fiscaldoctor

Boston, MA—The Collaborative (www.the-collaborative.com) and colleague Gary Patterson, president of FiscalDoctor, advise companies that by identifying and targeting profitable prospects, they can create a true sales pipeline that increases revenues and profitability. Recommendations for successfully growing companies were recently featured in In Collaboration, The Collaborative’s quarterly newsletter that explores issues related to driving business growth.

Patterson — whose “fiscal clinic” offers a host of financial services to help clients achieve fiscal health — said he is continually amazed at how few firms really know who their “top ten” clients are. He often hears such questions as “What do you mean ‘profitable’ prospects and clients?” or “Aren’t all prospects and clients profitable ones?”

“This is a mistake many firms, both new and seasoned, make all of the time,” said The Collaborative Principal Beverly D. Flaxington. “Spending time on a prospect that isn’t going to buy or that isn’t a right fit for your company, is likely not to be a profitable customer. Having clients that demand too many resources and cost too much to manage won’t be profitable.”

What’s going on? While it may seem like a simple problem to fix, there are a couple of things at work. Salespeople are often asked to focus on quantity, not quality. The idea of having a “thick pipeline” however, doesn’t necessarily translate into more sales. Often times, a shorter, more qualified list lowers the cost of sales and ultimately results in a more profitable customer.

Flaxington also said that asking the tough questions of the prospect is key and possibly coming to the conclusion that not all business is good business. “The problem starts at the prospecting stage. If a firm doesn’t focus on qualifying, or is eager to ‘get any business’ for revenue purposes, many times a book of business is built on unprofitable relationships,” said Flaxington.

The Collaborative and Patterson advise that as a first step, the management team takes some time to understand the profile of a “profitable customer” and review the sales process to understand what the company is really looking for at the prospecting stage. It is important to look for ways to make those unprofitable clients more profitable and you’ll find money and revenue that you didn’t know you already had. While you can’t eliminate all unprofitable business, understanding why that business was closed and looking for ways to make it more profitable is a key business management strategy.

FiscalDoctor™ President and CEO Gary W. Patterson has more than 30 years of senior management experience with high growth technology, wireless, manufacturing and service companies. He has worked with over 100 companies — from start-ups to Inc 500 to Fortune 500 — providing high-level strategic guidance and expertise. Gary’s financial acumen and extensive business knowledge have brought about significant outcomes for his clients, helping them to successfully navigate that often-murky pathway to growth and profitability. For more information, please visit www.FiscalDoctor.com or call (781) 237-3637.

Boston, MA—Gary Patterson, CEO of FiscalDoctor (www.FiscalDoctor.com) has been selected as an Ignite Venture Partners Advisor. Patterson is one of 40 advisors nationwide who provide hands-on expertise to help emerging companies grow and expand, particularly within the health care arena.

Ignite (www.ignite-vp.com) harnesses the collective wisdom and experience of its advisors to help turn innovative ideas in growth markets into sustainable, profitable businesses. Ignite has developed an effective process for choosing and launching ventures that maximize the potential for success. Once an idea has been vetted against Ignite’s venture criteria, a process is initiated for business planning, funding and commercialization.

Patterson was selected as an advisor due to his extensive business knowledge and financial acumen. He has brought about significant outcomes for his clients, helping them to successfully navigate that often murky pathway to growth and profitability. Patterson has worked with over 100 companies — from start-ups to Inc 500 to Fortune 500 — providing high level strategic guidance and expertise.

Gary’s extraordinary track record includes building two start-ups (each achieving $10 million in revenue within their first year), diagnosing company oversights to save $150K to $3 million annually; guiding a young company through a liquidity search resulting in $25 million in financing, and; helping a company broaden its client base 525%, increasing revenue from $16 million to $100 million.

He has also negotiated more than 25 M&A transactions with a market value exceeding $390 million and helped several companies reach tenfold compounded annual growth in revenue. His international experience includes serving as the European coordinator for the global enterprise-wide application of an innovative software pilot program for a Fortune 500 company.

Gary Patterson helps companies who can not complete their Board of Directors package at least three days prior to the meeting. He has 30 years senior management experience with high growth technology, wireless, manufacturing and service companies, and holds a Stanford MBA/ CPA. For more information, please visit www.FiscalDoctor.com or call (781) 237-3637.

Wellesley, MA—FiscalDoctor™ (www.fiscaldoctor.com) has announced a unique suite of fiscal services to help CEOs, board members, executive teams, and private equity investors and owners achieve fiscal health. Through the firm’s comprehensive Fiscal Clinic, high growth businesses may access everything they need — from a quick financial assessment to a comprehensive financial management review — to get them on the path to growth and profitability.

Gary Patterson, president and CEO said FiscalDoctor™ serves as a trusted advisor to growth companies, helping them to “traverse that often murky pathway to financial health and profitability.” In establishing FiscalDoctor,™ Patterson said that his primary mission is to help CEOs attain vision while managing risk. “The Fiscal Clinic model is designed to assess, diagnose and treat fiscal and operational issues that may be inhibiting growth.”

FiscalDoctor™ offers four levels of service through Fiscal Clinic, of which clients may access one or all four service areas, depending upon their level of need. These include:

Checkup — A high level overview to identify immediate issue(s) to be resolved or to help a client better understand his or her company’s current financial position. This service includes five key recommendations for financial and operational fitness.

Diagnosis — A thorough analysis and review of financials and systems to identify risks and opportunities. Ten strategic recommendations are included to provide a framework for better managing the challenges inherent in growing a company.

Treatment — Implementation of best practices to achieve “order from chaos” and bring stability. Provides short-term action steps and a more in-depth plan for attaining corporate vision, managing risk and enhancing profitability.

Wellness — Ongoing advisory services and guidance to maintain financial health and support

Patterson’s extensive experience and expertise translate into practical, hands-on strategies to help CEOs address such issues as attaining corporate goals and vision; identifying, prioritizing and pursuing new opportunities; effectively balancing risk and reward based on existing resources, and; optimizing infrastructure to achieve growth and profitability.

FiscalDoctor™ President and CEO Gary W. Patterson has more than 30 years of senior management experience with high growth technology, wireless, manufacturing and service companies. He has worked with more than 75 companies — from start-ups to Inc 500 to Fortune 500 — providing high level strategic guidance and expertise. Gary’s financial acumen and extensive business knowledge have brought about significant outcomes for his clients, helping them to successfully navigate that often murky pathway to growth and profitability.

Board Approval for Gary Patterson
East Greenwich, RI 02818
February 28 2006

The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) has approved another member to achieve the rare SAC® Board Approved designation. This approval means that the consultant has worked in a specialized area for a considerable length of time; has provided detailed, documented evidence of success directly from clients in that specialty; and has conformed to the Code of Ethics of the society, serving as a thought leader and exemplar in the profession in general and their specialty in particular.

The individual is:

Gary Patterson, CEO of FiscalDoctor, Inc. in Wellesley, MA. He has achieved Board Approval as Trusted Advisor for Growth Companies.

SAC membership consists of less than 1% of consultants worldwide due to stringent membership requirements, and less than 3% of SAC members have achieved Board Approval status.

“This is a tough position to obtain, at the height of one’s profession, and is a great criterion to apply when clients are considering consultants,” says SAC CEO Alan Weiss, Ph.D. “It’s difficult to choose the right resources in certain areas, and our Board Approval is evidence, not promotion, but real instances of consistent success in delivering client results.” The SAC office will serve as a reference point and share that evidence with any clients seeking more information on Board Approved members.

SAC is an international association of consulting professionals who subscribe to an industry code of ethics and have provided evidence of significant consulting results among their clients. For more information, please go to http://www.consultingsociety.com, write to [email protected], or call 800/825-6153 (401/886-4097).

([email protected])
Society for Advancement of Consulting
Box 746
East Greenwich, RI 02818
Phone : 401-886-4097
Fax : 401-884-5068

Society for Advancement of Consulting
Contact Alan Weiss

In a monthly poll of its membership, the Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) reports that lagging businesses are subject to short-term, rapid revival—but only if the leadership is not lagging.

Gayle Lantz, president of Gayle Lantz, LLC in Birmingham, AL, reports that as a first step, leaders should reinvigorate the organizational vision. “Revisit or recreate the organization’s vision. A compelling vision can be revitalizing. Avoid overworking the vision statement; you don’t need a wordsmith. What’s most important is that the vision resonates with employees in whatever form the organization has chosen to express it. Organizations can incorporate visual, metaphoric, or dramatic interpretations of their vision.”

SAC CEO Alan Weiss, Ph.D. notes, “Many firms try to become better at what they are already doing, rather attempting new things. If it merely tries to improve, a lagging organization will simply lag a bit less. It should begin by really breaking the mold, reinventing itself, and starting a new life. Apple did it with the IPod. IBM did it with its consulting arm. But US Airways and GM don’t seem able to understand that dynamic.”

It’s vitally important to focus on your best customers and prospects, rather than the entire range or the stragglers. SAC member Gary Patterson, President of Fiscal Doctor in Boston, reports he is no longer surprised by his clients’ lack of interest in determining their top ten customers are by profitability, until after they engage him to help on another topic. Then someone usually asks, “If you can find out who our ten best customers are, please let me know, so I can visit the right people.”

John Carroll, president of Unlimited Performance in Mt. Pleasant, SC, has identified three immediate actions to change the momentum of a lagging organization:

1. Stop digging. No one else put you in the hole. Own up to the fact that the shovel is firmly in your grip, and there’s something you’re doing or not doing to create your situation.

2. Chop one obvious piece of dead wood. In order of potential effectiveness, this can be the non-producing team member or the struggling profit center that has yet to live up to its name.

3. Get out to see your customers. You’re more likely to learn by visiting customers than by studying spreadsheets.

Weiss concludes that based on SAC members’ observations of thousands of businesses, the toughest parts of reversing the doldrums are admitting the problem and taking responsibility for fixing it. “We’re obsessed with avoiding blame, rather than creating improvement,” notes Weiss. “Organizations are not turned around from the bottom up, but from the top down, and that’s why leaders are presumably paid top dollar. You don’t need high-priced help to merely steer the old course.”

SAC is an international association of consulting professionals who subscribe to an industry code of ethics and have provided evidence of significant consulting results among their clients. For more information, please go to http://www.consultingsociety.com, write to [email protected], or call 800/825-6153 (401/886-4097).

Wellesley, MA—Gary Patterson, CEO of FiscalDoctor™ (www.fiscaldoctor.com), was recently a featured panelist at the Merrimack Valley Venture Forum. Patterson discussed alternative financing options as part of a program designed to help early stage companies explore both traditional and non-traditional sources of funding.

Patterson presented three options, including examples of license one sector, factor receivables/contracts and combined vendor and customer support. In looking at these options, Patterson provided suggestions as to how to decide which option is the best fit. He said a CEO should ask his or her self a series of questions: 1) Why is this a great opportunity? 2) Why are we building this company? 3) How do we fund the next two quarters? and, 4) Where are we financially?

FiscalDoctor™ President and CEO Gary W. Patterson has more than 30 years of senior management experience with high growth technology, wireless, manufacturing and service companies. He has worked with more than 92 companies — from start-ups to Inc 500 to Fortune 500 — providing high level strategic guidance and expertise. Gary’s financial acumen and extensive business knowledge have brought about significant outcomes for his clients, helping them to successfully navigate that often murky pathway to growth and profitability.