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| Three reasons to focus on your business
Stop Loss Steps needed to get your business to break even
Position for GrowthSteps needed to become and remain profitable
Reach Your GoalsSteps needed to meet, or exceed, your goals
HOW IT WORKS
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There is profit hiding in every business. No matter how much thought was put into the design of a business, its operations change as the company matures and grows or management and personnel change. An assessment is a way to quickly understand some of the things you can change to make your business run better. It will also give you a map of how to incorporate more lasting improvement into your company.
Below are three case studies that show how the actual causes of poor performance are not always obvious and how having a fresh set of eyes can make all the difference.
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Case Study 1 - General Medicine Practice
Company Description: Client operated medical clinic providing general practice medical services.
Issue: Client's operations generated a monthly loss in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Analysis: Through interviews with staff and the principals and a review of financial and operating documentation, it became clear there where two primary reasons for the clinic's poor performance:
- Appointments were not confirmed the day before, causing a lot of time to be wasted when patients didn't show up
- Care providers spent unreasonable amounts of time on certain types of consultations that, upon reflection, were unproductive and unnecessary
Resolution: Quick Hits: Required office staff to confirm existing appointments the day before and to immediately call and reschedule patients who missed their appointments. Established standard times for different types of appointments so they could be booked more efficiently. Developed a procedure for care givers to use when dealing with consultations on non-core subjects.
Results: Within one month, the clinic was at break even and finished with a nearly $200,000 swing in profitability the first year.
Case Study 2 - Retail/Wholesale
Company Description: Client produced custom alcoholic beverages for both wholesale and retail customers.
Issue: The client had sufficient unit sales volume to meet the initial business plan projections, but was losing money each month.
Analysis: Multiple business issues were discovered:
- Retail location required additional marketing efforts
- Client's point of sale data was inadequate
- A substantial number of units were sold at wholesale, while the business model was based primarily on retail sales.
- The client did not have a clear picture of gross margins
Resolution: Quick Hits: The margins on the wholesale products were much less than retail, so the client reduced wholesale sales to near zero, bringing a substantial improvement in the bottom line. The client also stepped up their marketing efforts to raise the number of retail customers coming to their store.
Long Term: The client installed a new point of sale system to capture the sales mix for their products. The point of sale system yielded many additional benefits, including the ability to forecast production based on customer preferences. In addition, the client now allocates the number of units offered at wholesale, resulting in stable profit margins.
Results: The client went to cash flow positive and was producing a reasonable profit with in a year. The company's profits have increased substantially since the consults.
Case Study 3 - Personal Services Provider
Company Description: Client provided high touch, individualized, self improvement programs delivered over the course of months.
Issue: While the client's marketing was extremely effective, they had a consistently low close rate. The prospects would come for the initial, information gathering visit, not sign up for the service and not return.
Analysis: Early in the selling process, the prospects were presented with a long technical discussion about how the services worked. Yet, the thing that brought the prospects in was the promise of relief from symptoms. Our analysis, based on discussions with our clients and research, found that the technical presentation, while containing valuable information, actually overwhelmed them.
Resolution: Eliminated the technical presentation entirely, offering instead optional reading and presentations to those that requested it. Made sure that the more empathetic staff were performing the close since the prospects responded best to them.
Results: Quick Hits: First week after changes, our clients closed the next four out of four prospects and increased their close rate to about 70%.
Long Term: The client has increased both their staff and their operating hours to accommodate the increase in customers.
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What Our Clients Say
"Within one year we saw a swing in our profitability of $250,000 on an investment of $4,000.
I would recommend them to anybody that is serious about growing."
Ken Lineberger, President and CEO, The Wine Tailor
"As part of implementation of a new software system, we had CBPS do an evaluation of our work processes. The output was invaluable and gave us tremendous clarity"
Gabriel Garcia, Vice President, Sales, Blue Collar Staffing
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When An Assessment Makes Sense
You are downsizing or contemplating layoffs
You are entering a new market
You are adding or subtracting production capabilities
Your customer base or revenues have grown more than 50% in a year
You are acquiring a business
You are selling your business
You are creating a succession plan
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The key to our approach is that we don't bring a pre-conceived idea of what the solution is. We come to the problem bringing our experience, our tools and an open mind.
We have done this kind of problem solving across many industries and are confident we can bring you positive results.
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