5 questions to ask before you acquire a business

If you’ve decided to accelerate your business by acquisition there are a number of considerations you need to make before you can commit to this method of growth. In addition to ascertaining whether your business is in the right shape to take on an acquisition, you’ll need to prepare for the process of negotiation and integration.

Here are five questions you should ask before you acquire.

1. IS ACQUISITION RIGHT FOR MY BUSINESS?

Do some research to find out whether your business is actually suited to growing by acquisition: it needs to be the right thing to do at the right time. Perhaps you have good organic growth and should focus your efforts in maximising that before turning to acquisition, or perhaps your business is not suited to the acquisition process at all.

2. IS MY BUSINESS READY TO ACQUIRE ANOTHER?

The attributes you need to look at to find out whether your business is ready to acquire combines your financial readiness and your business readiness.

One good measure to determine if your business is financially ready to acquire another is if you can readily raise capital from your bank. Big banks are conservative and if they will lend to you on a ‘cash flow’ basis, then it’s a good sign you’re financially ready; if they refuse, then you need to question if you are really ready. Other forms of debt can be expensive and using equity is even more expensive, and sometimes those funds are better invested elsewhere for lower risk gains.

As the leader of the business, you need to ask whether you’re ready to lead your company, the new company and the integration process between the two of them. If your business does not seem culturally ready to integrate with another, reconsider the timing of the acquisition and be extremely careful about the selection process.

3. WHAT SELECTION CRITERIA SHOULD I USE?

Once you have decided your business is ready to acquire, develop a set of a selection criteria based on why you want to use acquisition to grow. The reasons may range from swallowing competition, to growing your client base or product range, which means the business may be very similar to yours or different because you want to diversify.

For us, a good acquisition target is one that:

•Will bring us profitability

•Has a core business that corresponds with ours

•Has a mid-market client base like we do

•Will give us access to a client base, product set or geography we don’t currently have or would like to expand.

Be very strict about your selection criteria and don’t let anything distract you from seeing whether the business is a good target. We once bought a distressed asset because it seemed like a bargain at the time but it turned out that we couldn’t salvage the parts of the business we thought were valuable. The lesson we learnt was if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

4. HOW SHOULD I NEGOTIATE?

If you’ve been strict about your selection criteria, you’ll already know what kind of benefit the acquisition will bring. Go into negotiations having done your research about how much it will cost, not just in money but the time and effort to integrate the business before you’ll see return, and possible productivity loss from your current business during transition.

Put yourself in their shoes, but don’t overpay—things are worth what they are worth and nothing more. Remember there are two processes: what something is worth and what you are paying. By the same token, you get what you pay for—if it’s cheap then there is a reason for that.

5. HOW DO I INTEGRATE THE BUSINESSES?

Many acquisitions fail because the integration doesn’t happen swiftly enough or the cultural clash between the two is too great. Be brave, do it quickly but be sensitive to the people involved because without the people you will generally have purchased nothing. When staff leave, clients are only one step behind.

Our acquisitions haven’t been big enough to hire a dedicated change manager for the integration process, but we do arm our line managers with some coaching and training so they can handle the change as it happens.

We’ve also made mistakes. We acquired a business that was not core, and the staff had a hard time transitioning because the acquired business rewarded different types of performance to ours. Don’t stray too far from your core competency so there’s at least a chance the cultures can integrate smoothly.

The acquisition process will be different for each individual business but the lead-up is the same. These five questions will help you prepare.

All the best.

How Web Sites Share Your Personal Data–Even When They Promise Not To

You’ve probably scanned phrases like these as you’ve logged in to your favorite Web sites:

“Our privacy policy is to share personal information only with the owner’s consent.”

or

“We will not trade, rent or sell your personal information, without your prior consent, except as otherwise set forth herein.”

When I read these lines, I used to think they meant that my personal information doesn’t leave the company that owns the particular site I’m using.

Wrong.

A new study from Johnathan Mayer, of Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society, shows just what happens to your personal information when you sign up, join, or just browse at any of 185 heavily-trafficked Web sites. Here’s a sampling of what he found:

• Viewing a local ad on the Home Depot Web site sent the user’s first name and email to 13 companies.
• Entering the wrong password on the Wall Street Journal Web site sent the user’s email address to seven companies.
• Changing the user settings on the video-sharing site Metacafesent the user’s first name, last name, birthday, email address, physical address, and phone numbers to two companies.
• Signing up on the NBC Web site sent the user’s email address to seven companies.
• Signing up on the Weather Underground Web site sent the user’s email address to 22 companies.
• Clicking the validation link in the Reuters signup email sent the user’s email address to five companies.
• Using the classmates.com Web site sent the user’s first and last names to 22 companies.
• Web site OkCupid appears to make a wide range of data about its users available to two different data providers. That data includes users’ ages; whether or not they have cats, dogs, or children; how often they drink or use drugs; their ethnicity; their income; their relationship status; and their religion, among other traits.

How does this happen?

In his paper, Mayer explains that most Web sites do not consider a username or user ID to be personally identifying information, even though many people use a variation of their name, or something close to it, as a user ID.  When you sign up for a Web site, the site often generates a URL that contains your user name. Mayer uses this example of a URL that might be generated when a Leland Stanford signs up to use a Web site called example.com.

http://example.com/register?username=GoCardinal&name=Leland%20Stanford&email =Leland%40stanford.edu&…

Any third party embedded in that Web page-an advertiser, perhaps, or a company that serves ads, such as doubleclick, can write a script to capture this URL. From there, it’s pretty easy to simply grab “GoCardinal” as Leland Stanford’s username, and tie any Web activity on the part of “GoCardinal” back to Leland Stanford.

Personal information can also be revealed by a site’s so-called landing page for its registered users. When Leland Stanford goes to example.com, he might very well be greeted by a page saying, “Welcome Leland Stanford!” Any embedded third-party scripts can report back with the page title, which in this case would include Leland Stanford’s name.

Linking “private” information to publicly-available data

From there, the third-party company may buy identifying information from a so-called matching service, or to try to match it up the bits and pieces they’ve collected against a larger stream of data they already have access to.

Mayer points out that legally, the Web sites he visited for his research seem to be on the right side of the law. Technically, they’re not sharing or selling the information. They’re just not being very careful with it.  In the industry, this is referred to as “information leakage,” and while the term may implies that such leakage is inadvertent, Mayer says “information leakage” is actually a bit of a term of art.

Do you care how much of your personal information is available online? Do you try to restrict it in any way?

Regards,

Kimberly Weisul

Winning an immigration case – for some it might make the difference between life and death!

Having practiced law for several years now, I have noticed that in most cases, a successful outcome is indispensable. Of course, as a lawyer I cannot guarantee any success to any client, however, it is imperative that an attorney assesses the case in the best light and try to find the best outcome for his/her clients. My practice deals in immigration law and debt settlement.  For the purpose of this article, I will limit my analysis to immigration law.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO WIN?

While winning is not everything in life, when it comes to immigration law, winning might just be everything especially in immigration cases. In fact, not winning might result in deportation and possibly a permanent ban from the United States.  In situations when a client fears for his/her life and is mistakenly deported, the result can be catastrophic.   Imagine that someone is sent back the home country – a very hostile country which is actually torturing or killing people belonging to this person’s class (religious, political, sexual orientation or gender). Nobody can really guess what might happen to this person especially if the country finds out this person has sought an asylum in another country.   (Note that asylums are highly confidential and the US government makes sure that this is never disclosed. In fact, a person might obtain asylum solely based on this disclosure.).   As an attorney, it becomes a duty to protect the interest of this person.   As such, a good attorney needs to look into all the avenues to keep the client in thse United States not limited to an asylum only.   It becomes actually a ‘matter of life or death’.

There is no ‘magic solution’ to winning a case. However, there are few things that can make the difference between winning and losing:

The experience of the attorney. 

There are many good attorneys/lawyers out there, yet no everybody practices all the areas of law. When it comes to immigration, it is imperative that the attorney has some practical experience on the matter.   Our law firm has been practicing immigration law for years now and we have successfully handled more than 1200 cases, yet we are faced with challenges on a daily basis.  The reason is that immigration law is very complicated, in fact one of the most complicated areas of law, it is constantly changing and only a “little knowledge” can be very harmful.  If someone is not “up to speed” on the changes, there are crucial mistakes made that can result in a denial for your client and ultimately a bar from ever entering or getting any sort of immigration benefit.

Preparation

Although you have a great attorney, if the attorney or you are not prepared for your case, the chances of winning is highly diminished. You need to realize that you have a lot at stake in your immigration matter, careful review of your case is a must. You should take the case seriously and collaborate with your lawyer to assist you.   I actually prepared a slide show on how you can help your lawyer help you, feel free to check it on www.Slideshare.net/Peerallylaw

Knowing the law

One of the biggest mistakes that I see when clients come to our law firm is the ‘ignorance of the law’.  Either people are reading from forums or listening to friends, it is always wise to check with a good immigration attorney to make sure that you have the right solution for you. For example, some people will take an advance parole without realizing that they have overstayed for more than 180 days and leaving the country will result in a 3 year bar from the United States.   Unfortunately some of them have actually called the USCIS and this information was not disclosed to them. They left the country and could not come back unless they could file for a waiver. The truth is that the USCIS is not there to offer legal advices, and you take their information at your own risk.  Furthermore, ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

Make sure you are dealing with a real licensed lawyer

There are many non-licensed “immigration consultants”  offering their services for cheap or trying to help the immigrants to navigate the immigration laws.  Do not be fooled by them!  Unless a person is a licensed attorney or dealing with a non-profit organization, I will recommend staying far from them.   I have seen too many ‘horror stories’ on the matter.  Fortunately we are sometimes able to fix them but sometimes people are not so lucky!  It can also cost you a lot to fix the mistakes.

Winning an immigration case is one of the most gratifying feeling.  I am proud of my law firm on the quality of work the law firm has provided over the years.   The testimonials from our clients are witness to their joy and gratitude of what we have been able to accomplish for them.   The compensation as an immigration lawyer is relatively meager compared to the other areas of law, however the feeling of saving a person or a family from deportation as well as assisting them to stay in this United States is simply priceless.

Again, our law firm cannot guarantee success, yet if there is a little hope, we will not give up.   When it comes to immigration, the journey can be tough but the destination is sweet.  Over the years, I have realized that my life is actually a success because of the success of the numerous families I have helped during this period of time.   What better way to serve your community than to save this community from oppression and to obtain social justice for all.

Shah Peerally is an attorney licensed in California practicing immigration law and debt settlement. He has featured as an expert legal analyst for many TV networks such as NDTV, Times Now and Sitarree TV. Articles about Shah Peerally and his work have appeared on newspapers such as San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, US Fiji Times, Mauritius Le Quotidien, Movers & Shakers and other prominent international newspapers. His work has been commended by Congress women Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Lee.  He has a weekly radio show on KLOK 1170AM and frequently participates in legal clinics in churches, temples and mosques.

For updates follow us onYoutube, Radio, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Shah Peerally Law Group PC deals in immigration law  - www.peerallylaw.com and www.immigrationlegalblog.com

Attorney Shah Peerally also deals in debt settlement. For more information call us on 510.742.5887 and visit us on www.YourDebtSettlementAttorney.com.

Information provided above is for educational purposes only.  One should not act or refrain to act solely based on the information provided.  You should consult an attorney to assess your case before proceeding.

Regards,

Shah Peerally

Learning How to Say No

Once you’ve made some money on the PGA Tour — my salary is out there for everyone to see – the requests start coming in. In the last couple of weeks alone, I’ve probably received more than a dozen requests for help via my time, my money, or my access to the PGA:

Will I support healthcare for needy children?

Will I donate to multiple ministries, and many other worthy non-profit causes?

Can I score PGA tickets and parking passes for friends and friends of friends?

Maybe for some people this isn’t a problem. But it is for me. I like to make people happy — I’m a pleaser — and I genuinely like to help others. Saying no feels almost against my nature.

The other problem is that until now, I’ve made myself very accessible to pretty much anyone who wants to reach me — on my cell phone, email, Facebook page, etc. I’ve done this on purpose. I’m no celebrity. I don’t need someone to manage my personal interactions. But it does mean that it’s harder to respond to these requests when my Tour schedule is especially busy. I can find pockets of time to respond to these sorts of things, but it becomes a problem when it starts to affect my sleep or my practice schedule, or the amount of time I have to spend with my wife in the evenings.

One thing that has helped me navigate these situations is sitting down with my wife to decide where to focus our efforts. We decided that if we’re fortunate enough to be able to support other organizations, we’d focus on five causes in particular to which we have a strong connection. We would consider other causes but we’d have to really believe in the mission behind them.

That helped give me some direction. But it still didn’t make saying no any easier or solve the problem of when exactly I would respond to these requests.

It took a bombardment of people asking for my help during an especially stressful time on Tour, which then caused me to blow up unnecessarily at at one in particular, to convince me that something needed to change.

I needed help.

So I met with my agent and my financial advisor. We talked about how to create some kind of a buffer so that what were essentially business requests — things like opportunities to donate or show up at a charity event — didn’t become so personal. Now the two of them act as a filter, telling me about the requests that fit my interests and saying no to the ones that don’t.

There are still people and requests that I insist on handling personally — I can’t delegate everything. And I still need to get better at saying no when something isn’t in my best interest. But it’s also clear to me now that I can’t respond to everything, play well, be a good husband and son and brother and uncle, write this blog, make everyone happy, and stay sane at the same time.

I’m learning how to manage it all, but it’s still a work in progress. Have you dealt with this issue in your business? What’s your strategy?

Regards,

Scott Stallings

PR That Really Works

The idea of a small business putting a PR firm on retainer is nuts. It’s just too expensive. For 

one thing, very few startup budgets have $10K to burn on something that is not actually product or customer acquisition. For another thing, PR firms are notoriously unaccountable. They have a million ways to tell you that they did their job without having any ROI.

So instead of putting a PR firm on retainer, try making your own PR plan with unconventional tactics that allow you to track ROI carefully.

1. Get a book deal.

For most people, a book deal is a completely ridiculous, waste-of-time idea. People do not make money from book deals. However, people do get speaking gigs from book deals. And speaking gigs are the easiest way for a company to establish itself as a leader in a given field.

So here’s what you do: Get a book deal for a topic in your company’s sweet spot. You will get a small advance — because the book industry stinks and because if you want a fast, quick book deal, taking a small advance helps. Probably $10-$15K. This is fine because you are not in the book writing business, so you don’t need to make money at it.

Take that money and hire a ghostwriter and a booking agent. The booking agent can start booking speeches for you right away, and speeches are usually booked about eight months ahead of time. The booking agent will talk about the book sort of like it’s already published even though it isn’t.

This is how you get in front of all the right audiences, as an expert anointed by a third-party. You can sell your product to these people during your speech, and it costs you nothing.

2. Use Reddit.

This is, maybe, the most underused PR tool on the Internet. Maybe it’s because it’s full of 25-year-old guys and not publicists. But really, that’s what makes Reddit so good.

If you have a good story, you can hire a PR firm to get big bloggers to pick up the story. But really big bloggers are sick of being pitched, and also, they have become gatekeepers to audiences in much the same way big media has — in that they are a pain to reach.

Reddit, on the other hand, is open to anyone, and it’s completely democratic. If your story is good, it goes to the top. So think of a good pitch and then don’t waste it on media — go straight to Reddit.

Bonus: Everything on Reddit is really short, so you don’t have to spend weeks honing a press release.

Here’s a great example of someone pitching his book on Reddit. If he can sell his book, you can sell anything. Because believe me, Reddit is not a book-reading crowd.

3. Hire a blogger.

Publicists are used to getting big retainers and then telling their clients why they are not responsible for ROI. Bloggers, on the other hand, are accustomed to making a living on traffic, so they watch metrics much more closely.

Here are things a top blogger understands about placing posts that a publicist doesn’t:

• How to use backlinks in mainstream media posts to generate high conversion rates
• How to pitch a guest post that a blog publisher will actually use (hint: customized lists)
• How to use conversation keywords to get to the most popular post lists on mainstream media home pages

So, surprise a blogger by hiring him or her to manage your PR efforts for a couple of months. Ask the blogger to use the same traffic metrics they use for their own blog. And ask the blogger to write under his or her own name. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how much more bang for your buck a single blogger can give you than a whole PR firm.

Regards,

Penelope Trunk

10 Things Never to Tell Sales Prospects

Samples can be helpful. Demos can be effective. But what is the primary tool used by salespeople? 

Words.

Whether spoken or written, words make sales happen… or not.

Too many salespeople (and marketers and advertisers) use the same words — words used so often they’ve become meaningless — to describe their products and services. Pretend I’m a potential customer or client. Here’s how I react if you use the following:

1. “Customer focused.” Talk about redundant; should you be anything but customer focused? If your goal is to imply that other providers are not customer focused, tell me how: faster response time, greater availability, customized processes or systems… tell me in concrete terms how you will meet myspecific needs. (If you don’t know my needs and therefore can’t address them, shame on you.)
2. “Best in class.” There are two problems with that phrase: Who defined your “class” and who determined you were the “best” in it? (My guess is, you did.) Still, maybe you are that awesome. Prove it. Describe your accomplishments, awards, results, etc. As a customer I don’t need best in class, I need best for me — so tell me, in objective terms, how you provide the best value for my needs.
3. “Low-hanging fruit.” When you say, “We’ll start with the low-hanging fruit,” I hear, “We’ll start with the really easy stuff you are too stupid to recognize or do yourself.” No business wants to hear they have low-hanging fruit. Just describe, in cost-benefit terms, how you prioritized your list of projects or activities.
4. “Exceed expectations.” Admirable goal, one every business should aspire to, but exceeding expectations is an internal goal. Tell me you will exceed expectations and exceeded expectations becomes an expectation. (I know, that’s kinda Zen.) Just tell me what you will do every time; if you consistently pull it off I’ll be delighted. Always let the customer judge whether you go above and beyond.
5. “Unique.” The ever-increasing pace of commoditization means few products or services have no like or equal for long. If I’m considering hiring your firm or buying your products, “unique” means nothing to me. Tell me, in concrete terms, how you arebetter.
6. “Value added.” This term is often used to imply I’ll get something for no or very little incremental cost. That means what I will receive isn’t value added — it’s part of the overall deal. So tell me the deal, explain all the options and add-ons, and help me figure out how I can take full advantage of what you provide.
7. “Expert.” Margaret Thatcher once said, “Power is like being a lady; if you have to say you are, you aren’t.” Show your expertise instead. “Web 2.0 expert” often reads as “We can slap videos and theoretically interactive applications on your website. “Built websites for …” and “Created applications that…” lets potential customers evaluate your level of expertise and its suitability for their needs.
8. “Exceptional ROI.” We all seek a return on investments and we all love a great ROI. But without access to my numbers you can’t accurately calculate my ROI. Therefore your estimates are either theoretical or based on another customer’s results, and either way I know those estimates are absolutely best-case. “Provides an exceptional ROI” reads as “…and you’re a terrible businessperson if you don’t do this.” Show the costs, don’t hide anything, and trust me to calculate my own ROI. If I’m not smart enough to do so I probably don’t have purchase authority anyway.
9. “Partner.” Long-term business relationships are great, but we will never be partners because while your hand reaches into my pocket, mine will never reach into yours. Still, maybe one day I will see you as a quasi-partner… but that’s something I’ll decide on my own based on your performance, not on your marketing.
10. “Turn key.” I love a turn key solution as much as the next guy, but few solutions truly are. No matter how comprehensive the offering I always wind up participating more than I was led to expect, so when I hear “turn key” I’m naturally skeptical… that is, unless you thoroughly break down what you will provide and what my participation will be, both during implementation and after. Turn key is in the eye of the beholder and the customer is always the beholder.

Regards,

 Jeff Haden

Why Your Salary Is Unfair

Dear Evil HR Lady,

I have been chronically underpaid by my company and obviously the way I am going about 

remedying this has not worked. I am hoping you can provide some pointers.

For salary increase guidelines my company has a policy where the industry range for each given position level plotted on a bell curve is used as the basis.

The company professes to pay between the 25th and the 75th percentile range on the bell curve.

I have consistently been outside this range, to the left (past the low range) of this bell curve.

I got a 2% increase last year, made no difference to my relative position on the bell curve, got no increase the year before.

My performance reviews say I do a good job and am performing at or higher than expected level for my position.

Having asked for feedback on why my salary doesn’t reflect this, I am told by the manager–she is new to this position–but feedback from other managers has something to do with it.  What exactly, I am not privy to, but I did have problems with my previous Team Lead, so did others. He got fired last year!

The department gets a lump sum and a roundtable manager discussion ensues on how that pot is divided.

I feel I am being treated very unfairly.

When you start out with a low salary it can be almost impossible to bring it up without changing companies.  Companies have all sorts of policies that prevent high salary increases.  With the bad economy, I can say that a 2% raise is probably a lot more than many of my readers received.  However, that’s little comfort when your salary is still in the toilet.

The pot of money increase is a very common method.  When budgets for the upcoming year are calculated, the powers that be (i.e. not your boss, unless you’re reporting into the CFO) say, “This year we have 3 percent for salary increases.” Your boss then gets a pot of money worth 3 percent of her entire staff’s salary.  She has to divide this up.

To make it more complicated, your performance rating is frequently taken into consideration as well.  But, just because your rating is good, it doesn’t mean that your coworker’s ratings aren’t better.  Then we have to talk about your relative importance to the company.  If you’re a high performing salesperson, your value will be much greater than if you’re an admin.  (Although, interestingly enough, recruiters tell me that finding good administrative staff is far more difficult than finding other types of employees.  Still, many people consider this type of job as one that is easily replaceable.)  So, let’s assume that your boss has 5 direct reports, including you, and the other 4 employees positions are considered more valuable than yours.

She can give you a big raise, and in turn, make the other 4 employees unhappy and more likely to leave.  Or she can give you a 2 percent raise and the others higher raises, thus ensuring their happiness.  And let’s face it, if you’re below the 25th percentile on a bell curve, you’re not the company’s priority.  (Sorry!)

Here’s another crazy thing.  If you quit, your boss can hire someone to replace you smack at the 50th percentile (midpoint of the salary range) with no questions asked. But, to give you a raise that brings you to that level would require sign offs from everyone up to and including the senior team (depending on how big your company is, this may be completely futile).  Does that make sense?  Current, valued employee can’t get a raise up to midpoint, but someone off the street can be hired in straight at that level!  Yeah!

And even to get you a raise that brings you into the range requires money from other departments to be allotted to you.  (Because there’s no way your boss can just give you a big raise and leave your coworkers with nothing.)  Your manager has said other managers are not pleased with your performance (for whatever reason), so she’s not going to waste her political capital on you.  Just not going to happen.

So, what to do, what to do?  First, here are some things to think about.

• Are you the only person doing your job?
  • If not, are you the same race/gender/ethnicity/age as your coworkers in the same (or similar position)?
  • Are the other people paid more than  you are, or are all of you below scale?
• Could you make more money elsewhere?
  • How do you know?  Have you applied for other jobs?
  • Is the salary range for your position even accurate?  Perhaps you are being paid correctly and the scale is just wrong.
• Are you willing to leave this company?
  • Are there reasons other than salary that you want to stay there?  Commute, work life balance, etc?
  • If you are willing to leave, how soon can you go?

If you can show that you’re being paid less than your coworkers and you happen to be a different category than they are, there’s a good chance HR will be all over getting you a raise.

Otherwise, make an appointment with your boss (don’t just pop in her office, you want time for this), to discuss your salary.  If you have a responsible HR person in your company, invite her as well.  If you have one that is not trustworthy, forget it.  Present her with the same chart you spoke about and say, plainly and clearly, “My salary is below the 25th percentile, which is outside of company policy.  What do I need to do to get this rectified?” Then shut up and listen.

She’ll say, “Well, you just got an increase blah, blah, blah.”

You respond, “I understand that.  However, my salary is still outside of company policy.  What do I need to do to get this problem cleared up?”

She’ll either tell you or she’ll be forced to tell you that it’s not possible.  If she tells you what to do, do it, and make sure you follow up regularly to see that she keeps her part.  Document everything.

If she says it’s just not possible, then you need to decide if you want this job or not.  You may decide that it’s better to leave.

If you push this issue and are too obnoxious you could find yourself pushed out the door.  Remember that you are easy to replace and easy to replace at a higher salary than what you’re earning.  It stinks, but it’s reality.

But, you certainly can push–just not obnoxiously. You also need to find out why other managers don’t like you.  This may mean talking to them directly.  It could be a holdover form your former rotten boss, but it could also be something that you are doing.

As I said at the beginning, it’s very difficult to get a large raise.  So, in the future, make so you negotiate your salaries when you are hired in the first place.  It saves a lot of headaches.

Regards,

 Suzanne Lucas