Vendor Management Archives - Malzahn Strategic

September 23, 2026

Build a Strong Succession Plan for Your Business

Topics: Strategic Planning, Succession Planning

As an entrepreneur, you need to build a strong succession plan for your business to ensure longevity. In this blog, we address important questions you need to answer at some point to ensure your business survives you. Baby Boomers are currently retiring in the thousands and if you are one of them, you need to act fast. A well-thought-out Succession Plan will give you peace of mind and an exit strategy for when you choose to retire. Below are the key questions you must answer to build a strong succession plan for your business:

What will your legacy be as a business owner?

Most human beings want to make a difference in the world and leave it better than they found it. As a business owner, you can make a difference in the lives of the people your business helps. What will your legacy be? How do you want to be remembered? Even if you sell your business because you couldn’t find a suitable successor, you can be remembered as the founder.

The bank I helped start in 2005 is now at $2.7 billion in assets. I was the first employee the president/CEO hired and along with a small team we got the bank started. I hope my legacy is that the bank is still running strong. My team created a strong foundation and infrastructure for the bank to grow and build upon it for years to come.

If you know what you want your legacy to be, then start there. Develop a succession plan that will ensure your successor has the same core values and desire to succeed as you. Leaving a strong successor in place will be part of your legacy.

Who are you mentoring to follow your footsteps as a leader?

A strong succession plan includes the future leaders and the “technical” experts that will take the business to the next level. You need both types of successors. You may have an excellent successor to lead the company into the future. But he/she may lack the technical expertise to make the gadgets, or be the “cook,” or be the technology expert. The new leader must understand the business, care about your customers, and know how to hire the right people. The president & CEO must know how to lead the team and be able to articulate the company’s vision.

If you have identified the future leader, are you mentoring that person? The mentorship part of the succession plan is critical for the successor’s success. This is where you share not just “the secret sauce” but your heart for the company. You introduce him/her to the top clients and teach them about those relationships. Also, part of mentoring is helping the successor identify their knowledge gaps and personal development opportunities. Once you identify what those areas are, you develop a Personal Development Plan. This plan includes leadership development, soft skills, technical on-the job training, and managerial skills needed. The soft skills include communication, negotiation, presentation, and organizational skills.

Managerial skills are different from leadership talent development. Understanding labor laws, approving timecards and vacation, and conducting performance reviews are managerial skills that need to be learned. Additionally, managers must know how to hire and fire, understand the employee benefits, and work with HR in employee matters. Leadership development includes learning how to lead others, forming the right teams, identifying future successors, and sharing the company’s vision. As a mentor, you cover all these different aspects with your mentee, your successor.

Who are you training in “how to run the business”?

There is yet another aspect to identify the right successor. You must find someone who understands the type of business and industry you’re in. The successor must learn “how to run the business” which includes understanding your market, your customers, industry, vendors, and regulations.

If you own a restaurant, your successor must know the restaurant business. If you run a supermarket, your successor must understand pricing, marketing strategies, and suppliers. An accounting firm’s president, for example, must hire CPAs that stay current on their certifications and know tax laws. A law firm must ensure to vet the attorneys to ensure they’re knowledgeable of laws in their areas of expertise. Knowing how to run the business you’re in is crucial to the success of the successor. And for you to leave a positive legacy.

How are you investing in your current leadership to identify potential successors?

As your business grows, regardless of industry, you start expanding your leadership team. Investing in your leadership team is crucially important for the growth of your organization. The types of investments include education and training, obtaining the appropriate certifications, and developing their skills as mentioned above.

When you assign new responsibilities to your current employees, how do they react? Do they get annoyed or do they get excited? Are others in the team asking one person to take the lead on special projects? Those may be your natural leaders in the company. Paying attention to behavior helps you identify your internal successors not only for your own role but for others’ too. Natural leaders always rise to the top – whether because they volunteer for additional duties or because others ask them.

Investing in your potential successors – especially the ones you’re targeting for leadership positions – is vital to your succession plan. Lastly, one way to invest in your potential successors is with your time, to get to know them personally. Only spending time with each potential successor allows you to know who the right person is to succeed you. This process includes your family members or non-family employees.

Do you have a team of professionals to help you during the journey (tax accountant, attorney, banker, wealth manager)?

If you’re approaching retirement age and want an exit plan you must engage professionals to help you in the transition. The exit plan can include the sale of the business or transferring it to the next generation. You need experts to help you with the legal side, tax implications, and what’s the best way to transfer ownership.

It is important to plan ahead and build a strong succession plan for your business. Obtaining the necessary help and advice early will ensure you don’t rush at the end. Additionally, you must always be prepared in the event you experience a health issue and need to exit prematurely.

Conclusion on how to build a strong succession plan for your business

Whether you are retiring soon or later, it’s never too early to build a strong succession plan for your business. Your plan begins with the legacy you want to leave. Include in your plan intentional mentoring and training for future leaders. Ensure your successors understand how to lead people. And also, how to run the business, serve customers, manage key relationships, and navigate the industry.

Investing time in your current leadership team will help you identify natural leaders and prepare them for greater responsibility. Finally, you must surround yourself with trusted professionals such as your tax accountant, attorney, banker, and wealth manager. They will help you make wise decisions. With their help, you’ll create a thoughtful exit strategy that protects your business’ future and gives you peace of mind.

As always, we are here to help.

August 19, 2026

One Critical Strategy to Retain Your Business Customers

Topics: Leadership Coaching, Treasury Management

There are multiple strategies to retain your business customers. In this blog, we focus on one critical strategy to retain your business customers: Maximize your Centers of Influence.

Let’s start by defining “Center of Influence.” In business, we refer to centers of influence (or “COIs”) as those individuals that continually send you customers. Whether the customers are individuals or businesses, your COIs are a constant pipeline for your business. In this blog, we focus on maximizing your COIs that refer business customers to you. But the strategies work similarly with consumer customers too.

One simple example of a COI are dentists. If you are an orthodontist and own a practice, who is your best source of referrals? The children’s dentist! Children initially go to a pediatric dentist to ensure everything is fine. Dentists teach children about cavities and also observe how their permanent teeth are growing. As soon as the dentist detects that the permanent teeth are not straight, they tell parents to think about braces. Dentists usually have a couple of their preferred orthodontists, and they give the parents their contact information. Parents then follow up with the “trusted orthodontist” who will take care of their children’s teeth and visit your clinic. At that point, it’s up to you, the orthodontist, to ensure they buy your services and stay with you.

Customer retention is just as crucial as customer acquisition.

Customer retention should be an ongoing strategic objective for financial institutions. Retention is just as crucial as customer acquisition. And one could even say that losing an existing customer is more costly than acquiring a new one. Why? Because you have to “undo” everything you set up for each customer and start the process of acquiring another one. All your time spent training the customers or additional resources hired becomes an expense with no income to show for.

There are multiple reasons business customers leave your institution. One important reason is simply ownership succession. The ownership transition from one generation to the next may not include your financial institution. Why? Because the next generation successors don’t have an existing relationship with your institution. Therefore, they go to other banks or credit unions they know or have relationships with already established.

Another reason is that the current owners sell the company to a new team of investors or another established company. The new owners use different institutions than yours to meet their banking needs, maybe even your competitors.

Who are the primary Advisors for businesses?

Business owners work with three primary advisors during an ownership succession whether the successors are family members or outside investors. And the succession process begins 24 to 36 months before any deal is closed. Below are the three primary advisors to businesses:

CPAs and Accountants: Business owners work with their CPAs on tax matters and in preparing financial statements to present to potential buyers.
Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Attorneys: The attorneys get involved in drafting the Letters of Intent (LOI) for the potential buyers. The business owners selling their business hire their own attorneys to review and negotiate the LOIs.
Wealth Advisors: Business owners, your customers, typically work with their wealth advisors ongoing. They may be the first ones to know when the owner is planning on selling the business. The wealth advisors begin the planning process and work with the tax accountants on multiple scenarios years before deals close. Not all financial institutions own a wealth management company. Therefore, it’s important to create an affiliation with a wealth management company.

Notice that the bank or credit union is not one of their primary advisors. This is a huge opportunity for your institution to become one of your business customers’ four primary advisors!

How to identify and maximize your COIs.

It is important to first identify your Centers of Influence so you can then maximize the relationship. Below are some strategies on how to do so:

As you acquire a business customer, ask them who their key advisors are and ask for an introduction. You can then start building your own relationship with your customers’ advisors.
You can also ask existing business customers who their key advisors are and establish a relationship with them going forward.
If you have already identified your COIs, then get to know them better at the personal level. It’s important that your COIs feel appreciated and valued. Your COIs may or may not be your customer but treat them as your best customers!
If you can, reciprocate and become their COI as well. Referring your institutions business customers to some of your COIs’ firms can be a win-win. Of course, you need to use common sense and avoid conflicts of interest. But it can be done to meet some of your business customers’ needs that your institution cannot meet. Examples are referring them to a tax accountant or an attorney that is also your customer and your COI.
Always say “thank you” to your COI and let them know if the referral became a customer. COIs like to know what happened to the referral.
Lastly, ensure you build relationships with your COIs’ successors too. If your COI is a partner at an accounting firm and he/she is going to retire, ensure they introduce you to their successor. Take the initiative to get to know their successor and offer your banking services to help their customers. Do the same with attorneys or wealth managers if they share about their own retirement timeline.

One Critical Strategy to Retain Your Business Customers – Conclusion

As mentioned above, there are multiple strategies to retain your business customers. One critical strategy to retain your business customers is to maximize your Centers of Influence. You acquire COIs by getting to know your business customers’ advisors early in the relationship. The goal is that when the time comes to selling the business, you retain the business as customers.

Knowing and building relationships with your Centers of Influence is crucial to retain your current business customers after they sell their business. Remember, it doesn’t matter if the business owners sell to their family members or to new investors. What’s important is that you’re building relationships with the successors and your customers’ advisors.

It’s also important to build relationships with your COIs’ successors. Doing so will guarantee your pipeline will continue growing indefinitely and it won’t dry out.

I hope these strategies encourage you to identify your COIs and maximize your relationship with them, so your institution continues to grow.