A client with a carpet sales and fitting business, who had been with Turner Accountancy Ltd for many years was beginning to feel the stress and strain of running a multi outlet operation. He was working 7 days a week with early starts and late finishes, this was having a detrimental effect on his health and family time.
During one of his regular meetings with his staff accountant this situation came to light and we began working with him to help reduce his 7 day working week and his stress levels and improve his family time while maintaining business profitability.
As a result of a closer examination of the business we found that:
o All aspects of the business including admin were dependant on him.
o He had to be available to customers and staff all the time, either in person or on the phone.
o He had to work 7 days as a result of the above and the nature of the trade and the reliance upon him for all decisions.
Gradually over time by working closely with the client we were able to help him achieve the following:-
1. Substantially reduce his marketing costs by measuring and monitoring the effectiveness of the activity. This in turn meant the marketing budget was dramatically reduced, but at the same time money was spent more effectively.
Profits as a consequence increased.
2. Staff were trained to understand the value and the positive effect of first class customer service.
3. Client issues were quickly and effectively resolved without his involvement.
4. Realising the value of the owners time.
The clients failure to realise that he should do only what only he can do had resulted in him carrying out a vast variety of tasks within the business, some tasks of high value many of low value.
With help and guidance from Turners Accountancy he was able to build a management and admin team below him thus enabling him to work on the business rather than in it.
The result of these low cost actions was:
o A reduction in his stress levels
o A reduction of his time spent resolving issues
o An increase in customer confidence and retention
Results
The clients stress levels have reduced, his health has improved his family time has increased, he now works 5 days and his phone, rather than ringing incessantly now rings infrequently.
He was able to bring in the right management and admin team below him so that he could work more on the business, rather than in it.
He can go on holiday more often without the worry and stress of wondering what is happening back at the business.
New management has also brought in new ideas, which coupled with the business owners ideas, has meant that overall, the business has grown and is now more profitable.
The client has also benefited from regular tax planning, whereby we have been able to predict liabilities well in advance and give the client all available options to ensure he pays the minimum amount of tax.