Where can small companies turn for objective advice? To each other, thanks to peer groups such as The Alternative Board
When Daryl Rossman, president of Merco Manufacturing, wanted feedback about expanding his family-owned aerospace parts manufacturer or needed advice on strategy and marketing, his options were limited. He could go to the expense of hiring an outside accountant, lawyer, or business consultant. Or he could discuss his views internally with 1 of his 16 employees.
"Being a small business, I didn't really have anybody to sound off my ideas with other than my own employees," he says. "But I always felt they were biased. They would say what I wanted to hear and give me the response I was looking for."
However, since last March, Rossman has sought the objective advice of The Alternative Board (TAB), a peer advisory group that brings together small and midsize business owners from noncompeting companies to share their collective wisdom and act as a professional sounding board. A kind of small-business think tank that meets on a monthly basis, TAB offers a forum for entrepreneurs to discuss everything from personnel to management and finance issues, and come up with goals and plans to address them.
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