Marketing
Trajectory Consulting is Helping Professional Service Firms Improve Their Acceleration Into the Future
Professionals tend to get so caught up in the day-to-day that they forget about building and planning for a future where they will sell their business and retire. Marcia Riner founded Trajectory Consulting to help professional service firm owners realize their potential as leaders rather than the ones swinging the hammer.
Most people can relate to finding themselves at a stoplight, at the gym or even in the shower thinking about things they should be doing back at the office — like chasing that next client or kicking off Facebook ads to continue to grow.
Marcia’s one-on-one coaching and workshop teaches professionals that “there’s a lot of methods and strategies you can use to accelerate growth, and then follow it up with the scaling that needs to happen. So your company can continue to be in that ideal position and grow in a less stressful way,” said Marcia.
Her teachings are based on preparing to sell your company because a “business we’re selling is also a business worth owning,” shared Marcia. She shares lots of ideas about how small to medium sized firms can scale up and become self-sustaining with clients.
Marcia’s Strategies
One thing Marcia tries to drive home with all her clients is that no one wants to buy your headaches. Meaning that a business wasn’t meant to be run by one person and buyers don’t want to purchase businesses without sound processes in place. So she works with clients to devise a plan with the end in mind.
Trajectory Consulting’s method revolves around eight key factors:
- Positive and growing cash flow
- Strong financials
- Limited owner involvement
- Recognized brand and effective marketing
- Diversified income streams
- Loyal employees + key man
- Documented systems
- Clear and distinct direction
Marcia said she finds 1, 2 and 3 to be the most troublesome of the eight key factors. So, to scale or sell your business, strong financials and positive growing cash flow will make or break a deal. She says, “you’ve got to have three years of really clean positive financials that make your company look strong.”
She also noted that buyers are looking for companies with increasing cash flow where revenue is going up and expenses going down. Whether you are planning to sell your business or not, solid financials and positive cash flow will insulate you when hard times like a recession hit, making your job easier on your sanity.
Last, one of her “biggest recommendations is to step back and become the leader and CEO of the company, rather than the chief everything officer.”
She went on to say that “by stepping back, you put systems and processes in place, you put people in place; you can still swing the hammer whenever you want, work with the clients you want and choose the relationships you want to take part in, but you’re getting the support and help to do it better. And that’s one of the biggest shifts. Stepping back and getting the help, guidance and support you need to grow the business makes it easier and more enjoyable.”
About Trajectory Consulting
Marcia founded the company after years of working as a financial planner. During this time, she sought out help from professional coaches on how to sustainably grow her business and shared what she learned with clients. Her clients told her she had a knack for coaching, and she left the financial planning industry to start Trajectory Consulting.
Through Trajectory Consulting, Marcia helps professional firm owners realize the revenues and freedom they dreamed of when starting their businesses. She does this by applying her eight key factors in an individualized way to each client. Then, she works with clients to draw up a plan and execute that plan over the following six months.
Trajectory Consulting offers one-on-one coaching, a workshop called 10x Your Firm and Marcia also hosts a podcast called Profit with a Plan. Learn how to step back and put viable systems in place with Marica Riner and the Trajectory Consulting team with a one-hour free consultation today!
