Client case studies
Alan Bloom MD, Havenhall. Distributor of baby, maternity and family care products talks about White Rooms impact on his business. “I had lost my passion for running the business somewhere along the way and with that, the ability to find a solution to the loss of a major brand we represented. I faced a crossroads in my business: shutdown or muddle along. Neither was especially appealing so when business coaching was recommended to me, I engaged White Room. From despair and dysfunction to new enthusiasm and strong achievable revenue targets, I’ve regained my passion for running a successful business. The Challenge Around five years ago, Havenhall embarked upon a trade partner strategy to grow the business. They teamed up with a multi-national fast moving consumer goods company to sell infant formula into Havenhall’s existing extensive client base. For Havenhall, this addition to its portfolio was a major cross-sell opportunity at no additional cost, in return for overhead recovery and expansion of sales territory opportunities. Havenhall quickly built up the infant formula distribution channel and grew a dedicated sales team of nine to support this part of the business. Then, after 4 years the ventures success was recognized by the brand owner and it’s entire distribution was taken back in-house leaving MD Alan Bloom at a cross roads. At a commercial level, Bloom had to take the decision about how to deal with the impact of the lost revenue, whether to keep the sales team on and focus on building up his own product or lay off the team. As a family-style business, Bloom would not easily consider retrenchments. And, on a personal level he had also lost the motivation to kick-start the business again. Similar to many small businesses started by an entrepreneur, he had no board of directors. In reaching the top, he had found himself in a professionally lonely space with no practical or strategic support around him. “Often SME (small to medium enterprise) owners are not educated in Business Planning and Management or working with a methodology. They approach the development of their business through trial and error, generally in a reactive manner without a broader perspective. There is often little dedicated planning time and they can struggle with the complexities of people management. Their only advisor, if they have one, is their accountant who is usually also an SME and often running and experiencing their business in the same way.” Linda Sultmann, Director, White Room The Solution Bloom now credits his commercial and self-motivational turnaround to a chance conversation with a business owner in his network. The contact mentioned that he was going on holiday for six weeks. This man had never been known to leave his business for more than two days previously, so Bloom enquired about this catalyst for change. He was referred to White Room Consulting. “It’s fair to say that I was skeptical about something that seemed intangible to me – perhaps I was not sure exactly what I was looking for.” Bloom explains. “I interviewed a number of consultants in the business planning and management space and wasn’t convinced by their approach. When it’s your own business, you’re emotional, you know it inside out and can be reluctant to open up and admit that you need help. However, I strongly recognised that staff were not happy so after taking comfort from references I contacted White Room. I now credit White Room for what I call ‘turning on the lights’ for us.” The White Room Experience Space Engaging White Room Consulting gave Bloom an immediate sense of relief as he knew he had taken the first step to addressing his commercial concerns that had become doubt around his own professional abilities.
“Structurally, the business was not organized effectively to allow Alan the space to be working on the business. We brought in an organizational model to deal with this and leverage all the resources in the business” Linda Sultmann, White Room Alan now focuses on the future direction of his business and the company’s five-year plan to become a $25 million business with new divisions. He no longer gets bogged down with daily operation activities and has a robust management team and monitoring system to keep him in touch with performance.
“White Room taught me that many CEOs go through this lonely make-or-break scenario and that what I experienced was completely normal. The support has helped me re-discover my gut instinct and given me confidence in making decisions and evaluating risk. I now manage the energy of the business and my head is in 2010. It takes me back to the excitement of starting-up.” I’ve gone from considering shutting down my business a year or so ago to thinking like the $25 million business we plan to be in five years and opening a new business unit – that’s immeasurable success from working with White Room Consulting.” Get the support you need. Book an initial meeting now. It's on us. |
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