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Bettering Your Bottom Line { Ken Peterson, CKD, LPBC } A Business Coach Can Help Your Firm An industry-specifc business coach can provide an outside perspective to help identify and fx weaknesses in your business that might hinder your growth as the economy improves. T he recovery is starting to gain real traction. I am hearing optimistic outlooks for positive sales growth in 2013 from many parts of the country. If you own a kitchen/ bath frm, now would be a good time, before you get too busy, to look in the mirror and ask yourself: Am I the one that's holding back my company from turning into an engine for wealth? Many small business owners are guilty of this, but most don't recognize it. Kitchen and bath firm owners are never going to better their bottom lines, and build a sizable corporate net worth, until they make a full commitment to working on their businesses on a regular basis, not just in them. As the economy rebounds, and owners get busier, the risk is that the faws in their business models get covered over, never to be completely fxed. PERSPECTIVE & DISCIPLINE You may argue that you survived the Great Recession because you had time to fx the flaws in your business model. And you may be right. But did you fx all of them…. or just the ones that were obvious to you? Do you think that if the thousands of dealers who went out of business over the last fve years knew their business model was fawed in some fatal way, they would have corrected it to avoid bankruptcy? The problem was that these failed owners could not see the fatal faws because they lacked the necessary perspective. A nd t hat's t he f i r st key benefit of engaging a business coach: a fresh perspective on your company's structure, performance and future. The best coaches are those with extensive business experience – available 24/7 – who take the time to a business coach brings to the table: lending discipline to business owners. Efective business coaches will insist on having a set day and time every week to meet with the kitchen/bath firm owner to work on his or her business. It may be weekly homework assignment or a major development project by an established target date. After all, when was the last time you scolded yourself for not completing something on time? Being held accountable by a third party, which is yet another valuable beneft of hiring a business coach, can be a very good thing for moving a business forward. INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC COACHING For both small and large kitchen and bath frms, the results from fully engaging the services of an industryspecifc business coach can be spectacular. For example, I know of one large firm "The best business coaches will candidly tell you what's wrong with your business and how the faws need to be fxed, providing a fresh perspective on your company's structure, performance and future." get know you, your business model, your current fnancial standing, your goals and your challenges. In doing so, they lend your company a brand new perspective that is invaluable. They will candidly tell you what's wrong with your business, how the faws need to be fxed, in what order they should be fxed, how long they will likely take to be fxed and what the outcomes will look like when they are fnally fxed. Ours is an industry largely driven by kitchen/bath frm owners. Many are designers frst and businesspeople second. They respond to all the stimuli swirling around them – hot leads, great design ideas, fashionable new product introductions, client questions, installation issues, rep visits, social media, etc. Kitchen and bath frm owners characteristically lack discipline such as carving out time every single week to work on their business. And that's the second beneft that 34 | Kitchen & Bath Design News April 2013 just one hour a week – and the meetings can be held efficiently by teleconference to eliminate travel time and expense. Once a dealer gets started with these regular meetings, it's been my experience that owners quickly come to love them and look forward to the next one. Additionally, business coaching agreements require a 12-month commitment because history has proven that the most challenging directional changes and/or growth objectives take that long to achieve. Indeed, disciplined, incremental weekly developmental eforts lead to transformational results over a span of a year. With a business coach on board, kitchen/bath frm owners will, perhaps for the first time ever in their industry career, be held accountable for completing a that had more than a $500K improvement in its bottom line in just one year: from an $80K loss to a $460K net proft. Plus, more than a few company owners have remarked to me that they wouldn't be in business today if not for their coach. That's why some progressive manufacturers in this industry are helping to underwrite the industry-specific coaching expenses of dealers in their network that represent excellent sales potential. One of the best values that can be gained from the assistance of a business coach is the development of a strategic plan. Many kitchen/ bath owners – particularly for those now in their 50s – desperately need one if they have any hope of selling their business at a premium price to fnance a comfortable retirement. It can take 8-10 years of consistent development to get a kitchen business in prime shape to earn a high valuation. And that's where an industry-specifc coach can, in particular, be a decidedly better selection. Having worked in the industry for at least 20 years or more, they don't need years to learn about your business and try out different strategies. Analyzing your fnancial statements and using benchmarking reports, they can spot major weaknesses quickly, helping you to implement proven strategies for maximum traction forward. Additionally, an industry-specifc coach costs considerably less than a generic business coach whose fees usually range from $1,000 to $2,000 per month. Properly organized, developed and managed, a kitchen/bath design firm business can indeed become an engine for wealth generation. Any dealer seriously interested in getting on this pathway to bona fde business success should engage an industry-specific coach now before "I'm too busy" becomes a convenient excuse. Dealers who are too busy to discover what truly ails their company, too busy to commit at least one hour per week to work on their business or too proud to think they could use professional advice are destined for endless ma rgina l f ina ncia l performance results. If you would like to have a recommendation of an industry-specific business coach, please email me at kpeterson@sendesign.com. Ken Peterson, CKD, LPBC, is president of the Chapel Hill, NC-based SEN Design Group and Instructor for 2013 Regional Seminars that are co-produced by Kitchen & Bath Design News. Peterson can be reached at 1-800991-1711 or kpeterson@ sendesign.com. Read past columns and features and send us your comments about this article and others by logging onto our Web site: www.ForResidentialPros.com