GPS Reviews: Professionals Who Understand Businesses
Situation
A well established commercial and residential electrical services firm, in business for over 80 years, brought GPS in to deal with operational problems which had resulted in reduced profits and negative sales growth. “For several years, I’ve wrestled with problems of employee productivity, material management and how to determine what our real labor cost was as well as the actual overhead burden and how to cover these costs when quoting jobs.”
Process
One of the first issues that the GPS consultant resolved was cash flow. Before, “receivables were high and cash went out as fast as it came in.” Tools were implemented and staff trained to use them to clarify the managerial decision-making process. “Within a month, our cash flow was 100% better and this gave me the confidence to project our cash flow in the future and to plan expenses.”
Other clarification included what constitutes overhead and what percentage it should be, relative to gross sales in addition to “analyzing our costs and markup strategies for high-margin/low-volume work and low-margin/high-volume work. Identifying the costs accurately, led to immediate results in our bidding success.”
Result
“Managing the business at the gross margin line is now a philosophy that I understand and I can use going forward.” The client expressed that he now has a workable plan and if the company does “get off track, or if the track shifts, we have the tools available to make the right adjustment.”
“I would definitely recommend GPS to other businesses; they are definitely professionals who understand businesses and the challenges that we all face.” Fred, President