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Rich Waigand Named One of Most Admired Business Leaders in STL!
Congratulations to one of our very own – Rich Waigand. He was recently featured in this month’s issue of Small Business Monthly as one of their Most Admired Business Leaders. Check out the article below and thanks to Rich for always being a leader at SFW Partners, LLC as well as in the St. Louis…
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Hit the Target With Your Email Marketing
Online retail sales have been booming during the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend has been driven not only by the buying public’s increased inclination to minimize visits to brick-and-mortar stores, but also by the effectiveness of many retailers’ virtual marketing efforts. One such effort that can benefit most any type of business is email marketing. Although…
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Family Business Owners Must Weave Together Succession and Estate Planning
It’s been estimated that there are roughly 5 million family-owned businesses in the United States. Annually, these companies make substantial contributions to both employment figures and the gross domestic product. If you own a family business, one important issue to address is how to best weave together your succession plan with your estate plan. Rise to…
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4 Steps to Improving Your Company’s Sales
Most salespeople would tell you that there are few better feelings in life than closing a deal. This is because guiding a customer through the sales process and coming out the other side with dollars committed isn’t a matter of blind luck. It’s a craft — based on equal parts data mining, psychology, intuition and…
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Cutoffs: What Counts in 2020 vs. 2021
As year end approaches, it’s a good idea for calendar-year entities to review the guidelines for recognizing revenue and expenses. There are specific rules regarding accounting cutoffs under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Strict observance of these rules is generally the safest game plan. The basics Companies that follow GAAP must use the accrual…
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Avoiding Conflicts of Interest With Auditors
A conflict of interest could impair your auditor’s objectivity and integrity and potentially compromise you company’s financial statements. That’s why it’s important to identify and manage potential conflicts of interest. What is a conflict of interest? According to the America Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), “A conflict of interest may occur if a member…
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Should You Add a Technology Executive to Your Staff?
The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic impact have hurt many companies, especially small businesses. However, for others, the jarring challenges this year have created opportunities and accelerated changes that were probably going to occur all along. One particular area of speedy transformation is technology. It’s never been more important for businesses to wield their internal…
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Rightsizing Your Sales Force
With a difficult year almost over, and another one on the horizon, now may be a good time to assess the size of your sales force. Maybe the economic changes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic led you to downsize earlier in the year. Or perhaps you’ve added to your sales team to seize opportunities. In…
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The Balanced Scorecard Approach to Strategic Planning
In the early 1990s, the Balanced Scorecard approach to strategic planning was developed to enable business owners to better organize and visualize their objectives. With 2021 shaping up to be a year of both daunting challenges and potentially remarkable recovery, your company should have a strategic plan that’s both comprehensive and flexible. Giving this methodology…
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Put Your Company’s Financial Statements to Work for You
It’s almost time for calendar-year businesses to prepare their year-end financial statements. If used correctly, these reports can be a valuable management tool. Use them in benchmarking and forecasting to be proactive, not reactive, to market changes. 1. Benchmarking Historical financial statements can be used to evaluate the company’s current performance vs. past performance or…
