Solidifying Structure:
Created & deployed systems and process increasing profitability.
Working with a company that has been operating for more than 20 years has its own set of challenges. This one in particular had been doing the same thing, with the same employees. The owner worked way too hard for how little he was taking home, leaving the business no cash flow to promote growth. As a result, the business relied on each individual (not position) to fulfill a role with the exception of the owner who could wear almost every hat. The challenge was how to secure this company's future in the event of the unavoidable loss of a veteran employee while simultaneously increasing cash flow to promote growth and prosperity.
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Solutions, like owners, sometimes wear many hats. In this case, the owner had to commit fully. Change like this rattles employees, especially those with one foot out the door. We implemented a new workflow for the business creating more ownership for each individual by eliminating one department, doubling another department's size, and cross training them. The catalyst that provided the most value was the creation of a custom-tracking platform that integrated with their POS. This made constant awareness the driving motivator in the company, incentivizing employees based on performance. Systems, processes, and procedures were recorded for each job, through this inefficiencies were found and corrected. These changes reduced cross-departmental communication errors and increased profits by $115k in the first 2 quarters alone.
Profitability Analysis:
Assimilated data into marketing strategy which increased margins and net profits.
Some obstacles seem overwhelming. For one company, they faced a dilemma that most do at one time in their operations. The company had no money but needed cash to grow. The problem was clear but the solution was not.
After one week of meeting with staff and observing operations we finally found our answer in the data. This is one reason accurate bookkeeping is vital. It showed a need to cut expenses and brought our attention to packaging and pricing analysis. We discovered that the majority of their volume was from repeat customers. This was not a surprise. But what we learned next provided even more value to the bottom line. When selling and shipping two units together margins were significantly higher than when only one was sold. Additionally, most repeat customers ordered multiple times per year. By creating new packages and incentivizing them, we increased net profit by over 8% for this volume based business. This resulted in over $160k of free cash flow begin generated, which fueled the companies growth over the following year.
The Power of Incentive:
Experience worth it's weight in gold.
Working for a company that generates over 20 billion dollars a year in revenue taught Horan how to properly incentivize employees and create processes that drive success. "What stood out most was that this company trained every ground level manager how to read a balance sheet and income statement. They paid them based on the performance of these numbers and had them chasing daily and weekly KPI's to drive results. Each manager was responsible for their team and for managing the profitability of their local branch.
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This massive company never had to worry about how hard their employees worked or if employees were stealing. The Managers on the ground carried that weight because the company built systems that guide success and a compensation plan built around the profitability of the branch." - Nicholas Horan
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Maximizing Performance:
Assimilated the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test to recharge the workforce, empowering management and employees through self awareness.
Understanding your innate preferences for interacting with the world around you allows for you to recharge while remaining active. We utilize the MBTI personality type to help employees get to know themselves on a deeper level. For the individual, this allows you to become more self aware and keep your internal battery charged. By becoming your most productive self you can avoid that burnt out feeling!
Team building and management training with personality types creates a healthy and productive common language that removes emotional responses from the workplace. Combining effective communication with a deeper understanding of ones teammates allows for an increase in productivity and efficiency.
Numbers Don't Lie
Shifted business direction to increase margins and created profitability.
When reviewing a companies books we realized they had been doing the same thing for years. The business focused on sales which brought in new customers who became service clients, ultimately feeding the life cycle of the company.
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The problem was that all energy was given to the sales team. Profit margins on sales were roughly 15%. When analyzing the service department we determined they were only at 60% capacity. We created a management position in the service department and increased the departments work load to 100%. Through the creation of processes and procedures we maximized the effectiveness of their systems which reduced service errors and removed wasted time for the sales staff. The result was an increase in services which had profit margins of 30% and thus increase net profitability for the entire company by over 200%.
