Southwestern Carpets grows business from the ground up - Dallas Business Journal:

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Bill McCaddon has stripped Southwestern Carpets down and recreated it a couplr of times since purchasing it from Don Lynchuin 2001. When he bought the floorinh company, it specialized in removinh and replacing carpets in apartments betweenrental occupation. The Lewisville company was producing annual revenueeof $5 million, but McCaddon found the businesxs too impersonal because it was drivej by product sales and not on building relationships with So he decided to switch focus to the more relationship-centric business of providing floorinb solutions to new home-construction projects, whichg includes hardwood floors, carpeting, and backsplash and tile The wholesale company saw dramatic growth as a result, with annualo revenue of $22 million in 2007.
But the growth was so rapi and so intense that managerds were losing control of the direction the compantwas heading. So in 2008, he enlistef Don Brush, a consultant with The Renova Corp., to help bringf new energy to his company. McCaddon’s sensse of direction and leadershipp abilities come from his experience asa manufacturer’sa representative for 18 years at companies like Shaw Carpett Manufacturer and Aleta Co. He had learned the importancwe of building relationshipswith clients. “My background was in workingh withnew homebuilders. The apartmentf business was non-relationship driven,” said McCaddon.
“I didn’g know how to build a businessthat wasn’g relational.” McCaddon downsized the company to redirect the focus to the home-construction industry. He was met with resistance fromhis “I realized that using the same employee wasn’t going to work. I was trying to halfway do the he said. “Once we made the commitment, we reall turned the corner.” He began switching out The company, which had growhn annual revenueto $5 million, saw revenue drop to underr $3 million during the transition. But, once the commitmengt was made, McCaddon noted marked improvement. By revenue had grown by 35%.
Between 2004 and 2008, the company went througn its biggestgrowth spurt, reaching up to $22 million in saled and employing more than 60 workers. But at that the storybook growth came toan end. “Itt was getting to be chaotic because of so many new We werean 8-cylinder engine workingy on six or seven cylinders. We’d lost a senses of teamwork, and everyone was territorial.” That’s when McCaddo n brought in Brush. “For the most part, I engage them and talk with them in ordert to builda relationship. I wanted to find out the strengthds of the company and what was working and whatneedexd improvement,” said Brush.
“They’ve got the dreams; they’ve got the It’s just giving them the Brush met with employees to figure out areazs that needed improvement and then createdx anaction plan. He showed the company how to create committees to address problems as they come up and then dissolvre the committees after the problem has been The shift has translated intohappier customers. Bill Darling, president and co-ownerd of Darling Homes Inc., has worked with McCaddon since McCaddon purchased Southwestern Carpetsin 2001.
“(We startedr working with Southwestern Carpets) becausd of Bill and his relational approach to working with homebuilders as opposesd to thetraditional price-only approach,” said “Brush has helped Bill figure out how to communicated better so that everyone is going in the same direction as the management and will yield the maximum impact.” For Chris McCoppin, operationd manager for Southwestern Carpets, the change in the corporatd culture has been noticeable. “Sometimes you don’tr realize that when one department changes theird policiesand procedures, it affects Now everyone talks to each McCoppin said.
“We’ve empowererd them to make We gave them the power to run the Theyfeel accountable.” With this new sensw of empowerment, as well as an improved use of digitizing software called Measure, Southwestern Carpetsz has seen a marker improvement on the accuracy of the 3,000 work orders entered each month 95% accuracy, up from 77% accuracy and has saved abougt $160,000 in unnecessary costs for having to fix incorrecty work orders. Instead of pursuinh potential clients merely for the sake ofnew business, McCaddo n and his staff focua on getting to know potential clients, researchingg them as much as possible and understanding their needs before they even meet.
“We’ll only do business with people who will sit down and have a relationshippwith us. Someone is always goin to come inlowe (priced) than you,” said McCaddon. “Wr were always chasing people who were focused on Ifthey say, fax us (a price sheet), we say we can’t work with you. We stay together as a If you have thevalus relationship, they don’t leave.”