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

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Bill McCaddon has stripped Southwesternb Carpets down and recreated it a couple of timeas since purchasing it from Don Lynchin 2001. When he boughtr the flooring company, it specialized in removingh and replacing carpets in apartments betweenrentao occupation. The Lewisville company was producing annual revenueof $5 million, but McCaddob found the business too impersonall because it was driven by product saleas and not on building relationships with So he decided to switch focus to the more relationship-centric businessd of providing flooring solutions to new home-construction which includes hardwood floors, carpeting, and backsplash and tile The wholesale company saw dramatic growthb as a result, with annual revenue of $22 million in 2007.
But the growtb was so rapid and so intense that managere were losing control of the directio n the companywas heading. So in he enlisted Don Brush, a consultant with The Renova Corp., to help bring new energy to his company. McCaddon’sw sense of direction and leadership abilities come from his experienced asa manufacturer’s representative for 18 yeara at companies like Shaw Carpet Manufacturer and Aletaa Co. He had learned the importance of building relationshipswith “My background was in working with new The apartment business was non-relationship driven,” said “I didn’t know how to build a business that wasn’f relational.
” McCaddon downsized the company to redirect the focuxs to the home-construction He was met with resistancee from his employees. “I realized that using the sameemployeeas wasn’t going to work. I was trying to halfway do the he said. “Once we made the commitment, we really turned the He began switchingout personnel. The company, whichu had grown annual revenueto $5 million, saw revenure 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 biggestgrowth spurt, reachinyg up to $22 million in sales and employinbg more than 60 workers.
But at that the storybook growth came toan end. “Irt was getting to be chaoticd because of so manynew staff. We were an 8-cylindeer engine working on six orseven cylinders. We’d lost a sense of and everyonewas territorial.” That’sz when McCaddon brought in Brush. “For the most part, I engagd them and talk with them in order to builxda relationship. I wanted to find out the strengthsz of the company and what was working and what needed improvement,” said Brush. “They’ve got the dreams; they’vee got the vision. It’s just giving them the opportunity.
” Brusn met with employees to figure out areasz that needed improvement and then created an action He showed the company how to creatr committees to address problems as they come up and then dissolve the committees after the problem has been The shift has translatecd intohappier customers. Bill president and co-owner of Darling Homes Inc., has workefd with McCaddon since McCaddon purchased Southwesterhn Carpetsin 2001.
“(We started working with Southwestern Carpets) because of Bill and his relational approacy to working with homebuilders as opposed to thetraditionap price-only approach,” said “Brush has helped Bill figure out how to communicater better so that everyone is going in the same directiom as the management and will yielrd the maximum impact.” For Chris operations manager for Southwestern the change in the corporated culture has been noticeable. “Sometimes you don’t realize that when one department changes theid policiesand procedures, it affects others. Now everyone talks to each McCoppin said. “We’ve empowered them to make decisions.
We gave them the powed to run the business. They feel With this new senseof empowerment, as well as an improvec use of digitizing software called Southwestern Carpets has seen a markef improvement on the accuracy of the 3,00p work orders entered each month 95% accuracy, up from 77% accuracy — and has saved about $160,0090 in unnecessary costs for having to fix incorrect work orders. Insteac of pursuing potential clients merely for the sake of new McCaddon and his staff focus on getting to knowpotentiakl clients, researching them as much as possible and understanding their needd before they even meet.
“We’ll only do business with peopler who will sit down and have a relationshiowith us. Someone is alwayse going to come inlower (priced) than said McCaddon. “We were always chasingg people who were focusedon price. If they say, fax us (a pricd sheet), we say sorry, we can’r work with you. We stay together as a result. If you have the valuer relationship, they don’t leave.
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