EO Melbourne Strategic Alliance Partner Growth CFO holds Masterclass on Accelerated Growth

EO Melbourne’s Strategic Alliance Partner Growth CFO, a strategic financial management and accounting services company, has conducted The Growth CFO Masterclass on Accelerated Growth.

Attended by EO Melbourne Members and those in its Key Executive Forums, the Masterclass provided participants with strategic tools that could help increase the value of their businesses. Whether they were looking to grow their business or to sell it, participants learned the structured way of how to go about valuing their businesses and defined key levers in business valuation.

Leveraging on their industry experience in business growth, Damian Lococo, Growth CFO Co-Founder and CFO, and Alf Priestley, Growth CFO Co-Founder and Growth CFO, discussed the major factors in business valuation and workshopped three (3) key drivers which attendees could apply in their respective enterprises.

Damian Lococo is an experienced trusted Business Advisor working closely with CEOs of businesses ranging from small to medium enterprises through to significant large corporates. Alf Priestley serves his clients and their families as an experienced adviser, coach and facilitator, as he has spent over twenty-five years advising CEOs, business owners and professionals on optimising their lives.

This learning event enabled EO Melbourne Members and their key executives who are part of the chapter’s Key Executive Program to take a closer look at their businesses and know of the latest trends in their industries. The chapter constantly comes up with events like this that support the needs and development of the 360° entrepreneur.

EO Melbourne secures Growth CFO as a Strategic Alliance Partner

EO Melbourne is excited to announce its newest Strategic Alliance Partner — introducing Growth CFO! This new partnership will deliver exceptional value to EO Melbourne members by providing access to leading strategic financial advice — with a difference.

Growth CFO is a leading Melbourne-based strategic financial management and accounting firm that assists business owners to achieve transformational growth through accurate financial data enabling plan clarity, learning profitability habits to minimise waste, and developing processes enabling its partners to perform in the top percentile of their industry.

With Growth CFO as an EO Strategic Alliance Partner, they can help EO members evaluate growth options to select the best path for their business, review monthly profit reports and develop a customised financial road map that meets business objectives, develop cash forecasting that matches their business cycle, and establish workflows and accounting platforms that enable scale, among many others.

Companies partnering with Growth CFO can expect to understand where their business stands today and maximise it with clear growth plans for future development and position their business to take bold moves that enable transformational growth.

The strategic alliance partnership of Growth CFO and EO Melbourne also extends to EO members a special free offer where they can obtain their Value Builder Score and report. In addition, Growth CFO offers the use of their select meeting rooms to EO Forums and offers topics for forum presentations.

EO Melbourne has a positive outlook for the year ahead, especially with partnerships established with reputable companies like Growth CFO. Learn more about our partnership at https://www.eomelbourne.org/growth-cfo.

When to partner with a competitor

It may not be commonplace to find competitors partnering with each other, but it is also not a rare case. Besides, such collaboration only lasts for a certain period and is not expected to be done in the long-term.

However, there are benefits you can get by working with a competition, although it may also pose some risks. But if you have a common goal in mind, then doing so may mean you have to set aside your differences and cooperate until you achieve what you both want to attain. Just make sure that you keep your trade secrets close to your chest as certain circumstances may call for it.

During times of crisis

A crisis, tragedy or disaster, such as the global pandemic we are currently experiencing, are few instances when you need to put two minds together until both your businesses can surpass such difficulty. Oftentimes, several companies in the same industry come together to cooperate so that they can survive and navigate through a crisis.

For innovation in the industry

Competition happens not just among businesses belonging in the same field but also among various industries. With the rise of online and app-based ventures, physical stores or those with physical products experience a dent on their performance. Other industries are left behind because of the fast technological advancements. Partnering with a competitor to revive your industry or innovate it is a good move to help your business withstand the rising trend of other new industries.

When expanding the market

It is often difficult to enter a new market or expand your existing one to new territories. To save you on your effort and resources, as doing so may require a huge risk, partnering with a business similar to yours may be a wise thing to do in certain situations.

To complement each other’s business

While you are competitors, you may have different strengths and unique selling propositions that one may have over the other. You may complement each other’s businesses by putting on the table something that the other one does not have.

In facing a bigger competitor

When a huge corporation dominates a certain market, small businesses sometimes suffer as they only get a meagre portion of the pie. They need to join forces so that they can increase their market share and have a better competing power against the big player in the field.

For a common charitable cause

Businesses usually help out a sector that is related to their brand or operation. Construction firms would want to build homes to the homeless or schools to communities in need. Enterprises that are into children may help in education. Competing companies can work together to help a particular sector of society, hoping to provide better conditions to that group.

It may be an opportunity to find a circumstance where you can partner with a competitor. But then, think it over thoroughly, do a lot of research, discuss it with your team and analyse the situation carefully. There are benefits with working with a competitor but know the risks. Be sure that you do it to advance your business and help you get closer to your vision and goals.

Benefits of business collaborations

Companies, big or small, sometimes work together for a common goal that will mutually benefit each party involved. Collaborations are not uncommon among brands and organisations, especially if this can lead to increased knowledge and sales. Such partnerships may occur through joint projects in developing new products and services, enhanced processes, training and upskilling of people, sales and marketing initiatives and so much more.

Before you get into any form of collaboration, you first have to assess your current state and upcoming plans vis-à-vis to that of the prospective partner organisations. Conduct a SWOT analysis of your business and the other participating businesses. How will this benefit you and your company? What will be the division of labour? How are you going to work out the partnership? What are the stipulations in the collaboration?

One thing to note is that you need to do your thorough research and risk assessment before committing to a collaboration. Make sure that things are documented in black and white so that you have something to refer to in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the business relationship. But if such cooperation between businesses become a huge success, the benefits to your venture can be enormous.

Shared learnings

Collaboration may lead to the sharing of new information, best practices and additional knowledge about your industry and current trends that can be useful to the development of your business. It is when you go outside the box and expand your horizons that you will get to see so much more things to learn that can help you and your venture grow significantly.

Enhanced human capital

The best training for your people is to provide them with on-hand training and exposure, one that collaboration with other businesses can bring to the table. It can widen their horizon and allow them to think outside what you consider as a norm in your organisation. This will enhance their capability as they get to experience new things in a different setting.

Improved products and services

Whether your partner with other businesses to develop a new product or service, combine the best parts of your respective offerings or enhance what is already available, such cooperation will allow you to offer more to your customers. In effect, it will attract additional prospects to your business and grow your clientele.

Increased promotions and brand value

Some collaborations may be limited to joint promotions or marketing tactics. Nevertheless, partnering with another brand, especially a stronger one, may increase the value of your name and expand your reach. It will widen your audience and market as you will be able to communicate to your collaborators’ network. In the long run, it will be helpful to your brand, not only for name recall but also for its trustworthiness.

Financial gains

With experienced people, better offerings and attractive promotions, collaborations may be able to help boost your sales and increase your profit. Successful partnerships may even benefit your bottom line in the long-term as more and more people will look at it as a sign that your business is one that they can depend on. Moreover, the resources and effort that you will put into collaborations vis-à-vis the advantages you will gain will be more cost-efficient as compared to you doing it all by yourself.

Competitive edge

During and after a successful collaboration, all the learnings and improvements that your venture will obtain will give you a competitive edge over other players in the field as you move forward on your entrepreneurial journey. Other businesses get into some form of cooperation with other companies, even for a short period, to use it as a launching pad for more endeavours.

There are surely great wins when you work with other business entities. There are also risks involved and failed collaborations may even have an adverse impact, so do it sparingly and with caution. But if you work towards making it successful, you will reap the fruits of your labour a hundredfold. They may not necessarily come immediately or in monetary form, but it will provide your organisation with many more insights that you will not normally get when you work on your own.