Bob Dale Posts

In my previous blog I wrote about the need to reduce customer concentration in order to increase your value to prospective buyers.  Now let’s talk about the importance of building your internal management team.In the early days of running your own business, it's natural for the founder to do as much as possible. It's the most cost-effective way to do things in the beginning—and no one knows your stuff better than you do. But as the company grows, you'll find yourself stretched too thin. At some ...

In two recent blogs I wrote about increasing the value of a privately-held IT company by reducing some of the risk factors. In this post I’ll focus on the risk of having an excessive concentration in your customer base. Many small businesses can't help but have a handful of customers who generate a large percentage of their revenue. This is often a problem for project-based organizations that handle large initial undertakings for their clients. Buyers will usually review any client relationship ...

In a previous blog I wrote about increasing the value of a privately-held IT company by building a culture of managing and reducing risk factors. In this post, I’ll cover four more areas where you can reduce uncertainty that will affect your company’s valuation.Adopt long-term contracts with customers and suppliers - A business that has long-term contracts with customers and suppliers is less risky than that of its peers. These contracts are tangible evidence of “stickiness” with business partne ...

In my previous blog I wrote about managing your costs to increase profitability and the value of your IT business. Let’s change gears and talk about something else that is related to value, but is more difficult to measure than sales and profits. I’m talking about risk. Risk refers to stability of earnings and diversity of products, services and markets. Investors in the stock market fully understand that companies with lower risk factors are generally worth more. But how does this apply to a pr ...

In my previous post I wrote about growing your sales as the surest way to increase the value of your business.  The second method to boost your profitability is to lower your cost of goods sold (COGS) and expenses. Here are some ways to reduce your costs and increase your bottom-line revenue—and thereby increase your value. Budget and monitor expenses - Managing the expenses of a business is a process that most owners understand. But as the organization gets bigger, the effort to manage expenses ...

In a previous post, I wrote about business valuation and how it varies according to who’s in the market looking to buy (including the different types of buyers). But how can you systematically drive up the value of your company?   Increasing the size and profitability of your business is the surest way to increase its value.  That’s easy to say, but which ideas are most suitable for the owner of an IT service company?  First let’s focus on specific suggestions that can increase your top-line rev ...