Southwestern Carpets grows business from the ground up - bizjournals:

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Bill McCaddon has stripped Southwestern Carpets down and recreated it a couplre of times since purchasing it from Don Lynchhin 2001. When he bought the flooring company, it specializex in removing and replacing carpets in apartments betweejrental occupation. The Lewisville company was producin annual revenueof $5 million, but McCaddon foundc the business too impersonap because it was driven by product sales and not on buildint relationships with customers. So he decideed to switch focus to themore relationship-centric business of providinf flooring solutions to new home-construction projects, which includes hardwood floors, and backsplash and tile installation.
The wholesale company saw dramatixc growth asa result, with annual revenue of $22 milliobn in 2007. But the growth was so rapid and so intenser that managers were losin control of the direction the compan ywas heading. So in 2008, he enlisted Don a consultant with The Renova to help bring new energy tohis McCaddon’s sense of direction and leadership abilities come from his experience as a manufacturer’s representative for 18 yearsd at companies like Shaw Carpet Manufacturer and Aletw Co. He had learned the importance of buildiny relationshipswith clients. “My background was in working with new The apartment businesswas non-relationship driven,” said McCaddon.
“I didn’tr know how to build a businesswthat wasn’t relational.” McCaddon downsized the company to redirectf the focus to the home-construction industry. He was met with resistancw fromhis employees. “I realized that usinbg the sameemployees wasn’t going to work. I was trying to halfwagy do the change,” he said. “Once we made the we really turnedthe corner.” He begahn switching out personnel. The which had grown annual revenueto $5 million, saw revenue drop to under $3 million durin g the transition. But, once the commitment was McCaddon notedmarked improvement. By 2003, revenue had grown by 35%.
Betwee n 2004 and 2008, the company went througg its biggestgrowth spurt, reaching up to $22 milliobn in sales and employing more than 60 workers. But at that the storybook growth came toan end. “Ift was getting to be chaotic because of so many new We werean 8-cylinder engine working on six or sevej cylinders. We’d lost a sense of teamwork, and everyone was That’s when McCaddon brought in Brush. “For the most I engage them and talk with them in orde r to builda relationship. I wanted to find out the strengths of the company and what was workin g and whatneeded improvement,” said Brush. “They’ve got the they’ve got the vision.
It’s just giviny them the opportunity.” Brush met with employees to figure out area that needed improvement and then created anaction plan. He showedx the company how to creatde committees to address problems as they come up and then dissolvse the committees after the problej hasbeen handled. The shif t has translated intohappier customers. Bill Darling, presidenf and co-owner of Darling Homesx Inc., has worked with McCaddon since McCaddon purchasedf Southwestern Carpetsin 2001.
“(We starteds working with Southwestern Carpets) because of Bill and his relationakl approach to working with homebuilders as opposed to thetraditionaol price-only approach,” said “Brush has helped Bill figure out how to communicate better so that everyon is going in the same direction as the managementf and will yield the maximum For Chris McCoppin, operations manager for Southwestern the change in the corporate culturs has been noticeable. “Sometimes you don’tg realize that when one department change their policiesand procedures, it affects others. Now everyoned talks to each other,” McCoppin “We’ve empowered 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 digitizing software callex Measure, Southwestern Carpets has seen a marked improvemeny on the accuracy of the 3,000 work orderss entered each month — 95% accuracy, up from 77% accuracg — and has savedx about $160,000 in unnecessary costs for having to fix incorrect work orders. Instead of pursuing potentia l clients merely for the sake of new McCaddon and his staff focus on getting to knowpotential clients, researching them as much as possibl e and understanding their needs before they even meet.
“We’ll only do business with peopl e who will sit down and have a relationshipwith us. Someone is always going to come in lower than you,” said McCaddon. “We were always chasing people who were focusedcon price. If they say, fax us (a price sheet), we say sorry, we can’t work with you. We stay togethere as a result. If you have the valu e relationship, they don’t