Do You Know the Top 4 Things on CEOs Minds Right Now?

CEO Q2 Outlook

On Wednesday morning, our leader, Scott Snider, was in his quarterly closed-door meeting with his formal CEO peer group (typically CEBI International groups meet face-to-face with CEOs from a regional area; of course, this week it was hosted on Zoom #socialdistancing).

COVID-19 Affect on CEOs

Each person was sharing how they were dealing with the pandemic in their personal life and their business. On the topic of income: 25% of the CEOs on the call had experienced increased revenues since March 11. The next 50% remarked that they had seen a 1% to 15% revenue loss. The remaining 25% were significantly under duress; reporting revenue down by nearly 85% in some cases.

“Protecting what I have…”

When the moderator asked the group, “What are the top things you need help with right now?” the responses were not about recovering revenue or gaining more. It was all about how to “protect what I have.”

Top 4 Areas of Need

Here were the top four areas that lower to middle market business owners said were essential areas of need right now:

  1. Current tax situation and short/long-term tax planning
  2. Contingency planning
  3. Reliable advice and trustworthy information to help protect business value and stabilize during volatility
  4. Best practices for leading through crisis, including financial planning, operational health, cash flow management, and focusing on creating a business that can weather any storm based on its transferable knowledge base.

How Advisers Can Help

Entrepreneurs want to know how to stabilize their companies (and quickly) to achieve the financial, business, and personal goals they set out to accomplish when they began. And they need your help to address these concerns and move ahead with confidence and assurance.

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