Southwestern Carpets grows business from the ground up - bizjournals:

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Bill McCaddon has strippefd Southwestern Carpets down and recreated it a couplwe of times since purchasing it from Don Lynchin 2001. When he boughgt the flooring company, it specializef in removing and replacingf carpets in apartments betwee nrental occupation. The Lewisville company was producinf annual revenueof $5 million, but McCaddon found the businessd too impersonal because it was drivebn by product sales and not on building relationshipas with customers.
So he decided to switch focus to themore relationship-centridc business of providing flooring solutionas to new home-construction projects, which includes hardwooxd floors, carpeting, and backsplash and tile The wholesale company saw dramatic growthg as a result, with annual revenue of $22 millioj in 2007. But the growth was so rapis and so intense that managers were losing control of the directiomn the companywas heading. So in 2008, he enlisted Don Brush, a consultantt with The Renova to help bring new energg tohis company.
McCaddon’s sensd of direction and leadership abilities come from his experienc e asa manufacturer’s representative for 18 yearsd at companies like Shaw Carpeft Manufacturer and Aleta Co. He had learnesd the importance of building relationshipswith clients. “My backgroune was in working with new The apartment businesswas non-relationship driven,” said “I didn’t know how to builr a business that wasn’t relational.” McCaddon downsized the companyy to redirect the focus to the home-construction He was met with resistance from his employees.
“Ij realized that using the sameemployeees wasn’t going to I was trying to halfway do the change,” he “Once we made the commitment, we reall turned the corner.” He began switching out personnel. The which had grown annuapl revenueto $5 million, saw revenue drop to under $3 million during the transition. But, once the commitmen was made, McCaddon notef marked improvement. By 2003, revenue had grown by 35%. Betweenh 2004 and 2008, the company went through its biggestgrowtjh spurt, reaching up to $22 million in sales and employing more than 60 workers. But at that time, the storybooi growth came to an end.
“It was getting to be chaotic because of so many new We werean 8-cylinder engine working on six or sevejn cylinders. We’d lost a sense of teamwork, and everyone was That’s when McCaddon brought in Brush. “For the most part, I engagde them and talk with them in ordedr to build a I wanted to find out the strengths of the compan y and what was working and what needed said Brush. “They’ve got the dreams; they’ve got the vision. It’s just giving them the opportunity.” Brushg met with employees to figure out areas that neederd improvement and then created anactioj plan.
He showed the company how to create committees to address problems as they come up and then dissolves the committees after the problem hasbeen handled. The shift has translated into happiedr customers. Bill Darling, president and co-owner of Darlinf Homes Inc., has worked with McCaddonj since McCaddon purchased Southwestern Carpetsin 2001. “(We started workinbg with Southwestern Carpets) becauswe of Bill and his relational approacn to working with homebuilderx as opposed to thetraditional price-only said Darling. “Brush has helped Bill figure out how to communicatew better so that everyone is going in the same directio n as the management and will yield themaximum impact.
” For Chrix McCoppin, operations manager for Southwestern Carpets, the change in the corporatew culture has been noticeable. “Sometimes you don’t realizse that when one department changes thei r policiesand procedures, it affects others. Now everyone talks to each McCoppin said. “We’ve empowered them to make We gave them the powed to runthe business. They feel With this new senseof empowerment, as well as an improvec use of digitizing software called Measure, Southwestern Carpets has seen a marked improvemengt on the accuracy of the 3,000 work orders entere each month — 95% accuracy, up from 77% accuracgy — and has saved abou $160,000 in unnecessary costs for having to fix incorrect work orders.
Insteaf of pursuing potential clients merel y for the sake ofnew business, McCaddoj and his staff focus on getting to know potential researching them as much as possible and understandinv their needs before they even “We’ll only do business with people who will sit down and have a relationshipl with us. Someone is always goingf to come inlower (priced) than said McCaddon. “We were always chasing people who were focused on Ifthey say, fax us (a pricee sheet), we say sorry, we can’t work with you. We stay togethe as a result. If you have the value relationship, they don’t leave.
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