GPS USA

I really want to thank Tom and GPS for all of his hard work he has put into our company for the last 2 weeks. He is a very personable and knowledgeable individual with many great ideas for moving our company forward and out of this slump we are in. First, he opened our eyes to the way we should be running our company with a cash flow plan. He then moved us to the Blood Wall to show us how to generate ideas for old and new business and how to cut our variable and fixed cost. This will be a very useful tool for us for years to come. He has done so much to establish our break-even point and now we know just how much sales we have to do to make a profit. He taught Regina the ins and outs of Excel and how to prepare and use the spreadsheet designed for us to use. He has made sure we (Danny, Regina and I) know how to read our income statement and the five key things we need to pay attention to when going over it. He put in place a budget for us to move forward this year and the next and also made sure we know how to do one for future years to come. He has given Danny some great ideas in regards to running the shop and dealing with our employees. He has also given me great information on how to make sound sales calls and what the customer needs to hear when I’m making the call.

When Allan and Wayne arrived I was experiencing “buyer’s remorse”, a condition I have been challenged with many times throughout my life. I also had little confidence that GPS could actually provide solutions to my problems. To compound the problem, very tight cash flow and a major downward trend in the agricultural economy was causing me a lot concern about my ability to pay services rendered. They remained unruffled by my attitude and gained my trust and confidence with their “common sense” approach to the challenges that lie before me. It did not take long for me to realize they had the ability to develop an effective business plan that I can implement. But, most importantly of all, they demonstrated that they genuinely desire to help me re-establish a healthy business and build additional profitability.

We would like to take the opportunity to describe the work that GPS USA, Inc., and, specifically Paul, performed for us at ARP. Paul has a firm grasp of Consulting Engagement and took the time to implement them to the owners and employees of ARP. Paul is also highly skilled at recognizing issues that require escalation to management for decision making. Paul presented a number of well though-out options with pros and cons to aid the decision maker in making choices and in understanding and communicating the implications of that choice. Paul is an excellent organizer and deals effectively with those to whom he reports. Superior under stress, Paul appears to become calmer and more patient as stress escalates or conflicts emerge. Paul taught us how to organize our business, how to use new tools, and management skills. We spent a large portion of our time with Paul learning how to organize our “finances”! WOW, we have learned so much. In short, Paul is the kind of quality individual it takes on the team to be successful. Thank you, Paul for your excellent support, direction and efforts in our time working together.

Making the decision to use your business consulting services did not come easily for us. Deciding to put that much money into this project was concerning as young business owners. My hope was that we would one day look back and think it was one of the best decisions we have ever made. Today is that day! We are so pleased that we made the decision we did. Not only have we noticed a renewed energy in our business and employees, but in ourselves as well. We feel like business owners again instead of our business owning us. I have watched Tony work non-stop for years, getting sucked into the daily minutia of work and have no time to be a business owner. Jim has turned that around. This is the first time I have seen Tony get on board with delegating his daily duties and focusing on bigger picture stuff, and actually do it. We have also benefitted greatly from the new policies, job descriptions and manuals Jim has created for us. We didn’t realize the positive effect these simple tools would have on our business and employees, nor did we have the time to do it. Lastly we are so eager to use the 5 year plan, budgets and metrics Jim has put in place to help us grow and measure our business. These are the things I am most excited about. I have wanted to use these kinds of tools for years, but was never able to come up with them on my own. We now feel like we can make educated decisions, and as business owners, this give us the confidence we need to keep industry on the path it is now. We have greatly enjoyed working with George and especially Jim (the Bob’s). We look forward to the continued relationship between your company and ours.

I would like to thank GPS for helping our company Bird Express implement a marketing program and for all the effort from Michael. Michael has been very informative and has come up with a lot of great ideas to try and help us get to the next level; along with his ideas and instructions, we should be able to obtain those goals. We will miss Michael, as he came in as a consultant, and will be leaving us as a friend.

About six months ago, I came to the realization that my company was not a small business anymore that I could work for and in much longer. We have grown from a four employee operation with one department, to twenty-six employees and five departments. My stress level was high and my energy level was probably at its lowest point. Days were up and down, but fortunate for me, I knew I could not give up. Berith is the Hebrew word for covenant, which means that my partner Ray and I made a covenant with God that we would conduct every business matter with honest and integrity no matter what the circumstances were. We are not perfect but we can honestly say we have done that. The problem was I needed help. I do not have the appropriate tools in place to provide focus and control over what the company had grown into. When Paul came into my office, I was not exactly sure what to expect. He asked a lot of questions and it turned out to be the right questions. By the next day, Paul knew exactly where my problems were. He knew exactly what needed to be done if I was willing to move forward. Now looking back, it was an answered prayer. Bill has been a true gentleman and a joy to work with. All of your staff has been very professional. Bill has worked hard to build the necessary tools we need. All of the value enhancements worked real well plugging in each employee to help them perform the tasks needed to make our system work. All of the value practices are exactly what I needed. I can see what each class is doing on any given month. I can figure overhead, breakeven, and effective labor rates. Bill set up an operating budget which will be of great help in the future as we move our fabrication shop next door into a different facility. Bill especially worked well with our financial secretaries. We now have a cash management tool in place with a better way to track payables and receivables. Something pretty high on my list was an incentive plan that would enhance our productivity. It looks like Bill and your staff has come up with something that will work. We will start it up March 1. I shared it with all of our employees this morning and it looks like everybody is on board. I know the journey is not over and I have a lot of hard work ahead. I am ready for it and now have a system in place that will benefit all of us and help me be a better steward of what God has given me.