American Shade Company
American Shade Company is a family-owned Event-Tent Rental Supply and Service company based out of California. The company was bringing in $10 million in revenue when we met, and the parents who were running the company were ready to retire.
At the time, the owners understood how to compete in the marketplace but were unclear on how to make a profit each year. They struggled to find quality employees who were reliable and produced results.
When they contacted us they were in a desperate situation. There was a bit of a power struggle between the parents who had run the company for decades and were set in their way of doing things, and their sons who would eventually take over the company and wanted to implement more modern business practices they had researched to take their company to the next level. The sons insisted that somebody from the outside could help them become more financially stable every year.
Initially, as many clients do, they questioned whether or not the investment would reap a worthwhile reward, but ultimately decided to take action and hire BusinessCoach.com. Right off the bat, the parents were faced with some very difficult decisions to make regarding their business. They decided to allow their sons to step in and start taking more responsibility for the company. The parents entrusted their sons to proceed with Business Coaching, and we got to work!
First off, we began to interview many of the current employees to get an idea of how things were going within the company. We discovered that most of the employees were unhappy with certain managers that had been working there for a long time. However, the managers had convinced the owners that they were indispensable to the company going forward. In addition to a messy leadership department, the company had no clear job descriptions, core values, org. charts, or consistent all-company meetings. The communication was terrible, and we found that many employees were already planning their exit strategy. When we stepped in, we assured them that change was on its way!
When we began to make changes, there were a number of challenges in the beginning. Key leaders were threatening to take many of the employees with them and start their own business if we fired them. We’ve found that this threat is actually quite common, and almost never comes to fruition. So we moved forward with the necessary changes, and the owners decided to let go of some longstanding managers that were leaking poison into the business. Once we got under way, we created job descriptions and accountability processes to hold everyone accountable to the same standards. Every employee who was planning on quitting, decided to stay.
Once we cleaned up the leadership challenges, we then began scheduling all-company meetings to get everyone on the same page. We helped the owners create a new vision and mission statement, as well as company commitments, and made the entire staff extremely clear on the new direction for the company.
With these foundational pieces in place, profits began to dramatically increase. Our clients had to understand that letting go of unproductive managers and slow paying clients would be valuable to them over time. They now love their company and are becoming one big happy family once again. The owners also cut their work week down to less than 30 hours and are able to vacation and spend more time with family than ever before.
