Wednesday, June 29, 2011

A Class Act from Fulton Financial Corporation

J. Austin Good
Class of 2014
By J. Austin Good, Class of 2014, Accounting Major at Elizabethtown College, S. Dale High Center Intern

This past semester (Spring 2011) I was enrolled in a Career Planning Seminar taught by Professor Joseph Molony. Mr. Molony is an adjunct professor at Elizabethtown College and also an advisor at the S. Dale High Center for Family Business. While providing personal insight as to the opportunities available for students, he was also able to bring in business executives from the central Pennsylvania region to share their own career paths. Presentations ranged from Will Gooding (GSM Roofing) to Hunter Gross (Armstrong) and Mark Legenstein (Certified Carpet). Each executive provided information regarding their career choices and advice for us students. Jim Shreiner, a senior executive vice-president at Fulton Financial Corporation-parent of Fulton Bank, and an alum of the college, gave an especially informative overview of the banking industry.

Mr. Shreiner described the banking crisis in great detail, carefully explaining the reasons behind the economic downturn. Although many banks were caught red-handed with bad loans and defaults on mortgages, Fulton Financial Corporation managed to weather the storm because of their conservative approach to banking. They did not fall victim to high-risk securities since they saw the risk as being greater than the reward, which in turn was quite accurate. Fulton has continued to grow and gain strength within their industry with numerous banks located in the eastern United States. Jim Shreiner shared much information on banking and the changes that have occurred since he entered the industry after college, but he also gave a personal testimony regarding his own career path.

James Shreiner
Class of 1973
After managing a local State Farm branch office for 2 years, Mr. Shreiner found a home with Fulton Bank. He had steadily climbed the corporate ladder until his early sixties where he was capable of being the next President of Fulton Financial Corporation. However, the Fulton Financial Corporation Board of Directors appointed a younger executive as president for greater long term continuity. Mr. Shreiner was not denied the position due to ability, rather timing and external circumstances did not allow him to have a chance at becoming the next president. Jim Shreiner took the change in stride and continues to perform well in his current position.

His story is a great example of being able to work well with colleagues regardless of career path and position. I find his attitude to be one that should be adopted by more people, as we are often quick to look out for our own good and slow to promote the company for which we work and the people with whom we work. So next time things do not work out well from a personal standpoint, try to congratulate those who receive the promotions and keep a positive attitude about your own work so as not to negatively affect your personal performance.

Fulton Bank is a corporate partner to the S. Dale High Center for Family Business and has many area family businesses as customers.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Five Best Family Business Tweets

by Gale Martin, Director of Marketing and Member Relations, S. Dale High Center for Family Business

Many first-rate publications Tweet their content
on Twitter, one article at a time.
Day in and day out, our High Center Twitter feed coughs up some inspired content which is then aggregated into The Family-Business Daily online broadsheet.

Here's five of my favorite content Tweets from the previous week:
  • 3 Tips for Leading People Older Than You - from the Harvard Business Review. Because I help facilitate a forum for next generation family business leaders, I know this is an important topic. The workforce is aging, and family businesses are known for valuing longevity with their employees.
  • Experience Gained Outside the Family Business Can Be a Plus - from Crain's Cleveland Business, which looks at issues affecting the entrepreneurial economy. 
  • How I Nearly Tripled My Blog Traffic - by Ken Mueller at the Inkling Media blog. In the true spirit of social media (which is give more than you get) Ken shares some wonderful tools and what are sure to become best practices for social media marketers.
  • Does Entrepreneur Education Have Value? Can It Be Taught? - by Babson College. The Executive Director of the High Center Mike McGrann, formerly a professor at Babson, absolutely concurs that it can and should be taught. That's why he teaches a New Venture Creation class at Elizabethtown College now. For senior execs who want their next generation to exhibit more of their own enterprising spirit, this is an important read.
  • Entitlement on Steroids -  by Paul and David Karofsky. This is a bald-faced look at "an attitude of noblesse oblige gone awry" among next generation family business leaders.
So there you have it! Happy reading, and if you aren't following these folks on Twitter, if you don't have time for Twitter, all you need do is subscribe to The Family-Business Daily--it arrives every day in your preferred email Inbox.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Quote of the Week

"People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps." – Mary Kay Ash (founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Manage Family Business Succession To Reduce Its Sting

by Mike McGrann, Executive Director, The S. Dale High Center for Family Business

Choosing a successor can be hard
on siblings.
Did you know that family-owned businesses are responsible for 60 percent of total employment in the United States? Here’s a chilling statistic from the Mass Mutual Family Business Survey 2007: 

Fifty-five percent of CEO’s set to retire in five years have not yet chosen a successor.

If family businesses constitute the backbone of the
American economy, why are nearly half of their executives compromising future viability by failing to put a succession plan in place?

Succession is a tough nut.

Leadership succession is hard for everyone. According to a recent article in Newsweek, large publicly traded firms struggle with succession. It’s an inherently difficult process. Add to that process all the family dynamics that have given family businesses a negative connotation, especially in the U.S, per that same Newsweek article. Throw in a host of family business leaders who equate succession with death because they have nothing to transition to once they are “out” of the business because they failed to acknowledge their own departures, and it's no wonder succession is easier to avoid than tackle head on.

For the successor generation the succession process can be painful, too. It can feel as though the child chosen to succeed the outgoing leader has won the prize whereas all other children in contention have lost. Who wants to create that kind of conflict and tension within the family?

How to manage family business succession.

The good news is that succession can be managed with a good process that is neither magical nor difficult to understand. One of the things family businesses can do is empower a board that includes a few directors outside the family business to help manage the development of new talent and choose a successor. The final decision can be based on requirements that have identified the most qualified successor to lead the business (as opposed to perceived favoritism), which will minimize family pain.
If you are five years out from your retirement, there is still time to roll out a healthy succession plan. The longer you wait, however, the more you limit your ability to develop a talent pool of successors.

Mike McGrann
Mike’s Bottom Line: Succession doesn’t have to be all gloom and doom. It can be managed if executives can get their head around two things—plan for business leaders to transition up and not out; and follow a proven process of using a board to help manage succession.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Co-Presidency Doesn’t Work for Most Family Businesses

by Mike McGrann, Executive Director, S. Dale High Center for Family Business

Mike McGrann
It’s not uncommon for family businesses to have two rising executives (two siblings, two cousins, etc.,) both of whom feel they are the right person to become the next president.
If that sounds like your family business, should you be thinking co-presidency? It may seem like the easy answer to a tough succession decision.

However, the fact that it is an easy answer does not make it the right approach. There’s a good reason why the United States has only one president. I am reminded of a comment from former U.S. President George W. Bush, the guest speaker at the 2011 Lancaster Chamber dinner, who said, “The President gets lots of input from many sources. My job was to make the call based on the information available.” In this system, there is no ambiguity about who is responsible for making the tough call.

Family businesses, like all organizations, require a clear hierarchy to function effectively…and having one highly qualified individual at the top of the organization is the most effective way to achieve a clear hierarchy. The challenge with co-presidencies is that, by their very nature, they lend themselves to ambiguity about who makes what decision, and when that decision can be made. This kind of ambiguity at the top of an organization is deadly and quickly leads to confusion, organizational inefficiency, lack of productivity, etc.

Is a co-presidency right for you?
Often the decision to appoint co-presidents is often made because of the potential family conflict that would arise if one family member is chosen over the other. The merit of who is really most qualified to lead the company gets lost in the fear of conflict and hurt feelings that one family member “won” and the other “lost” in the succession marathon.

This is not to say that co-presidents cannot work. In fact, Mars and Smuckers, two of the most competitive and successful food manufacturers in world have long history of effective leadership from two brothers who served as co-presidents. Tim and Richard Smucker operate their business based on a clear set of roles for each brother, constant communication between them, and a high of degree of trust in each other.

So if you are leaning toward co-presidents, you’ll need crystal clear roles and a process for resolving disagreements when the roles of the co-presidents overlap (A&B below). A Board of Directors can be effective in this role.
Mike’s Bottom Line: If you are going to appoint co-presidents of a company, it should for the right reasons: you have two highly qualified family members with distinct skill sets whose roles and responsibilities have been clearly delineated—not because it is the easiest way to avoid a family conflict.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Integrating Social Media into the B2B Marketing Mix: One Success Story

Kristy Mellinger
Hometown Provisions
by Kristy Mellinger, Marketing Director, Hometown Provisions

If you're uncertain whether B2B's should be engaged in social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In, this is the story of how I successfully integrated social media into Hometown Provisions' B2B marketing mix.

As a bit of background, Hometown Provisions is a family-owned wholesale foodservice distributor that sells to restaurants, supermarkets, pizza shops, farmers’ markets, educational facilities and more, in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.

Hometown Provisions
Headquartered in Lancaster, PA
In November of 2009, I was lucky enough to enter the business as the first Marketing Director, so I was able to create the company’s marketing strategy and plan and guide it as it developed.

I chose to redesign our website as my first task, because I did not think the information that our previous website had on it represented our company accurately. I wanted our staff to confidently direct customers to our website for useful information. My goal in the website redesign was to make sure that there was enough information on our site to meet our current and prospective customer’s needs as well as potential future employees, and ultimately, to increase company awareness and revenue and create lead generation.

In order to accomplish my website goals, I integrated social media into our site, by putting direct links on our website and having a blog within our site. I wanted open and honest communication so that customers were as informed as they wanted to be, so that their expectations were met. and that no information was ever misleading. Social media allows for this two-way communication with our customers while increasing our Internet presence.

Here are the steps that I took to incorporate social media into our marketing mix.

Screenshot of new website
1.  I chose to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a Hometown blog (What's New) on our website. Facebook because of its user friendly interface for posting company information, pics and articles. Twitter won a spot, mostly because of the additional exposure that it gives our business and my web designer recommended I use it (which now I am grateful that I did). LinkedIn was chosen because of the professional exposure it gives us, being able to use it for job openings and to possibly draw future employees to our company. Lastly, I started a blog on our site that allows me to post monthly specials, weekly recipes and important delivery or closure announcements.

2. Being a B2B business I was not sure exactly how social media would benefit our customers, but I still decided to incorporate it into our website and figure it out as I learned more about what our customer’s needs were.

3. After the website was launched I began to figure out a schedule for Hometown’s blog, Facebook and Twitter pages. What truly helped me was to study the food industry and to find articles and other blogs that would assist me with my posts. I joined a few industry relevant groups on LinkedIn. I also signed up for email lists on food related blogs. From all of this information I sift through and decide what information would be relevant to our customers.

4. What I like about social media is the amount of open communication that happens. I have found it helpful to “follow” or “like” customers on Twitter and Facebook and to support them by promoting different deals that they have going on. It is also nice to learn more about our customers based on what they post!

5. Most recently I incorporated email blasts, through Mail Chimp. This service allows customers to sign up for a weekly email newsletter, that sums up the week and gives a sneak peak into future specials that will be on sale the following week. Readers can sign up for the newsletter list either through our website or Facebook.

6. I have been able to track the success of our social media through Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Mail Chimp’s reports, and lead generation. I have seen an increase in the number of visits to our website over the past year and I am able to pin point which blog posts draws more people to the website. All the parts of our social media are very much connected. Apart from the internet reports some of the best news for me as Marketing Director is to hear a new customer found out about us on the Internet, which is all information that we keep track of.

All in all, social media has been a success for our B2B marketing mix at Hometown Provisions. I have found that social media provides opportunities to not only inform, but also to engage and build a community of support for our brand and product. One trick that I have used throughout this whole process is to stay focused on Hometown’s marketing goals, who our target audience is and making sure that we stay true to our mission statement. (Before making marketing decisions, I like to look at all three of these statements):

Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide personalized service and quality products that meet or exceed our customers' needs and expectations.

Commitment
We strive to develop lasting, family-like relationships with all of our customers, employees and vendors, and to treat them in a fair, honest and caring way.

Vision Statement
Our Vision is: #1. Be a great wholesale food distributor for our customers and vendors. #2. Be a great place to work. #3. Have the financial strength to accomplish #1 and #2.


Kristy is a graduate of Babson College, where she earned a BA in Business Administration/Marketing. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or studying analytics related to the Hometown Provisions website, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and doing anything active!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Spotlight on Richards Energy Group: a member's member

Richards Energy Group is an independent 'energineering' firm (and a family business) dedicated to cutting energy costs and one of our valued High Center members.

Founded in 1995 by Frank Richards and headquartered in Landisville, Richards Energy Group has been an approved electric supplier in PA since 1999 and is also licensed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

Frank and his team kindly offered to answer our questions about Richards Energy Group for the benefit of "High Ground" readers:

What services do you provide to businesses? We help industrial & commercial customers manage electric costs, including competitive power purchasing, lighting retrofits, energy audits, demand response programs for backup generation, utility bill auditing, and cost analysis.

Do you have other family businesses as clients and why have they come to you? Many of our clients are family businesses. We are local, strive to do what's best for each client, have substantial expertise and focus on service and value. So, our values are closely aligned with many other family businesses.
“We consider ourselves to be quite knowledgeable in the retail food business however, when it comes to electricity usage and procurement, it becomes necessary to have a trusted partner like Richards Energy Group assisting us with conserving, buying, and auditing our electricity usage.”
                      -- Jeffrey Good (Amelia’s Inc., Center member)
Essentially, what is your value proposition? We help clients understand and control energy costs. We invest our talents to provide optimal solutions to reduce both energy consumption and energy expenditures. We only recommend projects when the payback is good.

Now that PPL rate caps are gone, is it a good time to upgrade to high efficiency lighting systems? Absolutely. Efficient lighting upgrades are always a great idea, but now with the higher electric rates, the paybacks are faster. The systems we design usually cut electricity usage in half while improving light quality.

Does PA Act 129 (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act) help even more? Absolutely again! Rebates are available to customers of PA utilities, and in some cases have actually covered the entire cost of materials for our retrofit projects. But the funding for this program, entering its third (and potentially last) year is being quickly consumed…dollars for some utility rate classes are already depleted, so there is some urgency to getting projects into the rebate pipeline right now.

Where does the money come from for Act 129 rebates? Great question…there’s a clue to the answer on every one of our electric bills…a line item that states “Act 129” or “Energy Efficiency”. So the short answer is YOU and me. Since we have to pay for it anyhow, we might as well try to get some benefit from it.

What is the REAP users group? REAP is a unique electric power purchasing consortium established in 1998 to take advantage of the buying clout a large group can exercise over electric suppliers. REAP is an acronym for "Richards Energy Affinity Program." I created REAP, making it a "strong" group...clients give us the authority to sign electric power deals for them, so we can act quickly and effectively when opportunities arise in the volatile energy futures market.

You actually sign the Supplier Contracts? Yes, and we don't take that lightly...we also review those contracts thoroughly, and review the bills when they start coming to be sure clients actually get the deal they were supposed to. It's a unique approach, but it has served our clients well.

Does REAP work? Yes...in fact, in 2003 and 2004, REAP comprised most of the load actually shopping in all of PPL. We now actively manage 1 billion kWh of industrial/commercial accounts, and provide shopping solutions no one else can offer.

A final word? We like our customers and we like "win-win". That might sound worn out, but it rings true for Richards Energy.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Five best family-business tweets

Gale Martin
by Gale Martin, Marketing Director, S. Dale High Center for Family Business

Every day, world-class publications post links to great articles which I obtain through our High Center Twitter feed. A nifty application created by paper.li organizes selected Tweets into an online broadsheet called The Family-Business Daily.

There's abundant content daily to be exploited by family business executives and managers. In an effort to get some of it--any of it--into the hands of busy family business leaders, I've created a short list of the best articles culled from our Twitter feed this week, in the event you don't have a Twitter feed or are too busy to follow yours.

Here are my five picks over the last week:
  1. Harvard Business Review blog -- "The Only Thing That Really Matters" by Tony Schwartz, an excellent article on the topics of  Managing yourself, Organizational culture, and Work life balance. If you've ever had your buttons pushed--almost inexplicably--or you've forgotten why your employees come to work every day, you need to read this article.
  2. Entrepreneur Magazine -- "100 Brilliant Companies" including this feature on how a Chester Springs, Pennsylvania-based wine company called Yellow+Blue Is Making a Difference in the Wine Business. Every next generation family business leader should read at least a dozen of these profiles, to get your entrepreneurial juices flowing.
  3. Inc. Magazine -- "What You Can Learn from an NBA Coach" -- Seven Leadership Lessons from Coach Avery Johnson.
  4. The Exuberant Accountant -- "Is Increasing the Tax Rate for the Rich the Answer to Decreasing the Deficit?" McKonly and Asbury partner Scott Heintzelman's argument against prevailing wisdom that the federal government needs to tax the most wealthy among us.
  5. Harvard Business Review -- "Nine Things Successful People Do Differently," another fabulous post by motivational psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson, an oldie but goodie that keeps being Retweeted.
So, happy reading. Feel free to comment if you read any of these pieces and found them insightful.

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