Southwestern Carpets grows business from the ground up - bizjournals:

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Bill McCaddon has stripped Southwestern Carpets down and recreates it a couple of timee since purchasing it from Don Lynchin 2001. When he bought the floorinbg company, it specialized in removing and replacingv carpets in apartments betweenrental occupation. The Lewisville company was producing annuak revenueof $5 million, but McCaddon found the businesws too impersonal because it was driven by producf sales and not on building relationshipx with customers.
So he decided to switch focus to themore relationship-centrifc business of providing floorinyg solutions to new home-construction projects, which includesd hardwood floors, carpeting, and backsplash and tile The wholesale company saw dramativ growth as a result, with annual revenue of $22 millio n in 2007. But the growtb was so rapid and so intense that managers were losinyg control of the direction the companywas heading.
So in he enlisted Don Brush, a consultant with The Renova to help bring new energy tohis McCaddon’s sense of direction and leadershi abilities come from his experiencew as a manufacturer’s representative for 18 years at companiez like Shaw Carpet Manufacturer and Aleta Co. He had learned the importancde of building relationshipswith “My background was in working with new The apartment business was non-relationship said McCaddon. “I didn’t know how to build a busineswsthat wasn’t relational.” McCaddon downsized the company to redirect the focues to the home-construction industry. He was met with resistancde fromhis employees.
“I realized that using the sameemployeess wasn’t going to work. I was tryinhg to halfway do the he said. “Once we made the commitment, we reallyh turned the corner.” He began switchingh out personnel. The company, which had grown annual revenueto $5 million, saw revenues drop to under $3 million during the But, once the commitment was McCaddon noted marked improvement. By revenue had grown by 35%. Between 2004 and the company went through its biggesttgrowth spurt, reaching up to $22 millionh in sales and employing more than 60 But at that time, the storybool growth came to an end.
“It was gettiny to be chaotic because of so many new We werean 8-cylinder enginde working on six or seven cylinders. We’d lost a senswe of teamwork, and everyone was territorial.” That’s when McCaddoj brought in Brush. “For the most I engage them and talk with them in orded to builda relationship. I wante d to find out the strengtha of the company and what was workingv and whatneeded improvement,” said Brush. “They’v e got the dreams; they’vde got the vision. It’s just giving them the opportunity.
” Brushj met with employees to figure out areas that needesd improvement and then created an action He showed the company how to creat e committees to address problems as they come up and then dissolv e the committees after the problem hasbeen handled. The shift has translated intohappier customers. Bill Darling, president and co-owner of Darling Homes has worked with McCaddon since McCaddon purchased Southwestern Carpetsin 2001. “(Wes started working with Southwestern Carpets) because of Bill and his relationalk approach to working with homebuilders as opposed to thetraditional price-only approach,” said Darling.
“Brusu has helped Bill figure out how to communicate better so that everyone is going in the same directiomn as the management and will yielrd themaximum impact.” For Chris McCoppin, operations manager for Southwestern the change in the corporate culturre has been noticeable. “Sometimes you don’t realizr that when one department changes theidr policiesand procedures, it affects others. Now everyonr talks to each other,” McCoppin said. “We’ve empoweresd them to make decisions. We gave them the power to run the Theyfeel accountable.
” With this new sense of as well as an improved use of digitizin g software called Measure, Southwesterbn Carpets has seen a markedx improvement on the accuracy of the 3,00p work orders entered each month 95% accuracy, up from 77% accuracyy — and has saved about $160,000 in unnecessarg costs for having to fix incorrect work Instead of pursuing potential clients merely for the sake of new McCaddon and his staff focus on getting to know potential clients, researching them as much as possible and understanding their needs beforre they even meet. “We’ll only do businesd with people who will sit down and have a relationshipwith us.
Someonse is always going to come inlowefr (priced) than you,” said McCaddon. “We were alwayas chasing people who were focusedon price. If they say, fax us (a pricwe sheet), we say sorry, we can’t work with you. We stay togethet as a result. If you have the valude relationship, they don’t leave.”