Charles Tenney & Associates

Achieving Goals beyond “Mere Survival” During an Economic Crisis
As the ground transportation industry anticipates the impact of the current financial crisis and a potential government bail out, many business owners are preparing for the worst.

The Risks of Selling During an Economic Crisis
President Bush, along with leading financial experts, is warning Americans daily that we are in the midst of our nation's most severe and dangerous economic crisis since the Great Depression. As uncertainty grows and fear rises, many business owners are facing tough decisions concerning the timing of an industry exit.

Myth #1: You have no need for a business broker because you already have a buyer.
One of the most dangerous decisions a business owner can make is hinging the success of their industry exit on the hopes of “one” or even a few prospective buyers. It is very difficult to judge the seriousness of a buyer if he is not competing with other buyers to purchase a business.

Part Two: How to Avoid a Disappointing Exit from the Transportation Industry

One of the greatest causes of a disappointing industry exit is something you would probably not expect at all: Grooming a business for sale. You may be thinking, “What?!? Doesn’t that contradict so many articles I have read about selling transportation businesses in The Fastlane?” The answer is yes and no. Here’s why.

One of the greatest concerns business owners express to Charles Tenney & Associates (CTA) is a potential breech of confidentiality during a business sale. Although this is a very legitimate concern, much of the anxiety from this issue comes from owners not having a clear understanding of the measures business brokers take to protect confidentiality in the context of a business sale.

Business owners decide to exit the transportation industry for multiple reasons: burnout, new career opportunity, retirement, etc. Whatever your reason is, make sure you are positioning yourself to maximize your exit. Below is Part 1 of a two-part series on how to avoid a disappointing exit from the transportation industry.

As the fuel crisis continues unabated, and as the U.S. economy continues to decline, the profit situation for most fleets in our industry is also changing. You know which of your existing vehicles were profitable in the past and which vehicles operated at a loss.

Why Buying & Selling Transportation Businesses is so “Hot” in the Summer

As industry-specialized business brokers, CTA facilitates a steady flow of buy-sell activity between January and December every year. But the summer season is unique in that it creates unusual activity that helps both buyers and sellers get what they want. Charles Tenney & Associates is at the center of that activity. Let’s take a look at 6 reasons why the season for buying and selling transportation businesses is red hot-- right now.

Many transportation business owners I speak to throughout our industry have either heard about or personally experienced an episode of what I like to call “When Seller Financing Goes Bad.” Regardless of how you feel about seller financing, its inclusion or exclusion from your business sale will greatly impact your exit from this industry.

Fuel Crisis Update: Charles Tenney & Associates Saves Houston Operator $90,000

The average fuel price in Chicago and New York surpassed $4.00 per gallon this past week. With the growing challenges of the current fuel crisis, business owners are watching profit margins shrink daily. Charles Tenney & Associates is helping transportation owners fight back.

Merging Transportation Companies: A Solution for Struggling Competitors?

Sales down? Vehicle utilization disappearing? Sound like your company? When times get tough, the competition often gets tougher. In some cases merging with a competitor is a better solution than continuing to fight against them. Is merging right for you? Read on…

Industry Interview—Former NLA President on Selling his Transportation Business

Believing our Fastlane readers could benefit from a close-up look at a business owner's exit from the transportation industry, CTA interviewed former National Limousine President, Alan Milton this month.

What Can We Learn from 2 Minutes of Damage Control with American Airlines CEO, Gerard Arpey

Earlier this month, American Airlines disrupted travel accommodations for approx. 250,000 customers due to their planes not meeting precise standards of air worthiness. The immediate cost of this crisis is already in the tens of millions.

We have reached the close of the first quarter of 2008. This is an important time to review your annual goals and measure your first performance to make sure you are on track to achieve your goals. I hope the following five tips are helpful to you.

As the challenges in our economy rise, so do the level of industry competition and the tendency for our competitors to employ negative sales tactics against us. If you want to combat their efforts and dominate your competition, you need to raise your level of “Competitive Intelligence.”

Imagine you wake up tomorrow morning. You have two bites of toast before you have to race out the door. Put out a few fires on your blackberry en route to the office.

With an economic recession pending, many business owners in our industry are asking Charles Tenney & Associates, “Is now a good time to sell my business?”

1. Fleet Utilization. Fall out of love with your cars. Get lean. If your fleet vehicles are not meeting industry standards in revenue production per month, down size the fleet until they do.

Buyer's Question: The seller tells me there's about $25,000 a year in cash business. How can I verify this? The seller is insisting it exists and he is factoring it into the price. I'd like to believe him but what happens if it's less than that in actuality?

Working with family in chauffeured transportation can be an amazing experience. It can also strain relationships and bottom lines. Because more than dollars & cents are at stake, managing family employees often requires both sensitivity and ingenuity.

Whether you are considering selling your chauffeured transportation business now or sometime in the future, the most important thing you can do to ensure a successful and profitable sale is to take steps to properly position your business for the sale.

Charles Tenney & Associates announces the sale of Maine Limousine Service. Maine Limousine is a 20 year old limousine business in Portland , MN . Maine Limousine has been owned by Larry Cobb for three and a half years.

When it comes to selling a business, there is something about using a local business broker that provides a feeling of warmth and comfort. Despite how a local broker may make you "feel", many grossly overestimate their ability to help operators in our industry.

If you have read the best-seller Good to Great, you may be familiar with this concept. The book examines the challenges a good company faces when trying to make the jump to being a "great" company.

Many talented business owners in our industry find themselves spending more time putting out fires than doing what they do best…making deals. Here are a couple of suggestions to help get you out of fire fights and back at the deal table.

If you are considering selling your business, and you don’t have a strong handle on the value of your business….you could be opening yourself up to significant danger. Here are four dangers to be concerned about:

Here is the situation…You’re tired. You’re stressed out. Your family life/marriage is crumbling around you, and you’re broke. Worst of all…you owe far too much to consider selling your business—the source of all the discomfort in your life. What do you do now?

In many cases, operators in our industry struggle to put their business plans and company vision on paper. It is statistically proven that you are more likely to realize goals when you write them down. Get organized and focused on 2008 using the following business plan outline as a guide.

There are two major ways to "optimize" your site so it's most likely to show up in a potential customer's search.

First, carefully identify the words and phrases your best prospects are most likely to use in searching for whatever you provide.

Recently, Charles was providing sales training for a client. He was facilitating a program that is designed to help our client obtain corporate accounts that represent $5,000-50,000 annual revenue per account. During that training, a member of our client's sales team learned a lesson he will likely never forget.

How To Fire Someone the Right Way
"10 secrets of letting people go with dignity."

Tips from outplacement experts on how to fire people without bruising their egos.

"GIVE WARNING: All performance-based firings should begin with a warning or probationary period. If you let employees know they're on the bubble, they just might turn things around. If they've put in years of service, it's the least they deserve.

Promoting Internally vs. Hiring Externally

As a business grows new positions are created and the challenge to fill those positions with quality personnel is never an easy one. Arguments can be made for either promoting internally or hiring externally. Below is a look at both positives and negative of promoting internally and hiring externally you may want to consider.