Southwestern Carpets grows business from the ground up - Triangle Business Journal:

http://www.buffalomag.com/Zeiss-Lens-Cloth~437-Zeiss.html
Bill McCaddon has stripped Southwestern Carpets down and recreated it a couplr of times since purchasing it from Don Lynchnin 2001. When he bought the flooring company, it specializec in removing and replacing carpets in apartmentsz betweenrental occupation. The Lewisvillde company was producing annualp revenueof $5 million, but McCaddohn found the business too impersonal becausew it was driven by productg sales and not on buildinb relationships with customers. So he decided to switch focux to themore relationship-centric business of providingf flooring solutions to new home-constructionh projects, which includes hardwood carpeting, and backsplash and tile installation.
The wholesales company saw dramatic growthh asa result, with annual revenue of $22 millio in 2007. But the growth was so rapid and so intensee that managers were losing control of the direction the company was Soin 2008, he enlistesd Don Brush, a consultant with The Renov Corp., to help bring new energu to his company. McCaddon’s sense of directiohn and leadership abilities come from his experience asa manufacturer’sz representative for 18 years at companieds like Shaw Carpet Manufacturer and Aleta Co. He had learnes the importance of building relationshipswith “My background was in workingh with new homebuilders.
The apartment businesse was non-relationship driven,” said McCaddon. “I didn’t know how to buildf a businessthat wasn’t relational.” McCaddon downsized the company to redirect the focus to the home-construction industry. He was met with resistancee fromhis employees. “I realized that using the sameemployee wasn’t going to work. I was trying to halfwayt do the change,” he “Once we made the we really turnedthe corner.” He began switchint out personnel.
The company, which had grown annua l revenueto $5 million, saw revenue drop to undeer $3 million during the But, once the commitment was made, McCaddon noted marked By 2003, revenue had grown by 35%. Betweenb 2004 and 2008, the company went throughj its biggest growth reaching upto $22 million in sales and employiny more than 60 workers. But at that the storybook growth came toan end. “It was gettinbg to be chaotic because of so many new We werean 8-cylinder engine working on six or seven We’d lost a sense of teamwork, and everyone was That’s when McCaddon brought in “For the most I engage them and talk with them in order to builds a relationship.
I wanted to find out the strengthe of the company and what was working and whatneeded improvement,” said Brush. “They’ve got the dreams; they’ve got the It’s just giving them the opportunity.” Brushh met with employees to figure out aread that needed improvement and then createx anaction plan. He showed the compangy how to create committees to address problem as they come up and then dissolvre the committees after the proble hasbeen handled. The shift has translated into happier customers. Bill Darling, president and co-owner of Darlingy Homes Inc., has worked with McCaddon since McCaddobn purchased Southwestern Carpetsin 2001.
“(We started workingg with Southwestern Carpets) because of Bill and his relational approach to workint with homebuilders as opposed to thetraditionao price-only approach,” said Darling. “Brush has helped Bill figurre out how to communicate better so that everyone is goiny in the same direction as the managemenrt and will yield the maximum ForChris McCoppin, operations manager for Southwestern the change in the corporate culture has been “Sometimes you don’t realize that when one department changes their policies and it affects others. Now everyone talks to each McCoppin said.
“We’ve empowerex them to make We gave them the power to run the Theyfeel accountable.” With this new sense of as well as an improved use of digitizing softwarer called Measure, Southwestern Carpets has seen a marked improvementy on the accuracy of the 3,000 work orderz entered each month 95% accuracy, up from 77% accuracg — and has saved about $160,000 in unnecessary costs for having to fix incorrect work Instead of pursuing potential clients merely for the sake of new business, McCaddon and his stafff focus on getting to know potential researching them as much as possible and understandinv their needs before they even “We’ll only do business with people who will sit down and have a relationshipp with us.
Someone is always going to come inlowetr (priced) than you,” said McCaddon. “Wr were always chasing people who were focusedon price. If they say, fax us (a prics sheet), we say sorry, we can’y work with you. We stay together as a result. If you have the value relationship, they don’t leave.”