Business Crisis- Growth Without Controls
Crisis caused by growing pains, loose controls and cash flow.
Situational Summary
Our client expanded operations and quickly lost control of margin, profit and cash flow. Biz360 was called in at a time when operations were clearly out of control. The financial stress challenged survival. A plan was implemented resulting in:
- Improvements to inventory control;
- Margin improvement;
- Shrink control;
- Organizational accountability and effectiveness;
- Focused ownership priorities;
- Improved lease terms;
- Refinancing of long term debt.
Results
Business stabilized and developed an exit strategy.
Lessons Learned
- The growth plan was clearly not sufficiently developed, don’t allow this to happen in your business;
- Staffing decisions are critical in any form of business growth, set a plan to hire and train prior to expansion;
- Cash requirements of the business were not understood, bankers could not help after the downturn. Get your lender invested early.
- Operating controls were loose and needed to be applied throughout the company. There are often more ways to lose money than to be profitable, develop your profit plan and require compliance by all of your team.
