“You did WHAT?!” Amy exclaimed. She tried to dial down her frustration. Her strong personality didn’t always hide very well. She always tried to go along with James’s new ideas, but she wasn’t sure if she could keep up with this one.
“I bought new software for our shop,” James explained. “We ran the numbers. One of its features will make it pay for itself in less than a year.”
Amy bit her lip. “So that means no new kitchen this year?”
James gulped. “This year, no. Next year, a new kitchen and the deck you’ve always wanted.”
Amy didn’t say anything more. James knew exactly what she was thinking. He could hear her voice in his head, “You’d better make sure this one turns out.”
He grabbed his “The Buck Stops Here” hunting mug filled with coffee. He threw on his coat and headed out the door. He had to bring the team on board. They’d have their work cut out for them while they got into the new system.
The big announcement
His employees gathered around the break room for their Monday morning meeting. They shared their usual chatter, but they all wanted to know about James’s trip.
“Well guys, I’ve got an announcement.” James started. “We’re going to be rolling out a software program that’s made for custom manufacturers. I’ve got good news and bad news. Which one comes first?”
Miles, the foreman, blurted out first. “Always the bad news!”
James chuckled. “Well, here’s the bad news. It’s going to make your lives hectic for a couple months. It’s a big enough expense to affect the profit share bonuses.”
James heard groans from around the table. “What’s the good news?” Miles asked.
“The good news is that once we get past it, it’ll be much smoother sailing. And it should pay off fast enough for you guys to get an even bigger profit share than normal! Any questions?”
Laura, James’s secretary, looked at James wide-eyed. “How soon will this start?”
“For you, this week. For the rest of you, I’m not sure yet. I’m talking to the company at 10:00 this morning. I’ll keep you posted. For now, keep your heads down and keep the machines running!”
The employees disbursed.
Crunch time
The next few weeks, James and Laura worked overtime entering information into ManuMaker. They held dozens of calls with the ManuMaker team. They put together dozens of Excel spreadsheets. They pulled information from QuickBooks and their paper files. The office turned upside down.
Meanwhile, James kept writing up quotes the old way. Then, he’d put them into the software to make sure everything matched up. Almost immediately, he started seeing how much he’d been undercharging.
One Friday afternoon, Laura looked across the office at James, waving a customer’s check at him. “Well, here goes!” She’d gotten a payment for their first ManuSoft quote. She entered the payment amount. With dramatic flair, she clicked the button to send it off into production.
James leapt from his chair. “We’re live!”
Laura watched a money-making glint flash across James’s face. She’d worked with him long enough to know exactly what he was thinking. James caught himself and eased back down, wiping the eagerness off his face. But he couldn’t help but smirk inside. He would prove his accounting and his wife wrong.
And he did.
At first, his operators complained about reading the new production reports. But when they started hitting new production records, they quieted down. Instead, they started speculating about this year’s profit share.
James stopped his handwritten quotes. He started sharing the new quotes with his customers. He felt proud to send more professional quotes. His quotes were thorough and detailed. His customers stopped questioning him on his quotes. Many of them stopped price shopping against other companies altogether.
Smooth sailing…for now
The more James became comfortable with the system, the faster he cranked out his quotes. Like Jeff had suggested, he broke each quote into three price brackets. He couldn’t bring himself to bump the middle bracket too far above what the customer wanted. But a time or two, he’d bump it up by 5%.
The better James got, the more quotes he closed. When production started to move faster, he started getting more repeat orders. His customers told him how much they enjoyed doing business with them.
Laura and James only had two complaints about the software. Sometimes it froze for minutes at a time. They’d have to close it down, open it back up, and redo what they’d been working on. James tried to get Jeff to fix it, but Jeff had some kind of reason why it was almost impossible to fix.
Second, James winced the first time he signed his renewal contract. But year by year, his business kept growing. Each year, it became easier to write the check. After a few years, he joked with Jeff, his ManuMaker salesman. He told them to stop giving away their software.
Yes, and Amy got her dream kitchen and the deck that she’d always hoped for. They spent many Saturday evenings relaxing on the deck, enjoying the colorful sunsets.
James had a fleeting thought that life was good. Almost too good, in fact. And when he looked back, he realized he should have known not to get caught up in the whirlwind.
He had no idea how far sideways things might go, or how much it would cost himself and his business.
The Takeaway
What’s your software experience been? Have you encountered something like James? We’d like to hear your story—and your software questions!
We understand the needs of small and mid-size businesses, and we know software. Call us today, and we’ll help you determine if our Silverloom business software is right for you.
Ellis Miller, CEO