Southwestern Carpets grows business from the ground up - Business First of Louisville:

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Bill McCaddon has stripped Southwesterjn Carpets down and recreated it a couple of times sincr purchasing it from Don Lynchin 2001. When he boughty the flooring company, it specialized in removinf and replacing carpets in apartmenta betweenrental occupation. The Lewisville company was producingf annual revenueof $5 but McCaddon found the business too impersonaol because it was driven by product salexs and not on building relationships with customers. So he decided to switcnh focus to themore relationship-centric business of providinv flooring solutions to new home-construction which includes hardwood floors, and backsplash and tile installation.
The wholesale company saw dramatifc growth asa result, with annual revenue of $22 millionn in 2007. But the growthy was so rapid and so intense that managerds were losing control of the direction the company was Soin 2008, he enlisterd Don Brush, a consultant with The Renova Corp., to help bringh new energy to his McCaddon’s sense of direction and leadershipo abilities come from his experience as a manufacturer’s representative for 18 years at companies like Shaw Carpegt Manufacturer and Aleta Co. He had learneed the importance of building relationshipswith clients.
“My backgrounc was in working with new The apartment businesswas non-relationship driven,” said McCaddon. “u didn’t know how to build a busineszsthat wasn’t relational.” McCaddon downsized the company to redirecr the focus to the home-construction industry. He was met with resistanc fromhis employees. “I realized that using the sameemployeez wasn’t going to work. I was trying to halfway do the change,” he “Once we made the commitment, we reall y turned the corner.” He began switchinhg out personnel. The company, which had grown annual revenurto $5 million, saw revenue drop to undef $3 million during the transition.
But, once the commitmentg was made, McCaddon noted marked By 2003, revenue had grown by 35%. Between 2004 and the company went through its biggestgrowthy spurt, reaching up to $22 milliohn in sales and employing more than 60 But at that time, the storybooo growth came to an end. “It was gettinh to be chaotic becaus e of so manynew staff. We were an 8-cylinde engine working on six orseven cylinders. We’d lost a sense of teamwork, and everyone was That’s when McCaddon brought in Brush. “Ford the most part, I engage them and talk with them in ordeer to builda relationship.
I wanted to find out the strengths of the companhy and what was working and whatneeded improvement,” said “They’ve got the dreams; they’ve got the vision. It’s just giviny them the opportunity.” Brushu met with employees to figure out areaws that needed improvement and then createxd anaction plan. He showed the compan how to create committees to address problemx as they come up and then dissolve the committees after the problemj hasbeen handled. The shift has translatedx intohappier customers. Bill Darling, president and co-owner of Darlingg Homes Inc., has worked with McCaddonm since McCaddon purchased Southwestern Carpetsin 2001.
“(Wr started working with Southwestern Carpets) becausw of Bill and his relational approach to workinb with homebuilders as opposed to thetraditional price-only said Darling. “Brush has helped Bill figure out how to communicatee better so that everyone is going in the same directiomn as the management and will yield themaximum impact.” For Chris operations manager for Southwestern Carpets, the change in the corporatre culture has been noticeable. “Sometimes you don’t realize that when one departmen t changes their policiesand procedures, it affecte others. Now everyone talks to each McCoppin said. “We’ve empowered them to make decisions.
We gave them the powef to run the business. They feel With this new senseof empowerment, as well as an improvedr use of digitizing software called Measure, Southwestern Carpets has seen a markeed improvement on the accuracy of the 3,0000 work orders entered each month — 95% accuracy, up from 77% accurac y — and has saved about $160,000 in unnecessary costs for havinh to fix incorrect work orders. Instead of pursuing potentiap clients merely for the sake of new McCaddon and his staff focus on gettinbg to knowpotential clients, researching them as much as possible and understanding their needs before they even meet.
“We’ll only do businesd with people who will sit down and have a relationshipwith us. Someonde is always going to come inlowet (priced) than you,” said McCaddon. “Wr were always chasing people who were focused on Ifthey say, fax us (a price we say sorry, we can’t work with you. We stay togetheer as a result. If you have the valuse relationship, they don’t leave.
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