Today we’d like to introduce you to Barry Saltzman.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My career started after I graduated from college with a degree in Computers. I grew up with a dad who was a CPA and spent my early years doing bookkeeping for my Dad’s clients. When I graduated I started to sell automated accounting solutions to his clients. A year into this job, I decided to go work for a company that was going to train and develop me. I didn’t realize at the time the next 12 years would be an amazing journey. The company I joined ended up being acquired and after a 12-year run, I ended up as an equity partner and ran a multimillion-dollar outsourcing practice. In 1999 the company was sold to Siemens and I decided to move to Chicago. While in Chicago I had the honor to run global sales for T-Systems a division of Deutsche Telekom and travel around the world.
The events of 9/11 caused me to stop my international travel (I was stuck in Europe for 2 weeks) and took on a new position as VP Services NA for StorageTek. This job was intense as I managed over $500m in revenue, had a team of approximately 1500 employees and was part of a Public Company.
After many years of continued travel, I decided to go out on my own. My first engagement was to help a struggling video conferencing business. During the first few months at this business, the CEO was fired and I was asked to become CEO and fix a broken business. I succeeded in that role and turned the company around in less than one year and sold the business to a larger competitor. I then started to work with local companies in Chicago that were looking for a hands-on experience executive that could help with strategy, growth and team optimization. For the last 15 years, I have been doing that for a variety of businesses in the Chicagoland Market. My motto is helping individuals and companies reach their full potential.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
In my career, there have been many struggles.
The struggles ranged from hiring the right people, developing people, getting people to work well together, not keeping the wrong people for too long… lots of challenges and struggles around people.
Additional struggles were strategy and trying to do the right things at the right time. Many times I wanted to enter or exit a market and doing that was never easy.
Overcoming many obstacles builds confidence in my decision making.
Saltzman Enterprise Group – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My business is all about optimizing people and businesses. My model is unique in that I offer a blend of strategic and tactical support to a business owner. My approach is to be very hands-on and really get to know my clients in addition to getting to know their business.
I spend a lot of time doing personality assessments of my clients to make sure I fully understand their strengths, challenges and what motivates them. This has helped me tremendously in working through all the details with my clients.
In the local market, I am known for being 100% honest and transparent with my clients and not telling them what they want to hear. As a consultant/advisor, it is critical, to tell the truth and deal with reality. With my workaround assessments, I have also established a reputation around culture.
I am most proud of helping companies do things they didn’t think they could or reach new levels they never thought possible. My entire business over the last 15 years has been through referrals and that makes me proud as people that have hired me are recommending me to other professionals.
What sets me apart is my ability to boil down complex issues into easy to understand strategies.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
To me, success is freedom. All the hard work during my career has allowed me to wake up every morning and do what I love doing and working with clients I want to work with. Success also must align to values. Everything I do is in alignment to my core values.
Pricing:
- Executive Coaching Services – starts at $150
- Personality Assessment – starts at $75
- Consulting / Advisory Services – starts at $500
Contact Info:
- Address: 1431 Millbrook Drive
Algonquin, IL 60102 - Website: www.SaltzmanEG.com
- Phone: 847-912-4109
- Email: barry@SaltzmanEG.com
- Twitter: @SaltzmanEG
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