There was an extensive preplanning process that evaluated personnel in each company’s sales organization based on many factors such as past performance including their willingness to accept change. While it is difficult to quantify and measure the attribute of accepting change we wanted what we felt were successful, growing, and aspiring personnel who were committed to the future, believed in the newly merged company vision and willing to put forth the proper effort to help shape the future.

Once this process was completed we also needed to merge two separate customer master files at the 5 digit zip level and align all accounts across the country with a sales representative who was responsible for each zip code in his/her geographical area.   This was a mission critical major project that was a coordinated effort with VP of IT, Controller, Director of Customer Service and other internal departments.  Due to the preplanning process, everyone was ready on day one of the new company to effectively service the existing accounts and open new accounts in his/her territory.

Through this process, we structured one cohesive sales organization that was motivated and excited about being part of something greater than what they had before.  The new sales organization was an important building block for the new, combined company.

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We evaluated one in house developed system and an external system.  After extensive needs analysis and evaluation, I worked side by side with IT to complete a capability comparison of the two current systems as well as a 3^rd ‘best in class’ option from an outside company. The easy decision would have been to choose one of the two systems we were currently using; however, I knew that we needed the flexibility to expand our capabilities for additional and unique product categories and adaptable to any other needs in the future.

We partnered with what we felt was the ‘best in class’ industry leading company who worked side by side with us to build a customized software package based on our ‘business process’ needs.  The application was developed with the premise of utilizing speed and efficiency to not only scan and process items but also systematically apply the extensive and various sales & product programs based on the items ordered.

The new sales tool allowed the sales representative to focus on selling with improved speed and productivity.  Efficiencies were also realized in the home office mainframe systems as a result of integration between the sales automation tool and backend systems.  Orders flowed through the system and out to the DC with minimal human intervention due to pre-determined algorithms and integration.

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I evaluated every lease, commitments and requirements along with the cost of the inventory needed to properly merchandise all the product categories.  The objective was to work with all the showroom location leaseholders to ensure a fair and professional manner in which this was to be accomplished.

Once all the analysis on ‘as is’ was completed, I focused on the ‘to be’ vision.  Through this effort we were able to consolidate and reduce our pre-merger square feet by over 25% and our total cost of showroom operations by over 30%, which resulted in significant annualized savings without any revenue or customer disruption.

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Together, we worked through a complete analysis and prioritized the key areas of cash usage.  One area we targeted was better utilization of our inventory working capital and the timely flow of that same inventory. It was vital that if we adjusted our inventory purchasing procedures that we do it in such a way that was well analyzed, planned, transparent and absolutely no impact to our customer base.

As a result of that focused initiative as well as other areas of cash usage improvement, we improved working capital by significant amounts over a two-year period without negatively impacting inventory service levels.

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As a team we worked together to develop easy to use pre-built ‘graphic rich’ emails and social media templates with product images and other product merchandising photography.  We placed our extensive database of product images in the electronic library of our strategic partner so retailers could literally ‘select’ the template and images of product to proactively market and communicate to their customer base through the various media of Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.

We were also able to systematically and electronically advise the retailers when their product shipped from our warehouse and the retailers could alert their customers that the hot new product would soon be arriving in their store.  This allowed the retailer to create pre demand, improved cash flow, improved margins, inventory, and working capital plus improve customer satisfaction by providing advance hot new product arrival notice.

In partnership with our strategic partner, we were in the forefront of putting easy to use and cost effective tools in the hands of retailers so they could leverage the exploding social media environment.

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The understanding of what quality really means had to be instilled in every process and within every position in the company.  In order to accomplish this, key individuals were hand selected to be lead Quality Action Team Facilitators.  In this role, I worked closely with the Executive Quality Team to facilitate the ‘training of the trainers’ so the quality process improvement initiatives could be implemented throughout the organization.

Many QAT’s (Quality Action Teams) were formed throughout the organization as part of the normal day-to-day duties and through this process; many new procedures were improved and/or implemented.  The documentation became a ‘how to’ manual for existing as well as new staff and ensured we maintained the expected high standards required of each job.

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The purpose of this core group of leaders was centered on the core belief of TStewart Enterprises in that success cannot be achieved alone.  Each member had a voice and input into any key decisions and also the development of short and long term strategic plans and budgets.     Any cross-departmental key decision has either a positive or negative impact either up or down the line and it was critical that we discuss all aspects and together develop an implementation plan that achieved the positive desired result of each major initiative. While such a team cannot make every decision, nor should they, the Leadership Team concept does provide a highly effective structure for brainstorming of ideas, open dialog, collaboration and implementation.

It was also through this process that all financials and budgets were developed.  Each Leadership Team member had the ownership and now the responsibility to operate within their expense budgets and also to continue to save when and where they could.  Neither I nor any of the Leadsership Team believed in the statement “it is in the budget so I can spend it”.  The philosophy of the Leadership Team was to build an operational financial budget together and work to achieve and exceed the budgeted plans.

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Through the collaboration of the Leadership Team, the idea originated of providing direct shipment of product from our DC directly to our retail customer’s customer, therefore, the direct to consumer ‘Drop Ship’ idea was born.   We worked together to develop the plan and the systems capability within our highly and what we considered ‘best in class’ IT department.

In order to make this cost effective for the company and the customer, a system had to be developed that would allow our customer to place images of our product on their websites, have their customer order via their website, then process the order electronically into our systems and out to the DC picking line with minimal human intervention.  Upon picking and packing of the item in the highly efficient DC operations, the order was shipped direct to the customer’s customer and billed to our customer.  This new transparent service offering for shipment direct from a wholesaler to the end consumer was the first of its kind in the wholesale décor industry at that time and generated a significant amount of new and profitable revenue.

This service was revolutionary in that it allowed retailers to offer a much broader selection and variety of product on their website without inventory risk, working capital investment and the time and resources to unpack and display product in their store.

The ‘Drop Ship’ program provides a very cost effective way for retailers to expand their selection and offering with little to no future risk of markdowns.

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Problem solving is what we do and as you have read in the above success story examples it is all about solving a problem.  It would be easy to take full credit for solving these problems alone; however, they were not solved in isolation.

The foundation for our problem solving process is the TQM (Total Quality Management) facilitator training & certification experience.  We were responsible for understanding the scope, defining the objective and assembling the right team to collectively work together to achieve the common goal of solving the problem.

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