Transition Stories

Deborah Fell interviews Tom Zucker, Managing Director at EdgePoint Capital, about transitioning a family-owned business. Zucker emphasizes the importance of preparation and planning, particularly in terms of understanding a business's competitive edge and unique position in the marketplace.
Zucker stresses the significance of storytelling in successfully transitioning a family business. A financial statement alone fails to convey a company's purpose or potential. He provides an example of a family business that sold successfully due to its unique product that fit perfectly into the product line of a larger company. Zucker notes that the story must be authentic, informed, and tied together to be effective.
Tom acknowledges the emotional side of transitioning a family business, advising that owners should start the preparation process at least 24 months in advance. He also highlights the importance of transparency and authenticity in communicating with employees and family members during the transition process. Listen to this episode, "Navigating Emotional and Financial Challenges of Business Transitions."
 
About Deborah's guest, Tom Zucker
Tom Zucker serves as the President of EdgePoint Capital, managing client transactions, overseeing its day-to-day management, and executing strategic initiatives.
Tom uses his extensive business and financial experience to assist business owners in completing transition events, acquisitions, or recapitalizations. His diverse experiences range from executing corporate divestitures for General Electric to assisting small closely held businesses in executing family ownership transitions.
Links from this episode:
EdgePoint Capital
Tom Zucker on LinkedIn
Deborah Fell on LinkedIn
Chief Outsiders

We had a great discussion last episode with Gary Stockman about balancing the push and pull of driving new business and maintaining profitability. Today, I want to dive deeper into one particular aspect of our conversation that shouldn't be overlooked - the value proposition that a company offers to its customers.
As Gary mentioned, it's crucial to understand what matters to your customers and what attracted them to your company in the first place. If you're feeling pressure on prices from customers because of the economic environment, it may be time to go back and understand if your value proposition is still unique and if it solves their pain points in a way only you can solve. To do this, I recommend talking to four or five of your top customers and having a CEO-to-CEO level discussion about their pain points and the current environment. You can also talk to your sales team and even have an outside firm conduct one-on-one conversations with your core customers to gain insights about how their needs and wants may have changed.
Maintaining a strong value proposition is anti-commoditization and can help you maintain price premium and profitability even in uncertain times.
Next week, we will be speaking with Deborah Overdeput, a fractional chief marketing officer for Chief Outsiders, who will share her expertise on sales enablement and the importance of the alignment of sales and marketing. Subscribe to our podcast and join us next week for another insightful episode of Success Beneath the Surface.
The full episode is here.

Why a Segmentation Approach is Key to Customized Pricing Strategies.
In this first episode of Success Beneath the Surface, host Deborah Fell is joined by Gary Stockman to discuss the importance of having a thoughtful approach to pricing strategy. The conversation covers how companies can balance the desire to grow revenue with the need to maintain or grow profits. Gary stresses the importance of having a deep understanding of costs, as well as what truly matters to customers and what drives value for them. The discussion also touches on the challenges of making changes to the pricing strategy in a fast-paced and rapidly changing business environment. Whether you're a CEO or a business leader, this episode will provide you with valuable insights and perspectives on a pricing strategy that can help you make more informed decisions. So tune in and listen to this engaging conversation!