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

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Bill McCaddon has stripped Southwestern Carpets down and recreatede it a couple of times since purchasing it from Don Lynchin 2001. When he boughty the flooring company, it specialized in removing and replacingv carpets in apartments betweenrental occupation. The Lewisville company was producing annual revenueof $5 million, but McCaddon found the businessz too impersonal because it was driven by producf sales and not on building relationships with So he decided to switchn focus to the more relationship-centric business of providing flooringv solutions to new home-construction projects, which includezs hardwood floors, carpeting, and backsplash and tile installation.
The wholesaler company saw dramatic growth asa result, with annuao revenue of $22 million in 2007. But the growthn was so rapid and so intense that managersw were losing control of the directiohn the companywas heading. So in he enlisted Don Brush, a consultanft with The Renova Corp., to help bring new energu to his company. McCaddon’s sense of direction and leadershipl abilities come from his experience asa manufacturer’s representativre for 18 years at companies like Shaw Carpety Manufacturer and Aleta Co. He had learned the importancse of building relationshipswith clients. “Myh background was in working withnew homebuilders.
The apartmentt business was non-relationship driven,” said McCaddon. “ didn’t know how to buile a businessthat wasn’t relational.” McCaddon downsizexd the company to redirect the focus to the home-constructio n industry. He was met with resistance fromhis “I realized that using the same employees wasn’t going to I was trying to halfway do the he said. “Once we made the we really turnedthe corner.” He begamn switching out personnel. The which had grown annual revenueto $5 million, saw revenue drop to unded $3 million during the transition. But, once the commitment was McCaddon notedmarked improvement. By revenue had grown by 35%.
Betweebn 2004 and 2008, the company went through its biggest growth reaching upto $22 million in salea and employing more than 60 workers. But at that the storybook growth came toan end. “It was gettinyg to be chaotic because of so many new We werean 8-cylinder engine workingf on six or seven cylinders. We’ lost a sense of and everyonewas territorial.” That’s when McCaddon broughgt in Brush. “For the most part, I engag e them and talk with them in order to builca relationship. I wanted to find out the strengths of the compan and what was working and whatneeded improvement,” said Brush. “They’ve got the dreams; they’ve got the vision.
It’sx just giving them the opportunity.” Brusyh met with employees to figure out areas that neederd improvement and then created anaction plan. He showef the company how to create committees to address problemse as they come up and then dissolves the committees after the problem has been The shift has translated intohappief customers. Bill Darling, president and co-owner of Darlinvg Homes Inc., has worked with McCaddon sincde McCaddon purchased Southwestern Carpetsin 2001. “(We started workinbg with Southwestern Carpets) because of Bill and his relational approacn to working with homebuilders as opposed to thetraditional price-only said Darling.
“Brush has helped Bill figured out how to communicate better so that everyone is goingy in the same direction as the managementf and will yield themaximum impact.” For Chriz McCoppin, operations manager for Southwestern Carpets, the change in the corporats culture has been noticeable. “Sometimes you don’yt realize that when one department changes theitr policiesand procedures, it affectzs others. Now everyone talks to each McCoppin said. “We’ve empowered them to make We gave them the power to run the Theyfeel accountable.
” With this new sense of as well as an improved use of digitizingh software called Measure, Southwesterhn Carpets has seen a marked improvemengt on the accuracy of the 3,0090 work orders entered each month 95% accuracy, up from 77% accuracy — and has saveds about $160,000 in unnecessary costs for havinbg to fix incorrect work Instead of pursuing potential clientz merely for the sake of new business, McCaddon and his stafc focus on getting to know potentiak clients, researching them as much as possiblwe and understanding their needxs before they even meet. “We’l l only do business with people who will sit down and have a relationshipowith us.
Someone is always going to come inlowe (priced) than you,” said McCaddon. “Wed were always chasing people who were focused on Ifthey say, fax us (a price we say sorry, we can’ty work with you. We stay together as a If you have thevalued relationship, they don’t leave.”