Restructuring your Corporate Credit with a Business Turnaround

Have you bitten of more that you can chew?

Restructuring your Corporate Credit with a Business Turnaround

Debt and its management are at the core of a financial restructuring process for your business.

In a typical business turnaround, it is the debt to suppliers, landlords and the government that has become unmanageable.

Some of the symptoms are:

• collectors are calling daily
• credit accounts are frozen awaiting payment
• threats are being made
• bailiffs and court documents arrive
• bank accounts are seized.

In our experience, the business owner has already unsuccessfully sought solutions. The visit to the bank, sweaty palms clutching the company financials, ended badly with the bank saying no to a refinance, consolidation, further loans or extensions.

The owner’s house was mortgaged to the hilt in the last few years. Personal credit has been used up and the credit cards are now maxed out. Friends and family have already been tapped on the shoulder for a loan. Factoring of the receivables yielded enough cash to continue for another 2 months. A lease back of the company equipment produced enough to buy materials for another month.

There is nowhere else to turn.

At this point the company is hollowed out. A glance at the balance sheet would show no value. The owner’s credit and company credit are in the tank. The company is technically bankrupt. Even at the Fiscal Cliff there is still hope.

Dire situation: What do you do?

A circumstance like this requires a third party intervention to solve the problems. Caught early enough, the issues can be worked around. Caught too late, it is painful and expensive because the courts might get involved.

Canada is blessed with probably the most enlightened legislation on the planet to allow companies to seek a dignified exit or to buy the time to get back on track.

At Floodlight we have the 50 years of experience and know how to use all available tools to salvage the company and pull it back from the brink. Floodlight will help to illuminate the dark corners of your business and to expose things that the business owners don’t always look at closely enough. Our goal is to help the business owner maximize results and achieve a business turnaround.

Floodlight first assesses the situation: which creditors are most dangerous; who owns the debt; which debt is secured and which not secured. Then we move to protect all possible assets.

Then Floodlight assembles a written and detailed plan. This plan is built to convince the creditors that working with the company instead of torpedoing it is in their best interests.

Not all creditors can be convinced but the presence of third party of professionals is often enough to persuade them to give it a try.

Floodlight deploys a 3 pronged approach to the plan: create a time out with the creditors, re focus the marketing of the company to increase sales and work with the owners to build strategic plans for growth.

On the financial side the plan is first to work on cash only which usually involves teaching the company and owners to operate on C.O.D.   Then a deal is struck with the creditors whereby the debt is repaid in a structured way over a period of time according to the capacity of the company to pay. In this way the debt is reduced to manageable levels.

Meanwhile the marketing arm of Floodlight raises the profile of the company to increase sales, often re-defining the target markets and finding new strategic partners.

At the same time we meet with the business owner’s weekly working on the business to refine management goals and apply new business strategies.

This process can take from 90 to 180 days to develop and 12 to 18 months to see through to a successful conclusion.

What our clients like best is that they have regained their self esteem and with a new confidence can begin to build their business with a strong foundation for growth.

Testimonial

When we first met Floodlight we were floundering in a financial quagmire, not knowing which way to turn or who to call on for help. 

We had approached one financial institution after another in an attempt to secure debt amalgamation but we were refused. 

Floodlight has extensive back ground in financial and business matters.  Upon meeting with Floodlight we immediately felt at ease with their approachable and helpful manner. 

Although we met with them several times, they never once made us feel ill at ease regarding our financial situation.  They showed empathy and were very pragmatic in outlining a financial path for our consideration. 

We feel very comfortable in recommending Andrew Gregson and Donald Robichaud to anyone who is seeking sound, well thought-out, financial and business advice. 

Neil and Sandra 

Article written by Andrew Gregson and Donald Robichaud

Build Your Business with LinkedIn as a Marketing Tool

As a business coach and marketing consultant I am always looking for the next new social media tool to give my clients the edge in their marketing.

Recently I decided to spend a little more time on an older Social Media tool called LinkedIn which is a social tool for businesses to business decision makers.

LinkedIn is a place where you’d keep things pretty buttoned-up and formal. No need to mention your vacation in Las Vegas on LinkedIn.

But that white paper you wrote? This is just perfect for LinkedIn.

My past sales training and business experience has always guided me to the highest level position in any organization when negotiating or making a sale. And on LinkedIn, this is where the decision makers preside in the rarefied air of top management.

If I am going to spend my time and money on marketing to search out leads only to be told no to my business proposition ......I’d rather that it come from a top decision maker than a lower level bureaucrat.

Here is the reason I make that statement:

• LinkedIn - known as the network for professionals is a very powerful network that is quickly growing in popularity with 120-million worldwide users.
• LinkedIn users attract a much older and typically more educated user base. Many users find it difficult to learn the network at first, due to its professional atmosphere and intimidating user base.  CEO, s CFO, s Presidents, Vice Presidents and Senior Managers.
• LinkedIn has an excellent reach to the decision makers of companies because of its professional setup. Below is additional information on the typical LinkedIn user:
  • Average Age: 43 (as of end 2010)
  • Average Annual Income: $109k
  • Average # of Friends: 63 plus

In the last while I have concentrated my social marketing activities to focus more on LinkedIn and specifically to joining groups that are relevant to the services of Floodlight.

I also joined groups that had larger followings.  The larger the group meant that the information within the group must be more relevant or the association was more predominant for one reason or another.

In total I joined 30 plus groups and extended my reach to over 40 thousand people!!!!

Over the four week period I posted 8 articles to LinkedIn and the results to my overall business were amazing.

The different approach to LinkedIn caused a 12% increase to my website with 178 visitors directly from LinkedIn spending more than one minute on my site.

My posts were commented on 15 different times with relevant comments and interaction.

The best of all was that Floodlight received a qualified lead and a large sale was closed.

Since it is largely focused on B-to-B connections, LinkedIn should be a big part of your social media 

marketing strategy to help Build Your Business.

Click here to view a LinkedIn Profile checklist

If you need help with your LinkedIn Social Media Strategies contact:

Donald Robichaud
President
FloodLight Consulting
1-888-768-9415
http://www.floodlight.ca 

Top dog Social Media LinkedIn Specialist  Melonie Dodaro

Defining your Company Values!!

In the last few weeks we discussed how to define a great Mission Statement and we covered the importance of a great Vision Statement. This week we will focus on your Company Values.

Values: Strong values will be those which actually operate in practice. Your company values underpin the vision and the mission. No business is value-free and it is important to be explicit about those values that are essential to the business achieving its vision. If values are not made explicit, then the values of the most dominant people are likely to be those which actually operate in practice.

If you do not define your company values, the company will be adrift without proper direction.

“Four key questions to define your Company Values”

1. What are the values that are important to you as the business owner?
2. What are the values that will be important to your team members?
3. What are the values that will be important to your customers?
4. What are the values that will be important to the success of the business?

Example of Values for a construction company:

Our core values form the bricks and mortar of our business, which operates and grows as a company and proud community member.
• TRUST: All long-term relationships are grounded in trust and we take great pride in representing ourselves with honesty and humility in all our affairs. Our win-win philosophy also enables us to develop lasting partnerships with our clients.
• VALUE: Our clients expect us to earn our fee - not just collect it. We work hard on all our projects to find value through design efficiencies and creative execution in our work.
• TEAMWORK: We are easy to work with (clients find that refreshing).
• INNOVATION: We are committed to always improving how we deliver our services. From continuing education in the field, to investment in industry-leading management and estimating tools, we strive constantly to be the leader in our field.
• COMMUNITY: We feel blessed to be involved in literally building our communities, and we are committed to making a lasting difference in the ones which we build. Five percent of the company's earnings are donated back to charities every year.

So if the Vision is your “Big Picture”, the Mission is the “How we do it here”, then the Company Values define “How we do business every day”. Now go and Grow Your Business.

Donald Robichaud is the President of FloodLight Consulting and can be reached at donald@floodlightconsulting.com or at 250-768-9415