Online Travel Company
The Founder came to us while the company was still in the research stage. He wanted us to write a Business Plan so he could go out into the Venture Capital community and seek funding. Typical of most entrepreneurs, he had a winning idea but he was overwhelmed with the results of his research. Our approach to the project: Sorted through all the information and ideas and arrived at five meaningful revenue streams that would progressively build upon each other. Organized an Advisory Board made up of an attorney, a travel industry executive, a retired corporate CEO, a golf promoter, a telemarketing expert, and the president of a public relations firm. Scheduled and ran formal meetings to nail down the business model and assigned tasks to the Advisory Board members. Wrote the Business Plan and Venture Summary. Created PowerPoint presentations to show to investors as well as presentations to assist in signing up client resorts. Advised the Founder on both Angel and Venture Capital funding avenues and worked with him to pitch the company. Identified an interactive agency that could create an economical first-phase Web site as well as drive traffic to the site. Managed Web project. Created day-to-day operations plan. Created Advisory Board compensation plan. Pitched company services to resorts at trade conventions and through articles in trade magazines.
The company went through a beta launch that proved to reduce resort per-prospect marketing costs by 30% and increased resort sales rate by 300%. The company is growing steadily and is the leading provider in its niche.
Online Retail Identity Sportswear
A brilliant salesperson in the field of corporate promotional products came to us with the idea of gearing a line of basic sportswear to the Gen-Y and Gen-X extreme sports market, playing on the logo as the identity hook. The problem was how to build the company on a shoe-string budget since Venture Capital was not an option.
Our approach to the project: Clearly defined the target market and how best to reach it through popular fringe bands, extreme sports events, extreme sports personalities wearing the product, etc. Refined the production and fulfillment process to create Just-In-Time inventory management and fulfillment. Established progressive build-out plan involving different promotional channels and revenue models. Wrote Business Plan and Venture Summary for use in finding funding and attracting Advisors.
Company launched in 1999 and is enjoying steady growth with a committed community of customers that market the product through word of mouth as the representative image brand for the niche.
Popular High-End Health & Beauty Spa
The manager of a single-location high-end health and beauty spa was tasked with growing its customer base and revenues. Though the spa was operating at 90% capacity and was enjoying steady sales of its natural health and beauty product line, the revenues did not exceed expenses by more than 8% in any one month. The spa could not retain the skilled employees it needed to maintain its high-end appeal because it couldn’t afford to pay the wages and benefits they demanded. Our approach to the project: Created a plan to bring in more revenues through the product line. Distribution of beauty and health products as well as spa clothing through New Age stores. Web site catalog. How-to e-books written by the spa Founder. Created corporate retreat marketing plan. Created expansion plan to place branch spas in suburban areas where fixed costs are lower. Advised on the engagement of a PR team to brand the product line and create buzz. Instituted a profit-sharing program for all employees.
The changes are currently being implemented and it is too early to see results in revenue, but staff morale has risen substantially because the employees feel more responsibility toward increasing the bottom-line and expect the new marketing efforts to result in greater prestige for the spa, benefiting their careers.
Family-Owned Property Management Company
The Founder had built an extremely successful property management company, but when he brought in his children to take over in preparation for his retirement, the business started to fail.
Our approach to the project: Established a no-contact policy between parent and children with the exception of a weekly mediated meeting. Worked individually with each child to discover which job was most suitable, which skills needed improvement, and noted the individual’s ideas for improving and expanding the business. Trained each child for his or her role in the company. Wrote an Organizational Plan. Assisted in the hire of a Web developer. Advised on Web site content and online marketing. Advised on the computerization of office processes and the purchase of hardware and software. Advised on the reorganization of banking, billing, and collection activities. Mediated between parent and children on a daily basis.
The project took six months, during which revenues turned around and started to increase. Within two years, business had returned to its previous high and continues to grow. The Founder has retired and the children now run the business. Peace has returned to the family.
Furniture Store
A family-owned furniture chain consisted of one store that sold modern furniture, one that sold traditional furniture, and one that sold ethnic furniture. The Founder father had retired and a different son managed each store. The youngest son was in charge of the ethnic furniture store and came to us because he wanted to increase profits. Our approach to the project: Posing as customers, we did several walk-throughs in the store noting sales staff behavior, display inconsistencies, and general feel. We examined the back office operations, the importing operations and the sales process. The son had a basic problem. His father had previously managed the store and store personnel had not accepted the son’s authority when he took over from his father. His inventories were also out of control since all record keeping and bookkeeping was done by hand. We advised a staff shake-up that included promoting certain individuals, firing some and hiring new sales people. Advised on the computerization of the sales transactions, record keeping and bookkeeping systems. Selected representative customers and conducted interviews to determine whether their needs were being met and created a store re-design as well as a program of classes on the construction and significance of the furniture and its traditional use within its ethnic culture. Created a marketing plan including advertising re-design and re-branding.
Inventories and sales are now under control and the store staff is now managed by an on-site manager freeing the son to focus on buying trips as he had always wanted.
Savings & Loan
Post-deregulation, this major Savings & Loan was alarmed to note its cost of funds from CD deposits was rising at a rapid rate. A major high-profile consulting firm had been called in to advise but came up with nothing more than it was an unfortunate result of deregulation. Our approach to the project: Interviewed all branch managers and key branch deposit personnel. Discovered they were placing customer money in the highest yielding deposits rather than promoting investment in CDs that matched the cash management plans of the institution. Discovered branch personnel did not fully understand how their deposits impacted the institution’s bottom line. Created a training program designed to educate key branch personnel about how interest rates move according to economic conditions and how the level of interest rates paid on deposits impact bottom line profits of the institution. The training program also taught branch personnel how to sell deposits that matched the institution’s borrowing strategy.
Putting knowledge into the hands of branch personnel had an immediate and resounding effect on both their enthusiasm for the job as well as the institution’s cost of funds. Within a year the institution had the lowest cost of funds in the country. | 
