Industrial Fabrics Distributor, Revenue: $12M 2013 – 2016 

This 30+year old family distribution business was a substantial operation, with around 70 people on staff and a revenue of $12m. The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 saw business drop off. The industry did not recover well, and the business was losing market share and customers at a rate of 5% per annum. The father had handed the business to his two sons, whose business experience was lacking at this scale. During our time working with the business, the father had to, unfortunately, retire due to ill health. Two other key members of the senior management team also died quite suddenly, leaving a large business acumen gap

We worked on a 10-year business plan culminating in an exit strategy, whilst updating financial modelling to accommodate growth. An audit of the two younger owners’ existing capabilities was undertaken, as well as a development and introduction of a new organisational structure. With a few new appointments and the retiring of unresourceful ones, we restructured the business. 

Successful growth planning and execution allowed the business owner to not be involved in day-to-day operations and shed 20% of its current staff. Successful recruitment of a sales manager and retraining of the sales team lead to an increase of 30% revenue in the first 12months and a reduction in salesforce costs of over 60%. Perhaps most importantly, our work with this company successfully implemented a complete rebrand for the organisation and re-established the business in its rightful place as a market leader in its industry.