This fall, the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) welcomed an overflow crowd to its first NWFA Real Answers Small Business Workshop in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, as part of the Leadership Development Summit. Building on its long-standing success teaching and supporting wood flooring contractors, NWFA took the next step by shifting the conversation to the challenges of leading a growing wood flooring company. And it was an overwhelming success.
The training began with Tom Yochim from the Small Business Administration (SBA) explaining that the resources of the SBA, the tools and templates, as well as advice from Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) advisors were all resources business owners could access for free. Because SBA is a national organization, SBDC and SCORE are resources that can be found throughout the country.
Next up, Tom Meyer from SCORE spoke about the importance of a business plan. A business plan is a critical tool for aligning the team, carefully using resources, and having a measure of the business performance. Meyer showed a tool, the One Page Business Plan, that could be effective in getting a business owner through the process of getting this done.
Lynette Watson then took the group through the power of financial statements. Her presentation explored the Income Statement, the Balance Sheet, and some interesting ways to understand how they worked and how they could be used as a tool to drive any business owner and their team. She also shared a number of ratios that are important in the management of any business. By looking at ratios, a business owner can measure the strength of their company, whether or not the company has enough cash, if there is too much in debts, and other key factors that should be getting the attention of the business owner.
The final SBA presentation was by Chris Ruzicka about having a marketing plan. This included a company’s “unique selling proposition” and the strategies it would use to set itself apart from competitors. In his presentation, Ruzicka also focused on the power of networking and had suggestions for how people could be more effective at networking events and translating those into leads and sales. He brought years of experience to the discussion and shared how companies large and small could effectively use networking as a cost-effective means for meeting potential customers, sharing information about what your company does, and how to make meaningful connections that can help sustain business growth for years.
I had the opportunity to speak to the group about the importance of turning these ideas into action in order to get results. I asked attendees to take a moment and schedule a one-hour time block for themselves the following week to review the ideas from the Summit and decide which ones they were going to put into action. One of my top recommendations is having a five-year business plan. One-year planning was good, but it misses the need to adjust one year after the next to be sure that the end goal was met over a reasonable period of time. Financial statements are the best measure for how a business is doing on its success journey. Finally, when it comes to marketing, distinguish your company from others and the value you bring to the customer; otherwise, the only differentiator would be on price alone.
The Small Business Workshop closed out with a panel discussion featuring Steve Brattin of SVB Wood Floors, John Lessick of Apex Wood Floors, Kevin Mullany of Benchmark Wood Floors, and Chris Zizza of C&R Flooring. The audience asked an array of great questions about planning, technology, staffing, and many of the topics from earlier in the day. Each panelist offered honest and insightful answers that left attendees with actionable information. These were “real world” answers from four leaders in the industry who have achieved considerable success, but also had many challenges as they built their businesses.
Attendees left with clear, actionable ideas and the motivation to put them into practice. If you missed it, you can listen to the series of NWFA Real Answers podcasts that Zizza and Michael Martin, president and CEO of NWFA, recorded ahead of the workshop, as they interviewed experts on a variety of tips for small businesses. Additionally, you can visit sba.gov for business plan templates, an online learning platform, information on how to obtain local assistance, and more resources.
Doug Howard is the president of Growth Team Strategies, based in Sykesville, Maryland. He specializes in helping wood flooring contractors develop strategic plans, streamline processes, improve profitability, and navigate growth. For more information, email him at doug.howard@growthteams.com or visit growthteams.com.