlene Aldridge (44:29):
Yeah.
Great.
Thank,
Tom Bronson (44:31):
but I'm confident it got you in trouble through
the years.
Todd, what about you?
What's your personality trait?
That's gotten you into trouble.
Todd Hunter (44:32):
Well, in the theme of opposites attract, um, I'm a
huge dreamer, right?
So my, my, my big one is, youknow, it's tough being a
visionary, waiting for the restof the world to catch up with
(44:53):
me.
And so again, that's got me introuble, but it's also been a
benefit over time.
And so that's why Charlene and Iand others in our firm work
really well together because wecompliment each other and we
really can quickly representkind of all different components
of a corporate need or client.
Tom Bronson (45:15):
That is awesome.
Two great personality traitsthat can be a blessing and a
curse where they rear theirheads.
So this has been such great fun.
I am so glad that you guys hadtime today to join us on our
podcast, tell our listeners andour viewers how they can get in
touch with you.
(45:35):
Well, we're both on LinkedIn.
Charlene Aldridge (45:37):
So you can contact us that way.
Or you can send us an email by,um, putting in our first and
last name.
All is one word,CharleneAldridge@AldridgeKerr
.com or toddHunter@ aldridgekerr.com.
Um, you can tell we've beenaround a long time because our,
our email addresses are verylong.
Tom Bronson (45:59):
That's why I went with Tom because we have a
couple of people that have thesame first name.
So that night I figured if Ihire somebody else named Tom,
they're going to have to be TomC or Tom D or whatever.
Cause technically I am Tom B.
Right?
So well, thank you, Charlene andTodd, both our guest today, it's
(46:20):
been great fun.
You can find themboth@aldridgekerr.com or on
LinkedIn, uh, or, uh, if youhave trouble finding them, just
reach out to us here at maximizebusiness value and we'll be
happy to connect you.
This is the maximize businessvalue podcast, where we give
practical advice to businessowners on how to build longterm
(46:43):
sustainable value in yourbusiness.
Be sure to tune in each week andfollow us wherever you found
this podcast and be sure tocomment.
We love comments and I promiseyou, we respond to every single
one of them.
So until next time I'm TomBronson reminding you to
document your processes whileyou maximize business value.
Charlene Aldridge (47:06):
Thanks Tom.
Todd Hunter (47:08):
Thank you.
Announcer (47:14):
Thank you for tuning in to the maximize business
value podcast with Tom Bronson,this podcast is brought to you
by mastery apartments, where ourmission is to equip business
owners to maximize businessvalue so they can transition on
their own terms.
Our was born from the lessonswe've learned from over a
hundred business transactionswith fuels our desire to share
(47:35):
our experiences and wisdom.
So you can succeed.
Learn more on how to buildlongterm sustainable business
value and get free valuebuilding tools by visiting our
website, www.masterypartners.comthat's master with a Y mastery
partners.com
Speaker 5 (47:59):
[inaudible].
Tom Bronson (48:00):
That was perfect.
I wouldn't make any changes onthat.
Welcome to the maximize business value podcast.
This podcast is brought to youby Mastery Partners, where our
mission is to equip businessowners to maximize business
value so they can transitiontheir business on their terms.
Our mission was born from thelessons we've learned from over
a hundred business transactions,which fuels our desire to share
our experiences and wisdom.
(00:26):
So you can succeed.
Now, here's your host CEO ofMastery Partners, Tom Bronson.
[inaudible].
Tom Bronson (00:37):
This is Tom Bronson and welcome to maximize business
value.
A podcast for business leaderswho are passionate about
building long- term sustainablevalue in their businesses.
In this episode, I'd like towelcome our guests, Charlene
Aldridge and Todd Hunter.
Charlene is president and Toddis a senior consultant of
(01:00):
Aldridge, Kerr and Associates, aconsulting practice that helps
companies build and sustainoperational efficiencies with
efficient and effectiveprocesses.
If you've read my book"maximizebusiness value" or listened to
this podcast, you already knowthat I am a huge fan of
(01:20):
documenting your processes,having and following efficient
and effective processes really,and genuinely drives long- term
sustainable value in businesses.
I've known Charlene for manyyears through the servant
leadership organization,business navigators, and I've
had the opportunity to meet Toddearlier this year, turns out
(01:44):
we're both avid snow skiers.
So not only that, I'm a big fanof the work that they are doing
at Aldridge Kerr.
So welcome to maximize businessvalue.
Charlene and Todd.
Charlene, tell us a little bitabout Aldridge Kerr.
Charlene Aldridge (01:51):
Thanks Tom.
By the way, we appreciate thisopportunity to share with you a
little bit about what we do.
And I think you've done a greatjob of summarizing who we are
for over 20 years.
Aldridge Kerr has focused onhelping our clients understand
(02:15):
the risks that get in the way ofoperational effectiveness and
define what is needed tomitigate those risks for
longterm success.
Unlike many consulting firms, weroll up our sleeves and provide
our clients with a roadmap tocreate sustainability, to
optimize their growth.
Tom Bronson (02:35):
Awesome.
Awesome.
That's a pretty succinct, uh,Todd, what's your background and
how did you come to AldrichKerr?
Todd Hunter (02:43):
Yeah, thanks Tom.
Uh, so I started my career andspent many years of it in
various industries, corporateindustries, financial banking,
uh, national security, uh, andin almost all situations found
exactly the problems thatAldridge Kerr deals with and had
(03:04):
Aldridge Kerr come in andcorrect those problems and help
us move to a different state.
And so about three years ago,uh, I had the opportunity to
what I call kind of jump to theother side of the tracks and
take all of my industryexperience and, and provide that
same benefit back to the clientbase.
(03:24):
Uh, so I joined Aldridge Kerrabout three years ago.
Tom Bronson (03:27):
Oh, awesome.
So you are a client before youbecame an associate.
That's awesome.
Todd Hunter (03:34):
So you can lead a horse to water.
Tom Bronson (03:40):
you're like Victor Kayam, you know, he's not only a
president, he's a client orsomething like that.
Yeah, exactly.
So, uh, we're talking about, ofcourse, about documenting
processes.
Uh, tell our audience what youmean by process documentation.
Charlene Aldridge (04:01):
Tom process documentation quite simply is
outlining the steps necessary tocomplete a specific task or
process.
Todd Hunter (04:11):
Well, and I would add to that.
I mean, it's not just simplydocumenting the existing process
steps, but they also have theopportunity to do what we call
ultimately documenting orlooking at their desired state.
And that is where they start tosee some greater process
improvement, efficiencies, etcetera.
Tom Bronson (04:35):
So as you already know, I love documenting
processes.
I just, I think it adds so muchvalue to businesses.
I'll tell a story about thatlater, but why do you think that
documenting a company'sprocesses is so important?
Charlene Aldridge (04:55):
We could give you a really long list, but we
want it.
We have several though.
I have several, and I bet you,Todd will jump in with a few as
well.
I'm going to share four withyou, u m, creating consistent
repeatable p rocesses.
This is actually a bigger dealthan companies believe or
(05:15):
realize.
Ironically, the number one issuethat w e see when we work with
our clients is lack ofconsistency.
And this lack of consistency cancreate confusion, increases
probability of mistakes andmakes it harder to train new
employees.
Secondly, it minimizes knowledgegaps.
(05:39):
We like to refer to it goingfrom tribal knowledge within an
organization to institutionalknowledge, three gaining insight
into what is working well andwhat isn't, you would be amazed
that we h ave every processdocumentation project we have
done.
And we've been in business forover 20 years.
(06:01):
Every single time.
I t has unearthed something thatsurprised company management.
So companies find out whatchallenges they have and
opportunities simply by lookingat their processes, fourthly, we
comply a nd w e, it helpscompanies comply with regulatory
and compliance requirements.
(06:21):
Believe it or not, Tom, almostall industries have some kind of
requirements around documentingtheir processes.
For example, there is acompliance requirement that even
small firms must document theirprocesses if they want to do
business with certainindustries.
So in reality, very fewcompanies are exempt.
(06:43):
If a company wants to sustainitself long term.
Todd Hunter (06:49):
You know, I would add to that Charlene.
Um, there are important factorsthat by doing this, it really
assists new employees as theylearn about the organization.
Uh, it's a great training andreference tool currently in our,
in our current kind of remotework environment, documented
processes, give new employeescoming into a company, great
(07:10):
access to information in aremote setting.
Uh, I would also say that ithelps define expectations on how
a task should be performedwithin the company, certainly
helps clarify process so that itcan better utilize with a new
system, a new strategy, the newline of business within the
company.
And it also helps position acompany for business
(07:32):
interruption, which as we knowis so relevant today, it also
helps with rapid growth andexpansion or being able to
position the company to be soldthe knowledge of a process and
the ability to improve.
It also means money reducingcycle times, better use of staff
(07:53):
time.
Why is Mary performing thisprocess?
And she costs twice as much asanother employee.
This all leads to savings forthe companies.
Tom Bronson (08:03):
So you both brought up a couple of really good
points there that I, that I wantto, um, tag onto just a little
bit.
Number one, I hear from a lot of, uh, uh, business owners, CEOs
that it takes months and monthsto get people on speed when they
come to work for their business.
(08:24):
And I argue that if you havewell-documented processes that
it just makes the training gofaster and that you can get
people up to speed faster.
Do you agree with it?
Charlene Aldridge (08:36):
Absolutely.
In fact, we use a documentationmethodology that was invented by
a Harvard professor who believedthat documentation should have
one set of documents should havevarious rules, so they can be
used for training.
They can be used for reference,they can be used for audit
purposes.
So that's, I think what's sovaluable about the approach we
(08:58):
take, but for documentingprocesses and it can be so
valuable across various purposesand it, it, because we're able
to standardize and make moreconsistent how they do, um,
document what they do, then thattraining gets easier.
Tom Bronson (09:16):
Oh, so much easier.
I mean, it's, if you can givesomebody an outline of here's
how you do your job, I mean,just help them get up to speed
so much faster.
The other thing you mentioned,go ahead, Todd.
Todd Hunter (09:27):
I was just g oing t o add to that, that, y ou k now,
it's almost Always when we're intalking to people and we'll say,
why do you do that?
They say, because that's how Iwas trained to do it.
Then it could be a step thatdoesn't even exist and hasn't
existed in the company for 10years, but somebody learned it
one way and trained it that wayto everybody else that came in
(09:49):
the company.
Tom Bronson (09:51):
There's a great story that Gino Wickman, uh, uh,
describes that in his booktraction, uh, which she,
everybody knows I'm a huge fanof traction as well and the
entrepreneurial operatingsystem.
But he mentions that, um, hiswife was preparing Thanksgiving
dinner and she was getting readyto cook the ham.
She cuts the back of the ham off, uh, and then puts it in the
(10:12):
pot.
And he says, well, why do you dothat?
And she said, well, that's why,that's the way my mother, it
turned out that her mom wasthere.
And so she said, why do you cutthe back of the ham off?
And before you cook it and shesays, that's the way my mother
did it.
Well, it just so happened as thestory progresses that grandma
was even coming for dinner thatyear.
And she said, and he said, so Ihave to know why, why do you cut
(10:33):
the back of the ham off beforeyou cook it?
She said, because when, uh, whenwe first got married, my pot was
too small and I had to cut offthe back in order to be able to
cook it.
That's how many, that's, howpeople sometimes define their
processes.
Charlene Aldridge (10:47):
Absolutely.
Tom Bronson (10:50):
Another thing that you mentioned, uh, Charlene is
that, uh, even small companies,um, can benefit from documenting
processes or more importantly,maybe required to document
processes.
Isn't that a great example ofthat is if you're in a business
that, uh, takes a credit cardfor payment, uh, in order to, to
(11:12):
maintain your, uh, PCIcertification, that you can
accept credit cards, you have tohave a documented process.
Charlene Aldridge (11:20):
Absolutely.
Tom Bronson (11:22):
It's something that is so important that, that, I
mean, you think about itretailers, restaurant tours, but
what business doesn't takecredit cards anymore.
We're almost a cashless society.
You've got it.
And you're required to havethat.
So a docu documenting processesis not just for the big
companies.
(11:43):
I want to be sure we, we gotthat out.
So tell me, uh, what is, or aresome of the value added outcomes
for documented documenting aprocesses?
Charlene Aldridge (11:54):
Well, Tom, we actually, when we were talking
about, in your last question tous, we actually listed quite a
few of the reasons why there'ssome real value.
In addition, we have this longstanding client that many years
ago made a comment to me thatI've just remembered so well.
And he said, the process ofevaluating a process is as
(12:18):
valuable, if not more valuablethan the end product of having a
documented process, looking at aprocess,
Tom Bronson (12:26):
say that five times fast.
Charlene Aldridge (12:28):
I know, but the whole point is taking the
time to look at what you do,reaps the benefit, even before
you write it down, right?
Every time a company takes atime to look at that process,
there are huge benefits andsometimes surprises, which we've
all almost always identify.
And that in evidently willimpact positive results.
Todd Hunter (12:52):
I, a couple other value added examples around
creating consistency, how thecompany does business, how it
standardizes and createsconsistency in terminology.
We completed a project for aclient earlier this year, and
not only did we address realprocess issues, but once we got
(13:13):
staff talking from variousfunctional areas of the company,
they quickly realized they allcalled the same thing, something
different.
And so a real value add was thatwe helped them create a
corporate glossary, which helpsthem to aggregate all of the
things they used to callsomething and also really agree
(13:35):
on what they want to call itgoing forward.
And that's just really valuable,uh, across the company to bring
those different terms and to, tosettle on a, uh, a single
definition.
Um, one other huge value is itallows those processes that are
most critical to accompanysuccess, to be evaluated and
(13:56):
optimized.
A company can have hundreds andhundreds and hundreds of
processes, but the mostcriticals, what we try to get
people to focus on focus onfirst, and that really results
in consistent, efficient andeffective processes.
They become repeatable andposition as a company very well
from whatever's going to comenext for that company.
(14:20):
Tom,
Charlene Aldridge (14:20):
I just want to take a moment and interject a
comment about efficiency andeffectiveness.
People talk about that all thetime.
We want to be really efficient.
We want to be really effective.
What we have found thatcompanies often are really
efficient at the wrong stuffthat makes them ineffective.
(14:41):
And so getting a company tobecome efficient and effective,
both is really valuable.
We have a business associate whoalways makes the comment that
being efficient is getting upthe ladder really fast, being
effective is making sure theladder is leaning up against the
right wall.
So, so efficiency andeffectiveness are not the same
(15:03):
thing.
And we try to get people tounderstand that they need to do
both of those.
Tom Bronson (15:07):
No, I, I agree completely.
Are there, are there risks ifyou don't document your
processes?
Charlene Aldridge (15:17):
Well, let me share.
And Tom, I know I've shared thisstory with you in the past, um,
personal experience in 1998, myfather passed away when I was
visiting the family in Ohio andat Christmas time, totally
unexpected.
And obviously my energy andinterest was helping the family
(15:38):
and myself deal with that loss.
I was very, you know, busyhelping plan the funeral and
deciding what to do with mydad's house, et cetera.
Fortunately, we had documentedall our processes and I was able
to easily reassign my staff totake on tasks.
They normally didn't do becausethey had documented processes.
(15:58):
I've thought over the years howmy company probably would not
have survived during that time.
If it hadn't been for the factthat we had well-documented
processes so that other peopleon the team could step up and
take over areas that theynormally didn't do.
Tom Bronson (16:15):
That's huge.
It sounds like you actuallypractice what you're preaching.
and that's
Charlene Aldridge (16:18):
We drink the kool-aid, Tom.
Tom Bronson (16:23):
What risks do you think of not documenting process
?
Todd Hunter (16:27):
Well, I mean, obviously a very current
scenario being prepared forunknowns, right?
This pandemic we're in is agreat example of how much better
companies that have reallydefined and documented processes
have done through this time thanthose that have had to scramble.
And suddenly staff are workingremotely.
(16:47):
I mean, I've heard and readdigital transformations that
should have been planned andprocesses associated with that
over years that we've beentalking about it have had to
been done in a week or overnightor whatever.
And so, you know, by having theprocess in place, people can go
into that mode and respondquickly and knowing, you know,
(17:11):
what impact that's called, thebeauty of knowing your processes
are also a linkage to so muchit's understanding roles and
responsibilities, betterunderstanding what other people
in your organization do daily.
I mean, the list is endless ofthat benefit.
Tom Bronson (17:31):
Uh, you know, I think of, of the risk of losing
a key person who has all of thattribal knowledge, uh, that's not
documented.
And, and now what do you do?
It leaves you an lurch if youdon't have these things
documented.
But that, that also isParticularly for small
businesses, the business owner,I'm a big fan of business owner,
(17:53):
documenting all, everything thatthey do so that if something
happens to them, somebody elsecan pick up the pieces and take
it forward because many smallbusinesses are very dependent on
the business owner.
So, so I encourage them.
So when you think about the riskof, if one of your key people
left to take that tribalknowledge with them, what
(18:15):
happens if you are gone, whathappens to the business?
Do you, do you leave that thento your family to deal with or
to your employees to deal with.
It's way better.
If you can document that, evenif you don't want to share them
with somebody yet, you've got adocument that they can get to
when they need to.
So, so what are some commonmistakes that companies make
(18:36):
related to documenting theirprocesses?
Charlene Aldridge (18:40):
One mistake that we regularly see is that
the person who performs theprocess attempts to document it.
Now, I'll be honest with you,Tom.
I have spent my wholeprofessional career, both in
corporate America, and now withmy own firm documenting
processes, I started out as amethods analyst and moved up the
(19:00):
ranks.
In fact, I'm certified inmultiple methodologies around
documentation, but if you askedme to document one of the
processes I perform, I know I'velearned painfully that I'm going
to miss steps.
I don't communicate it clearlybecause I'm just too close to
it.
That's why we always recommendour clients that someone other
(19:23):
than the person who performs theprocess document it.
Either hiring a firm like Aldridge, Kerr support that
effort, or having someone elsein the company who's far removed
from that process to document itfor them.
Also documenting processes oftenget put on a back burner because
other priorities take precedent.
We believe until leadersunderstand the value of process
(19:46):
documentation.
It's always going to besomething they put aside.
Tom Bronson (19:52):
I agree.
I agree, Todd.
Todd Hunter (19:54):
Yeah.
A couple other mistakes we seeare once processes are
documented, they're not testedto make sure it's concise and
correct.
We typically recommend someonewho's far removed from the
process, review it for clarityconciseness.
One goal of documenting theprocesses in the first place is
(20:16):
can it be used for training andreference?
So what good is documenting, ifyou aren't sure it's clear and
concise and that anybody in theorganization can understand and
perform that process, um alsothinking documenting processing
is done and done as, as we referto it.
So evaluating your processesshould be an intricate part of
(20:38):
supporting the ongoing successof the organization.
We encourage clients to reviewtheir existing documentation at
a minimum every three to fouryears, if not more often, And
make sure it's still relevant.
And that the process has beenperformed and documented as
documented.
And if not, then they can takeaction to correct it.
Tom Bronson (20:59):
And I think a super easy way to do that, that I
advise our clients is that onceyour processes are documented
and if you're using them as atraining document to teach new
people, if you, if they're, ifyou pair up a new hire with,
with say a pro, that's alreadydoing the work and you together
follow the process and the progoes, Oh, wait a minute.
(21:22):
We don't do that anymore.
You start making those notes sothat you can update the
processes right there.
It's not a it's, it's a living,breathing document.
It's something that needs to beused, uh, on a, on a regular
basis.
And Charlene, you brought upanother point, um, you know, uh,
it's hard to document your ownstuff because you can see things
(21:45):
that other people are.
You don't see things, you missthings that other people won't
miss.
You know, same thing, you know,as I'm writing my books or
writing articles, I need aproofreader because I know what
I wrote and my mind fills in thegaps.
Even if something's missing andsame thing with processes, your
(22:07):
brain, you already know what todo and your brain is filling in
the steps.
So it's important to getsomebody else to look over your
shoulder.
Um, before you, before we take abreak, uh, I, I did want to ask
another quick question.
Cause Todd, you mentioned a fewminutes ago that, you know, you
might have hundreds of processes, uh, in your business.
(22:30):
Now most of the listeners ofthis podcast are small business
owners.
Uh, and all businesses probablyhave hundreds of processes,
whether you realize it or not.
Uh, and, and certainly most ofthem are, are typically not
documented.
Do you have to document all ofyour processes?
Charlene Aldridge (22:50):
You're making us smile.
No, we, we,
Todd Hunter (22:54):
I actually going to laugh.
Charlene Aldridge (22:56):
We don't think you should have to
document all your processes.
We do think you should documentat minimum what we call our
critical processes.
Tom Bronson (23:07):
What's a critical process.
And how do you know what's acritical process?
Charlene Aldridge (23:11):
Well, first you have to define what critical
means, right?
You have to decide for eachorganization is going to have
something different on how theydefine critical.
It could be the criticalprocesses could be the ones that
aren't working well.
The critical processes could bethe ones that are done more.
Most frequently.
The critical process is going tobe the ones that are done least
frequently.
(23:31):
We help a company define what iscritical, and then they
establish what processes arecritical based on that
definition.
So to put things in context,every organization, even if it's
a one or two man shop havedifferent functional areas, they
have an accounting, finance, andmarketing.
(23:54):
They have sales, operations, etcetera, et cetera.
Each of those functionalfunctional units have at least
on average, 12 to 18 processesand of those 12 to 18 processes.
Typically based on what we'velearned, there are between five
(24:14):
to six to seven of thoseprocesses that are critical,
some cases only three.
So for example, in accounting,accounts payable and accounts
receivable are typically almostalways critical processes
regardless of how you definecritical, right?
But are there other tasks youperform in accounting?
(24:34):
Probably not, are not ascritical.
Todd Hunter (24:38):
You know, I would add to what Charlene and I see,
we love doing these sessionsbecause the dynamics are just so
incredible.
But, but one of the things thatwe see a lot is that the various
functional areas will show up inthe room and every single one of
them believes there's are mostcritical.
And it's not until we have thisconversation amongst functional
(25:01):
units, accounting, marketing,sales, et cetera, that they come
to some agreement that, Oh mygosh, the sales ones are most
critical first.
And we needed to look at thosebefore we're looking at the
accounting side.
Tom Bronson (25:15):
Todd, stop it.
There is look, you know, I'vebeen in business for 35 years.
I have never had a financeperson telling me that a sales
process is more critical.
Oh, I get it.
I totally get it.
So what you're saying is weshouldn't be in our silos.
(25:37):
We should actually talk aboutthings.
Charlene Aldridge (25:38):
novel idea,
Todd Hunter (25:41):
You can't just point the finger.
Tom Bronson (25:43):
Hey, so we're talking with Charlene Aldridge
And Todd Hunter.
Let's take a quick break.
We'll be back in thirty seconds.
Announcer (25:46):
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Tom Bronson (26:42):
we're back, Charlene Aldridge, Todd Hunter
of Aldridge, Kerr andassociates, and we're talking
about documenting processes.
So I thought it would be fun toshare a story with you about a
company that we worked withabout why documenting processes
is so important.
(27:02):
This company happened to be inan industry that was trading at
about six times earnings, uh,when they went to go sell their
business.
But the big difference aboutthis company and other companies
in their business was that theyhad rock solid, uh, performance
(27:22):
metrics and rock solid processesthat were well-documented and
followed by everybody in theorganization.
In fact, it was their processeswere so well-documented and so
well followed that they becamesort of a rock star of their
industry.
Well, when it came time for theowner to retire and sell that
(27:46):
business, he started lookingaround at what his options were.
And it turned out that there wasan enormous company in their
space that really took aninterest to them.
And as we were talking about thecompany and why this big company
would be interested in this verysmall company, it all boiled
(28:07):
down to you have great processesand we want to implement them in
our business.
So at the end of the day, thetail of the tape on this is the
processes is what attracted thebuyer to this seller.
Number one, and number two, inthat industry, they were trading
at six times on average, all thetransactions in that industry,
(28:32):
this seller got 22 timesearnings.
Why, because that's what theyreally wanted.
The buyer realized that if theypay that premium for this
business, they were going to beable to take their business to a
higher level.
And so that's why it is soimportant.
(28:53):
That's one example, but that'swhy it is so important to
document those processes.
So, uh, with that in mind, tellus how documenting your
processes can move a companyforward.
Even during challenging timeslike we are while this is being
recorded.
Charlene Aldridge (29:12):
We keep hearing Tom from more and more
companies that they willprobably not return to their
offices for the foreseeablefuture.
In fact, we've even heard fromsome companies that have told
their employees that they're,they need to plan to work from
home for the next several years.
(29:33):
With that in mind, And you thinkabout a company longer term in
the example you gave, it's agreat example of the fact that
understanding what you do is socritical, no pun intended, and
as they hire more employees,cause if it's a strong company
growing, they're going topotentially need more employees,
(29:55):
how best to have them train themsustainable established
processes that can be used sowell for training.
And by the way, in thisenvironment, this also impacts
the need for creating apaperless environment for
building folder managementmethodologies and creating
(30:17):
version control.
But we're not talking about thattoday.
Tom Bronson (30:24):
Right.
Todd Hunter (30:25):
Well, and I would also add that the word we are
using a lot recently is aroundresiliency.
Um, and I think that in orderfor companies to survive during
these times, they need to makesure that their resiliency level
is really high, that they haveall of the tools they can muster
(30:47):
to ensure their position forwhatever comes next and whatever
comes next could be tomorrow orthe next week.
I mean, originally we kind ofgot into this and thought it was
going to be over April 10th.
Right.
Um, so having a robust,relevant, documented process, uh
, set or process set ofprocesses is certainly one of
the strong tools for thecorporate toolkit.
Tom Bronson (31:11):
So ironically, one of the things that, u h, that I
talked with our clients about,of course, in addition to all
the other processes that we asked them to document to me, one
of the most important processesthat you can document is your
disaster recovery plan, u m,
Charlene Aldridge (31:27):
and business continuity,
Tom Bronson (31:29):
business continuity.
Exactly.
And, and, um, our clients thathad already documented their
disaster recovery or businesscontinuity strategy, we're so
much more prepared for, uh, theadvent of this pandemic, uh,
than the ones who hadn't.
But I said, look, here's theadvantage to, to those of you
(31:50):
who haven't, you've now livedit.
And while it's fresh in yourmind document, what happened
document, how are you recoveredso that you at least now have a
basis for, uh, for creating adisaster recovery plan?
Uh, well, when you're back towork.
And so, uh, so it's in a way forat least the businesses, it
(32:14):
could recover very quickly, uh,gave them, uh, kind of an easy
way to be able to do that whileit's fresh in their mind, right.
Can you give us two or threetips on how to get started?
Charlene Aldridge (32:29):
We talked about this a few minutes ago,
trauma, where we recommend theclients first figure out which
processes are most critical.
That's so valuable.
And as Todd said a little whileago, it's so fun to get the
right people in the room and getthem talking about which
processes are critical becausegetting consensus on what's
(32:50):
critical is as valuable ashaving that list, right?
Getting the CFO to see the valueof what the sales folks think,
et cetera, et cetera.
Like we just talked about a fewminutes ago.
So understanding what processesare most critical we think is,
is a good way to get started andcreate and or establish a
consistent format for how yourdocuments are going to look.
(33:14):
We call that a template so thatevery time somebody picks up
another process to review, andI'm talking about looking at it
electronically, nobody has hardcopy processes anymore, right?
Um, every time you pick one ofthose up and look at that, they
all have little, same look andfeel.
So you only have to look at thecontent, not what's what the
(33:36):
order of information is.
And that becomes so powerful forour company.
I think Todd has one too.
Todd Hunter (33:44):
Well, I mean, it's hard.
This is really hard, right?
I mean, but you have to committo the longterm.
Um, and, and I think, you know,it can be overwhelming if they
have hundreds of processes, ifthey get them down to a critical
set of processes that does takeit down to, uh, a nice start
(34:05):
point and then they can startsmall.
I mean, we have a term we usewithin the firm called doable
chewable chunks, right?
So just start small, it'sdoable.
You can realize the success, youcan start to fill it form some
momentum in the company withrespect to people, understanding
what you're doing, they see thebenefit of what you're doing,
(34:27):
and then they buy into it forthe longer term process.
So that planning the evaluatingand documenting your processes
and on an ongoing basis, to me,it, it's not something that
necessarily it's, it's, it'sfinished, but it just is a, it's
a strategy that, you know, wash,rinse, repeat, right?
(34:49):
I mean, that's almost what youhave to keep doing with this to
keep gaining the benefits.
Tom Bronson (34:55):
So it's possible, um, for, for businesses to do
this on their own, uh, and, andto invent templates, or maybe
even find some on the internet.
I don't even know if AldridgeKerr offers some sort of a
template, but it is possible todo it on your own, but why
should a business owner considerusing a firm like Aldridge Kerr
(35:18):
to document the company'sprocesses?
Charlene Aldridge (35:21):
Well, for one reason is we're experts.
You know, we know how to dothis, you know, we've done it
over and over again.
We have great experience withthat.
I have actually personally beendocumenting my pro documenting
processes my whole in corporateAmerica, once I started my own
firm.
So we're experts the other,another reason.
(35:44):
And I like to share this storybecause it makes me actually
laugh is, um, we were engaged bya company to come document their
processes.
And the first day we went in theconference room with the
president and his direct reportsand he introduced us and he
said, we've hired Aldridge Kerrto document our processes
because they don't care.
(36:05):
You know?
And he said, they don't carethat you have other priorities.
They don't care what level youare in the organization.
They don't care what otherthings you have going.
We've given them a job to do,and they're going to get it
done, come hell or high water.
So they don't care about theother stuff you're doing.
(36:25):
They're focused on deliveringwhat they, and I think that's
the real value of consultants.
They have a very narrow focusand they are able to get things
done.
Tom Bronson (36:34):
Yeah, I got, I got to say, I see a new tagline on
your, on your website, AldridgeKerr.
We just don't care.
Charlene Aldridge (36:44):
I know I bought last year of my life when
he said that.
Tom Bronson (36:48):
No, it's awesome.
It's it is so good With ourclients.
You know, the beauty of what Ido is, um, I am a completely
disinterested third party.
You know, all I can do is tellyou what I see.
Right.
Todd Hunter (37:05):
Well, in the, the other side of that is why, you
know, I appreciate Charlenestating our expertise, but we
also get to ask the really dumbquestions that nobody else
wanted to ask.
Right.
And it's because we don't care.
And it's, you know, the why,why, why?
And you keep pressing the folksand you just really make some
(37:25):
breakthroughs.
But the one other big benefit ofhiring a firm like Aldridge Kerr
is the number of years we'vebeen in business.
The number of clients we'veengaged with the number of
industry sectors that we'vecrossed.
And it's bringing all of thesecollective lessons learned back
to our clients and back to theprojects that we're performing
(37:50):
on their behalf.
And I really think that's thereally important kind of
collective knowledge that webring to the client.
That's important.
Tom Bronson (37:57):
I'm so glad that you said why, why, why?
You know, it almost is like a,like a three year old child,
right.
Well, why, why is the sky blue?
Why, why is t he grass, u m, I'ma big fan of Dean Graziosi.
Y ou k now, he's got some greatbooks a nd, and, u h, sort of a
life coach, w hatever.
I need some pick me up juice.
I just go listen to one of hisvideos because he's just, he is
(38:21):
on fire all the time.
But one of the things that heteaches in one of his mastermind
classes is take the question whyseven levels deep.
Y ou should ask the question whyseven times, and then you'll
actually find the root of whatthe issue is.
Now.
I don't know if it's seven deepright.
(38:41):
I n, in processes, but, u h,it's u h, it's you do have to
ask that question over and overand over again.
When someone in the organizationmight be unwilling to do that,
because they'll look stupid orbecause, w ell, everybody else
must know the answer to this, orI it's intuitive to me, but y
(39:01):
ou, you have to ask those, b elike that, like a, like a four
year old child.
W hy, w hy
Charlene Aldridge (39:07):
We call it peeling back the onion, think
about it when you peel back theend and there's something else
to feel bad and there'ssomething there and that's, you
know, that's what makes it funfor us when we, the discovery we
get to uncover.
Tom Bronson (39:20):
That's awesome.
So I have one last question foryou, and I think I already know
the answer to this, but I wantto give you a chance to answer
it anyway.
So this podcast is all aboutmaximizing business value.
What, what do you believe is theone most important thing that
you would recommend businessowners do to build value in
(39:44):
their business?
Charlene Aldridge (39:45):
You're going to be surprised by our answer.
Tom Bronson (39:50):
I might be.
Charlene Aldridge (39:50):
We believe the number one thing companies
should do is to clearlyunderstand its priorities.
Tom Bronson. (39:58):
I am surprised by your answer
Charlene Aldridge (40:03):
Because then you can read the greatest impact
for success.
We see all the time wherecompanies flitter around
different priorities, dependingon the day of the week or a time
of the day.
And they just don't have clarityon what they are, what they want
to accomplish, where they wantto get and how they're going to
get there.
(40:23):
If they understand that that'sthe foundation for moving
forward.
Todd Hunter (40:30):
Well, and, and, you know, I know each of us could
tell probably 50 stories aboutbeing in an offsite strategy
session and how fun it is andhow engaging it is and how blue
sky we all thought about all thegreat things for the company.
But just what Charlene said.
I mean, disstill that down towhat's critical and put a plan
(40:52):
together around working throughyour critical processes, working
through your criticalpriorities.
And if a company knows this andthey know where to put their
energy and resources, you know,they'll definitely know what
needs to be done first, whatprocesses need to be documented
first?
Why do those need to bedocumented first?
(41:12):
How's that implementing where wewant to go as a company, how we
want to grow, how we want tosupplement that strategy that we
all feel really good about.
And, you know, Charlene said inthe past, and I've, I've learned
from the master that this is notthe sexy stuff.
Right.
But it's a very essential thing.
(41:33):
And I think that's What makes itmost critical.
Tom Bronson (41:36):
Okay.
I can tell you that, uh, thatdocumenting processes was a sexy
thing to that business owner whobasically quadrupled the value
of his business, because thatwas, that's my definition of
sexy.
Right?
Charlene Aldridge (41:51):
There you go.
Todd Hunter (41:51):
And he, when he checked his bank account, you're
right.
Tom Bronson (41:55):
You know, it's funny when, if you, it, no
matter the size of yourbusiness, right?
If you've got, what's called aleadership team or management
team of, of more than threepeople, uh, actually probably
more than one person, uh, thenif you pull them independently
and ask them, what are thepriorities of the company, I'd
be willing to bet that, uh, that, uh, most businesses would have
(42:19):
different answers from differentpeople.
Charlene Aldridge (42:22):
We know that for a fact, cause we do it all
the time.
We give them pre-work.
We ask everybody to tell themwhat their most critical and
what their priorities are.
And this is almost like a doublenegative.
We never have had them all comeback with the same answer.
They always come back with somevariety.
Maybe they'll have one that arethe same.
(42:43):
And that's, what's so painfulfor an organization that has to
be fixed.
Getting clarity aroundpriorities is the first step to
do a thousand really amazingthings.
Tom Bronson (42:54):
Yes.
Yeah.
And, and you know what, thereare so many things that are,
that are built on that, right?
I mean, not only the documentingprocesses, but running the
business, communicating, um, um,you know, if you look at, um,
EOS, uh, or at, uh, uh, MikeRose's book, R O E uh, powers
ROI.
(43:15):
It's all about that effectivecommunication and getting people
on the same page.
I mean, heck I'm reading again.
Cause I love it so much.
Jack stacks, a great game ofbusiness, all about getting
consensus on what are thepriorities, right.
And you can go and do that.
Well, thank you that, thatrestored my faith in humanity.
You gave me an answer that Iwasn't expecting so well.
(43:38):
And because of that, I'm goingto ask you my bonus question.
Anybody listens to our podcastknows that this is always
coming.
So first to Charlene, whatpersonality trait has gotten you
in the most trouble through theyears?
Charlene Aldridge (43:55):
My tenacity, I am like a dog with a bone.
I won't give it up.
And I got to tell you, Tom, thathas helped me a lot in my
career, but it's also gotten mein lots of trouble with people.
Cause they just want me to goaway.
I'm just very tenacious.
Tom Bronson (44:14):
Uh, you know what, uh, that is an excellent choice.
Cause, uh, that's probably wouldhave been the label that I would
have given him because Charleneand I served on a board
together.
She does.
She is.
She digs in and goes and youknow what?
It helped drive our organizationto a better place.
Charlene Aldridge (44:29):
Yeah.
Great.
Thank,
Tom Bronson (44:31):
but I'm confident it got you in trouble through
the years.
Todd, what about you?
What's your personality trait?
That's gotten you into trouble.
Todd Hunter (44:32):
Well, in the theme of opposites attract, um, I'm a
huge dreamer, right?
So my, my, my big one is, youknow, it's tough being a
visionary, waiting for the restof the world to catch up with
(44:53):
me.
And so again, that's got me introuble, but it's also been a
benefit over time.
And so that's why Charlene and Iand others in our firm work
really well together because wecompliment each other and we
really can quickly representkind of all different components
of a corporate need or client.
Tom Bronson (45:15):
That is awesome.
Two great personality traitsthat can be a blessing and a
curse where they rear theirheads.
So this has been such great fun.
I am so glad that you guys hadtime today to join us on our
podcast, tell our listeners andour viewers how they can get in
touch with you.
(45:35):
Well, we're both on LinkedIn.
Charlene Aldridge (45:37):
So you can contact us that way.
Or you can send us an email by,um, putting in our first and
last name.
All is one word,CharleneAldridge@AldridgeKerr
.com or toddHunter@ aldridgekerr.com.
Um, you can tell we've beenaround a long time because our,
our email addresses are verylong.
Tom Bronson (45:59):
That's why I went with Tom because we have a
couple of people that have thesame first name.
So that night I figured if Ihire somebody else named Tom,
they're going to have to be TomC or Tom D or whatever.
Cause technically I am Tom B.
Right?
So well, thank you, Charlene andTodd, both our guest today, it's
(46:20):
been great fun.
You can find themboth@aldridgekerr.com or on
LinkedIn, uh, or, uh, if youhave trouble finding them, just
reach out to us here at maximizebusiness value and we'll be
happy to connect you.
This is the maximize businessvalue podcast, where we give
practical advice to businessowners on how to build longterm
(46:43):
sustainable value in yourbusiness.
Be sure to tune in each week andfollow us wherever you found
this podcast and be sure tocomment.
We love comments and I promiseyou, we respond to every single
one of them.
So until next time I'm TomBronson reminding you to
document your processes whileyou maximize business value.
Charlene Aldridge (47:06):
Thanks Tom.
Todd Hunter (47:08):
Thank you.
Announcer (47:14):
Thank you for tuning in to the maximize business
value podcast with Tom Bronson,this podcast is brought to you
by mastery apartments, where ourmission is to equip business
owners to maximize businessvalue so they can transition on
their own terms.
Our was born from the lessonswe've learned from over a
hundred business transactionswith fuels our desire to share
(47:35):
our experiences and wisdom.
So you can succeed.
Learn more on how to buildlongterm sustainable business
value and get free valuebuilding tools by visiting our
website, www.masterypartners.comthat's master with a Y mastery
partners.com
Speaker 5 (47:59):
[inaudible].
Tom Bronson (48:00):
That was perfect.
I wouldn't make any changes onthat.
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