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Hidden Profit: How to Grow Your Business Without Cutting People · Business Roundtable

• 0:30
  Speaker 1: All right, welcome back to another episode of the Business
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Roundtable podcast. I've got a brand new guest this week.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I'm super excited to have Bob Maloney here, a consulting
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: partner at eer a group.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: We're here about helping you.
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  Speaker 1: As a business owner, as a leader, have more effect
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and influence in not just your business, but the people
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: that you get to work with. That's why I am here.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: David car Stewart your business bringing people together to accomplish great.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Things, and we have Bob on here.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Bob is another great gentleman I've got to meet through
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: my Success Champions network, among others and connections there. Super
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: excited to have you here, Bob, Welcome to the podcast.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me David, It's a pleasure to be here.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely Now, Bob, we're going to get into a topic
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  Speaker 1: today I think is really important to business owners is
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: how do we find the hidden cash or the inefficiencies
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: in my business? And you have you know, this is
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: where you've zeroed in on. How do you help businesses
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: you know, do a better job at costs recovery and
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: have greater impact in how they're running their business. But
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  Speaker 1: before we get into the weeds, there I always like
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: to start back a little bit, Bob, about what got
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: you to where you're at now as a consulting partner
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: and what drives you and what you do. So could
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: take us a little bit back about your journey as
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: a business owner and why you got it into where
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: this particular area of business.
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's a great question, David. I spent a long
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  Speaker 3: career in the debt recovery business that manage call centers
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: for debt recovery and business process that's sorts. In a
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  Speaker 3: lot of my background kind of led up to what
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  Speaker 3: I'm doing today. I really enjoy finding opportunities to improve
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: processes and ultimately reduce costs for businesses. And I always
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: wanted to be in business for myself and had the
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  Speaker 3: opportunity in twenty twenty to get this whole whole thing started.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm really having a lot of fun.
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  Speaker 2: That's great.
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  Speaker 1: I love it well, and I love that you coming
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  Speaker 1: from a place of freethinking cost control. You and I
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  Speaker 1: talked about this before we recorded this podcast, but not
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: as a reactionary method but really a measure but a
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  Speaker 1: way of leadership that can you know, strategy that can
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  Speaker 1: reveal hidden profit drives culture strengthens operations.
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  Speaker 2: And I know personally how important to have.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody like you on the team that looks at the
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  Speaker 1: systems and process and how to improve those things. So
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  Speaker 1: I'm super excited to have your input and knowledge and
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  Speaker 1: sharing that with our listeners today.
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  Speaker 3: So I think I think probably the most important thing
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  Speaker 3: is most business leaders, they're really they're really more focused
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  Speaker 3: on driving revenue, building their business, adding staff and things
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: like that. Reducing their cost is not not necessarily high
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: on their list. It comes in as a as a
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  Speaker 3: necessity in some cases. But but what I do is
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  Speaker 3: try to help them to position themselves so there they
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  Speaker 3: are proactive and they're able to get out ahead of
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  Speaker 3: it so that they can focus their efforts on on
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  Speaker 3: what they do best. What I do is help them
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  Speaker 3: to uh I want to say, add some some depth
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  Speaker 3: to their tea, uh with without any any without really
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  Speaker 3: any incremental costs.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think that's great. I think we
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  Speaker 2: need both.
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  Speaker 1: It's a both anison either or, And I think at
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  Speaker 1: least even as a small business owner, I see where
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  Speaker 1: things can start to creep in and you're maybe paying
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: for things or you're not getting the return on investment
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  Speaker 1: and so I think I like that you're i's say,
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  Speaker 1: it is kind of redefining cost reduction or looking at
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: this a little differently. And you know, I know you
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: you've mentioned you were in this your journey from your
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: managing call centers and now you've kind of come to
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  Speaker 1: this place of optimizing costs and looking at that and
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  Speaker 1: why most companies perhaps ignore or not just not paying
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  Speaker 1: attention to some indirect costs and how that can erode
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  Speaker 1: their profit. Talk a little bit about that, like what
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  Speaker 1: should we be thinking about as business owner?
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  Speaker 3: Sure, so, so you know a lot of times, you know,
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  Speaker 3: indirect costs, indirect costs, there a lot of times they're
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  Speaker 3: I want to say, they're accepted as the gen't really
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  Speaker 3: cost of doing business and uh and what whatever group
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  Speaker 3: does is is we provide expertise in a broad range
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  Speaker 3: of categories that that potentially business leaders don't have, uh.
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  Speaker 3: The expertise in it includes things like insurance and packaging
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  Speaker 3: and uh food services, there's there's there's a number of
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  Speaker 3: different categories where will provide expertise. And our analysts frequently
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: have the experience in the c suite or they've got
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: an advanced degree, uh that that helps them to be
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  Speaker 3: experts in their field. We work we work on a
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  Speaker 3: success fee, so if we don't find any savings, we
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  Speaker 3: charge our clients no fee. When we do find savings,
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  Speaker 3: we we share in that that savings are over over
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  Speaker 3: our engagement and and we're also taking a lot of
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  Speaker 3: the risk.
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  Speaker 2: Mm hmmm. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things I find sometimes is there's people
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  Speaker 1: think the cost savings come through, you know, maybe just layoffs,
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  Speaker 1: like hey, let's just lay off people instead of looking
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  Speaker 1: at some of these other areas that you're talking about,
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  Speaker 1: like you know, real cost transwer that's not really hey,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: let's just lay off and instead of like looking at
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  Speaker 1: it broke down some other areas they did this time,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: they wouldn't have to go to such screen.
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  Speaker 3: Right right. So a lot of times that you know,
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  Speaker 3: when you when you're looking at a P and L,
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  Speaker 3: the first thing that comes a lot it comes to
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  Speaker 3: to your eye is is that that labor and UH
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  Speaker 3: and benefits line and and those those things are are
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  Speaker 3: important in the business, but they also help to drive
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  Speaker 3: the business.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: Being able to get out ahead of it and and
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  Speaker 3: look look a little bit upstream in terms of what
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: potentially you could do to uh uh to strengthen your
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: supplier relationships, build better contracting UH strategies in order to
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: UH to lengthen the uh the terms of your agreements. UH.
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  Speaker 3: You know, right now we're we're we're dealing with a period,
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  Speaker 3: as I call a certain uncertainty, and getting out ahead
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: of tariffs is really, uh is really challenging. And being
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  Speaker 3: able to leverage a different a different lensa on on
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: what your expenses look like and be able to capture
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  Speaker 3: some additional expertise can can only be an advantage to business.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well we're recorded this right now, this episode of the
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: beginning of June twenty twenty five. So there's yeah, this
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: whole year has been a lot of uncertain changes and
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  Speaker 1: so like you know, how to how to look at
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  Speaker 1: like I said, contracts, what's what's the have a longer
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: term agreement, shorter term agreements? What do we what's the
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  Speaker 1: cost benefit there? You know, I think you're bringing up
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: some great points I want to get into, like how
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: do we lead with more operational awareness? So like maybe
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  Speaker 1: examples of you know, you've seen where inderecs vends such
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: as pelacom or maybe equipment or the uniforms or whatever.
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  Speaker 1: How that becomes invisible to leadership until the margins are squeezed.
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  Speaker 1: So like, how can we be more operate operational? Where
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: what can we be doing? Bob paying attention on a
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: regular basis, So it's not like all of a sudden,
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  Speaker 1: Oh no, we've got to hurry up. It's like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: this is where I feel like you come in, Bob
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  Speaker 1: or others that can come and help, and like start
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  Speaker 1: to look at these say, how do you consider this?
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  Speaker 1: Are you paying for two licenses for the same thing,
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  Speaker 1: multiple ones, you know what I mean? And all this stuff,
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  Speaker 1: this little creep comes.
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  Speaker 2: In and we're just like you said, the business owners going, going, going,
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  Speaker 2: and they're not not aware operations.
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  Speaker 3: Sure, a lot of times, particularly in a business that
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: is operating in multiple locations, it's really easy for for
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  Speaker 3: you know, different people to have different levels of of
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  Speaker 3: buy or making buying decisions.
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  Speaker 1: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes you know, you could you could have a company
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  Speaker 3: that that that's purchasing the same material from multiple locations.
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  Speaker 3: They could be using all different suppliers, uh, different pricing,
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  Speaker 3: and they may not be communicating with one another within
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  Speaker 3: the organization. And it's those things that that come to
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  Speaker 3: late from our analysis, we have a proprietary software program
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  Speaker 3: called spen View that that will take a twelve month
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: snapshot of a g L or an AP and it
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  Speaker 3: will produce a report that that allows a business owner
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  Speaker 3: or business leader to look at their expenses through a
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  Speaker 3: different lens. Uh. It highlights areas that potentially they might
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  Speaker 3: be overlooking. Uh. There's a lot of a lot of
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  Speaker 3: different aspects. But most of the time, the the the
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  Speaker 3: pareto principle applies. Oh yeah, And what I find is
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  Speaker 3: most businesses they look at that top twenty percent of
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  Speaker 3: their of their staff that's producing eighty percent of the revenue,
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  Speaker 3: or they're looking at the top twenty percent of their suppliers.
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  Speaker 3: A lot gets lost in the bottom eighty percent of
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  Speaker 3: their suppliers. That might represent only twenty percent of their spend,
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  Speaker 3: but that can be a significant amount of money for
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  Speaker 3: one hundred million dollar company.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: I mean I think the value you bring in these
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  Speaker 1: proprietary software is fantastic because I know, even in a
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  Speaker 1: small company, I think we were they fourteen fifty to
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: sixty million annual revenue. We had multiple offices like you're saying, Bob,
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  Speaker 1: and people would buy different things.
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  Speaker 2: There was no buying power we had.
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  Speaker 1: For example, we did a lot of field work, and
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: so we would send people to hotels. Well, people would
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  Speaker 1: just go to random hotels instead of you know, negotiating
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: some kind of blocking or discounted rates. They just didn't
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  Speaker 1: plan this and having somebody like you, Bob come in
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  Speaker 1: and look and saying, hey, look, how are you doing this?
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  Speaker 2: You're very inefficient.
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  Speaker 3: I mean it's amazing if you if well, when you
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  Speaker 3: look at contracts once every three or five years, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: you have a pretty good idea of what's going on
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  Speaker 3: in the contract. But you but you're not necessarily you know,
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: looking at them that closely. Our analysts they might do.
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  Speaker 3: I'll give you an example. Uh, like printers and copiers,
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: is one where where it can be relatively complicated. You've got, uh,
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: the dealership, the manufacturer, and the leasing company. The leasing
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: agreements are written so that you have to you have
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: to terminate within a specific period of time. And it's
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: not just it's not simple to say the least, and
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: and if you fail to, if you fail to terminate,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: then you're you're locked in for another three years. Those
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: kinds of things. But our analysts are doing a dozen
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: or more projects a year and understand the intricacies that
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: are involved in those contracts and are able to not
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: only educate the clients, but but actually be a watch
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: dog and stay out in front of it for them.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think that's the benefit again having somebody while
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: we have folks like you on the podcast, Bob, because
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: if you're just alone and you're not doing this regularly,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: you're going on as multiple businesses, you know, and you're
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: seeing the trends, you're seeing these issues, but I don't
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: know if I'm just by myself, I don't see that.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: So the value of how doing you come in and say, look,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: we've looked at a lot of these and we know
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: where the trends are and how we can help you
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: very valuable.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: And I've I've worked on a project myself where the uh,
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: the engagement agreement spelled out one thing, the invoicing was
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: completely different, and it was completely different, and it opened
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: up the opportunity to look in another direction actually deliver
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: a significant amount of savings from my client.
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  Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: So I mean, as you guys are listening to this,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: we're going to make sure Bob, you and I connected
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: on LinkedIn.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: We're to make sure all of your content information.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Is on there too, is to go through the podcast
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: because not a lot of people I found there's there's
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: not a lot of consultants.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: That dot what what Bob is doing.
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  Speaker 1: Air Group is really looking at these things and we're
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: all busy, we all got a lot going on, but
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: coming in there and helping you along your journey. You
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: mentioned earlier about some of these contracts and and maybe vendors.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Maybe we could go into that aspect of that, because
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: that's another element of like you're you're looking at maybe
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: like you mentioned specific benchmarks, negotiating powers on the client side,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: talk a little bit about, you know, smart vendor management.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Bob.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's it's important to understand the market, whether that
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: be with with raw materials, packaging, plastics, uh freat it's
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: it's really just important to understand the market and understand
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: where the opportunities lie. You know, in the case that
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: that we're dealing with now, where the you never know
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: where the tariffs are going to go one day from
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: one day to the next. Uh, being able to have options,
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: to be able to source from either near shore or
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: or or on shore opportunities are really important to look
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: at and being able to negotiate from efficient position of
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: strength where you have had a lot of experience in
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: a specific category and and know the ins and outs.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean to me again, with all of your
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: vast knowledge and systems, Bob, it's the value of having
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: you know this level of data and understanding gives you
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the leverage to then have these conversations. But if you
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: don't have this understanding, you're kind of a you know,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: a few steps behind, and having, like you said, so,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: then you might be absorbing or taking on more costs
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: and are really necessary And maybe you've accepted maybe the terms,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: but I want to go eyes wide open, like hey,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: here's the things and having somebody like you, Bob, say
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: let's let's help you do a better and better negotiation
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: or or look at maybe some other option.
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  Speaker 3: But well, you know, the value proposition that I'm able
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: to bring to the table is that it's really as
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: simple as this, I know what I don't know, but
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: I know who knows what I don't know. And an
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: error group has a broad network of consultants who are
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: who are experts in specific fields, and and that is
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: that is the really value, the value that we bring
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: to the table. So if a if a client has
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: an issue with insurance, or they've got an issue with facilities,
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: maintenance or or technology of any kind, there's someone within
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: the organization that they can help. Frequently clients come up
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: with things that we don't necessarily have a public this
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: category for uh, and there's a lot of chatter within
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: the organization to find someone who does have that expertise,
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: and it's not uncommon for somebody to raise their hand
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: and say I can help.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Mmm, well yeah, and where, Bob, where do you see
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: with air Group and everything? Where do you see coming
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: in like you know what, Where do the businesses do
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: you see really start to see this cost saving when
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: they really started paying?
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Is there a certain annual revenue.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Or there's like hey, I mean where they're really starting
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: to see this when they start to bring you on.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Well, I want to say the businesses that that I
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: like to work with the producing between ten and two
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: hundred and fifty million an annual basis. The sweet spot's
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: probably closer to ten to fifty million. But at the
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: end of the day, David, it really it really comes
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: down to the spin you might have, for example, a
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: restaurant or a restaurant group that that might be under
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: that ten million dollar mark, but they have expenses and
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: excess of a million dollars a year. And in one
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: area where we have exceptional expertises is in food services
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: and we can we can find a lot of savings
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: for them. But it's uh uh it really, it really
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: is is an in visualized process and we we have
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: to look at it from the clients perspective, what their
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: what their pain points are and uh and and you know,
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: and where they would like to focus mm hmm.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: So talk a little bit about this relationship then your
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: success based consulting and the trust that you bring Bob,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: you know, because I feel like why I want to
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: get me in the podcast is because you don't have
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: similar values about how do we help business succeed and win?
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: So just talk about your trust based approach, how you're
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: working with them as a as a partner with them,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: and when you bring on clients, what does that look
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: like when they come and work with you.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: Well, it really really is a matter of asking them questions,
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: understanding what their needs are, understand what their constraints are.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: The way our process works is we we only pursue
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: categories that the clients are are willing to pursue.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: When when I had mentioned using a spend view analysis,
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: when we present the spend view analysis to a client,
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: we can look at it from a very conservative perspective
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: or an aggressive perspective, and it's up to the client
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: which direction they want to go. Now, there could be
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: certain business business reasons why they would not want to
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: pursue a category. There might be other reasons why it's
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: very important for them to pursue something that that is
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: going to yield them with with some significant results as well.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm, yeah, No, I think that's great.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: So you're you're asking questions, you're finding out where their
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: painboards are, You're starting to and then you know, you're
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: you're giving them, You're you're giving them options and saying
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: here how we can help you. And then we decide
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: together like here how we can do And I file like,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: that's similar to me with my coaching, and I want
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: to figure out like we're and of course guiding them too,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: because sometimes they'll say, I'm sure you get this too. Well,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: they're like this is a real issue and you're like, well,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: after we run our analysis and that that really isn't
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: your biggest issue. You might think it is, but let
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: me let me re frame it here and just at
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: least show it to you and then you can still
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: decide at the end of the day where you want
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: to go right.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: Exactly and that that's that's that's a lot of what
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: what the spend view analysis flushes out. I want to
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: say probably the most important aspect of what we do
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: is is we act as an extension of their team.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: UH.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: We do all the legwork, provide the reporting back to
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: the client for them to make the decision to move forward. UH.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: And then we we monitor once we vented into an agreement,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: whether that be with an incumbent supplier or a new supplier,
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: we monitor the UH the invoicing over over the thirty
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: six month engagement to ensure that that that that supplier
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: stays in line with what they agree to and as
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: opportunities come up in the market throughout that period of time,
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: we also will make every effort to renegotiate and put
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: the client in the best positions so that they can
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: sustain the savings long term.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great as you as when you're coming
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: on with a new client. That's what I was going
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: to ask you, actually, what does that look like for
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: the initial Hey, we're going to meet with you, and
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: what is it typically what's the length of an involvement
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: or what does that walk me through a little bit, bob,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: What does that look like as a partner coming in
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: there with amount of day to day, week to week,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: month and month?
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: What does that that's next?
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: That's an excellent question. So it's it's essentially boils down
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: to a four step process. The first step is to
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: establish a baseline of what their spends look like as
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: of today at the category level and determine if in
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: fact there are opportunities for savings. It takes about it
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: takes about four to six weeks to pull that together.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Sometimes it's a little bit quicker depending on the seguments,
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: but typically six weeks would be the outside the outside timeline.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: The next step would be then to take a deep
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: dive and do research to identify opportunities, whether that be
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: operational improvements or going to market. That takes probably another
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: four to six weeks, where we return to the climb
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: with a set of recommendations or options that enables them
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: to either stick with their incumbent supplier at a reduced
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: cost or to make a switch to a new supplier.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: I would say probably sixty to seven percent of the
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: time they're going to stick with their incomment because of
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: the risk factors that are involved, but they still recognize
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: the savings. And then and then, different than a lot
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: of consultants, error group is is staying right in the
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: mix and we're getting involved in implementation and then monitoring
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: those those invoices over that that thirty six month period
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: to take some of the heat off clients in order
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: to be able to drive the results.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Well, I think that's so important because, like you said,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I've seen this firsthand, Bob, where you have a contract
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: in place and then the actual like you said, invoicing whatever,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: it's not matching up. And then what happens is you
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: get somebody that's not wasn't involved with the agreement. They're
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: just they're just getting the invoice and they're posssing or
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: paying it. They're not really paying attention, and they're like, hey,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: we didn't really get what we said that we were
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: used to get right right exactly.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: And I mean, if you if you think about it,
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: you know, as a as an executive, even if you
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: have you know, if you've got got authority to approve invoices,
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: you know you're gonna look at the invoice. Uh, You're
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: probably gonna look at it pretty quickly estimated if it's
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: in line with what you expect to receive, sign often
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: push it off the accounts payable. But it's it's not
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: likely you're gonna look at every every single line item,
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: uh and and understand exactly how they arrived. But we're
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: even or even even back into the math right down
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: to it. So I want to say I can give
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: you an example of something that that that stands out.
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: But a lot of companies, you know, they they've they've
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: are using merchant card services to handle payments and their
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: merchants card is agreement may may dictate one fee, but
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: over time, uh, the calculations on what those fees are
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: in the in the statements that they can they can
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: change and they they they probably won't be obvious. And
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: you're you're talking about you're talking about essentially you know,
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: basis points when it comes right down to it. But
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: that can that can accumulate to a lot of money
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: over time.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And imagine too, especially if your your big multiple
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: locations or offices like you said, then you also then
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: help unify purchasing. So it's like, hey, this one person's
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: not just buying here or there. It's like, hey, look guys,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: we've got to get unified here how we're purchasing or
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: working ongoing you know, accessing, ongoing vendors, whether it's not
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: a contract, but it's just hey, ongoing purchasing.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: And exactly and there. I mean, there's a lot of
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: different things that could come into play, but but you know,
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: there could be relationships they're involved, there could be you know,
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: all types of different things. But I could tell you quick,
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: I can tell you go ahead about about million dollars going.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: Now this wasn't my client, but but we had a
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: We had a client that understood that they were probably
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: overpaying on their freight and this the CEO wanted to
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: get underneath it, so they engaged the OR to help them.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: The first thing our analyst did was go down to
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: the shipping I can talk to the shipping manager, and
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: the shipping manager was very insistent that they were happy
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: with their freight services provider, they weren't going to be
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: making any changes soon. And and on top of that,
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: they gave them donuts every Friday.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: So it was.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: Certainly a red flag. It was certainly a red flag.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: But after we did did the UH did the analysis,
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: we went in and and UH found out that there
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: was an opportunity for savings and that savings amount of
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: to UH, it amounted to a million dollars.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: That's a big, big chunk.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: So the client switched to a new service provider and
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: they they they the new service provider actually agreed to
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: bring donuts as well, so they still they.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Still got their donuts.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: But but you know, it's it's things like that that
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: you just you know, you may not not know on
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: the surface that exists, but there are drivers that could
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: make it different. I mean, it's a great market employee
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: for a for a salesperson, but it could be you know,
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: tickets to a sports event, dinners, any type of different
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: things that could be influenced the decision a purchasing decision
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: that that that might not be advantageous to the business
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: long term.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Right, Well, I think that's a good point.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, sometimes it is the individual or select group,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: but that is getting this fringe benefit, if you will,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: but it's actually not the overall hole of the company.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: It's actually to the detriment and so looking I think
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: hearing what you what I hear you say, Bob, is
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: you're looking holistically, you're looking at it.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, okay, yes, maybe you guys.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Are getting your little group is getting a little perk,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: but overall it's not contributing the overall and rather we
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: could do a lot more worth a million dollars for
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: everybody at the end of the day than just your
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: small group.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: No exactly exactly, and and you know and even like
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: in areas like like insurance that there are you know,
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: there are there are drivers to the broker where the
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: broke or may be giving their client that the best
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: price they feel that they can give them. But but
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: they may be motivated because of contingency commissions that that
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: they're getting from a particular care that that is uh,
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: that's helping them too. Right, So there's no there's lots
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: of there's lots of ways to look at things, and
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: being able to have insight is is really important.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Well, I know we're getting close to another episode, but
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: this has been fantastic because what I hear is here's
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: another advocate. That's what I love having folks like you
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: on the podcast. Like I said, before to hear and listen.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Now you've heard Bob and I work together, are working
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: on the people's side. I love to pair with somebody
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: like Bob because I don't do what Bob does and
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: the cost reduction and the way he can help you.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Here's an advocate, third party that can come into your
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: business and look on your behalf doesn't have any you know.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: I like to say, you're you're looking at all of
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: it and you're not You're not swayed by the donuts.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Or whatever else. It's like, you know, we're here.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: I'm just here to help you win at the end
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: of the day and overall whole, right, and then looking
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: for some some ways that we can make the business stronger.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Do these costs optimizations.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: So, Bob, as we're getting to the endalg I love
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: to give you an opportunity to just kind of maybe
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: final thoughts or takeaways as as folks are, you know,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: maybe they haven't considered this, they haven't looked at this
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: in a while, and and what would you encourage them
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: as a business owner leader, even if you're not the owner.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Hey, i''m a director. I'm a director. I'm overseeing a group.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: I know that we get better. What would you what
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: would you want to share it and part with them? Today?
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: Must say I'd say, you know, when it comes right
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: down to it, it's always worth the conversation. If you
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: could come away from UH working with their group UH
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: and be able to keep one employee or maybe or
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: maybe add someone to your your c suite, that that's
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: a win, yes, and really that that's that's that's all
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to accomplish. And if you can find that
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: in areas where you might be overpaid, then then it's
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: a it's a double win.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: It's a double win.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, only say, but you can actually then
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: redirect that money to something that is really important, like
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: you said, adding somebody else to you. This is this
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: is a way of being and that's why I love
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: having you on here, Bob, because I ultimately this is
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: going to help fun growth initiatives and you don't need
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: external investment. This is because you're doing these things and
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: you're looking at how to make the business as healthy
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: as possible.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: Yep, yeah, exactly.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being on the podcast, Bob.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: It's a pleasure having you here, and we hope you'll
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: come back again and share some more insights. We always
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: love having return guests, so thank you for being here.
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: Well, David, I really appreciate the invitation. It's it's truly
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: been a pleasure and I'm glad that I could add
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: some value to your to your podcast.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, everybody, as you're listening to this podcast, whether you're
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: watching it on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform, we
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: of course love you when you subscribe.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: And share this with others.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Lee any comments, We'll make sure Bob gets them so
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: he can respond to them. We'll have all of Bob's
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: contents information connected with us on LinkedIn air group so
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: that you guys can have, like you said, Bob, have
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: a conversation. Just start to see could Bob help you
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: an air group, make your company healthier, pronger through these
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: cost reduction optimization measures. It's just another tool in the toolbox.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Thank you Bob for being here. Once again, I appreciate it.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Thanks everybody for listening. Until next time, take care,