To whom it may concern,

I would like to reflect upon our experience with Cogent Analytics and Jesse Bullock’s work within our company and the impacts, both immediate and forward-looking.

Fence Brothers has morphed significantly over the last two years, especially for a 10-year-old company with ample experience in the industry we serve. We have set out goals for ourselves for growth, and we’re confident in the culture we’ve built and our ability to achieve that. With the growth and change, we realized quickly that the complexity and demands of day-to-day business operations and gaps in financial understanding ultimately would hold us back from where we know we can be.

Monte Jump initially met with us to go over the current status of our business and recognize the scope of opportunity and fit for Cogent. He demonstrated pure professionalism, impeccable communication of intent, and the importance of the data gaps we were experiencing, leaving us with no doubt that we needed to lean on Cogent’s support for making changes within the organization.

Upon initiating the high-intensity on-site portion of the program, Jesse Bullock entered the picture and shook up our world in all of the right ways. We were able to set out our own goals, build a better scope of the financial impacts both currently tracked and those that needed to be further addressed, and build a framework moving forward that cemented our operations without grey areas, driven by data instead of emotions.

Before all of this, we didn’t have an organizational chart, hiring standards, job descriptions, formal income expectations, and bonus packages. We didn’t have a full understanding of our liability exposure as it relates to our umbrella of businesses as well as the day-to-day operations. We didn’t have KPIs, performance expectations, job-based data tracking, and checklists… pretty much everything important to tracking what’s working and what’s not.

Jesse wasted no time, creating an org chart on the first day and establishing the framework to build upon what we set out to do – improve operations with no gaps or questions, and maybe most important of all, no finger-pointing.

As our engagement developed, it painted a picture of what needed to be addressed from my brother’s and my skills and focus. We now know without a doubt how we need to operate as leaders and how to foster the tools, people, and established practices around us to keep moving onward and upward.

As we reach the final in-person engagement days of our agreement, we feel like a totally different organization. Our people are bought in and understand the importance of their roles and responsibilities. We all understand the data necessary to drive this business forward. Not surprisingly, folks are excited for the opportunity ahead of us. Fence Brothers provides this opportunity, but Cogent and Jesse set us straight to be able to exemplify that and pave a path based on data and metrics to achieve it – and furthermore, stick to it.

We have been blessed to be where we are, and there is still hard work ahead. I can speak specifically for the leaders in this organization, both promoted through this process and prior, that we feel this has been one of the best decisions we’ve made as an organization. My wife, my family, and all parties that see how hard we’ve worked up to this point tend to agree with that statement. There is no further growth or aspiration achieved without the framework that Jesse has created. For that, we are forever grateful.

Sincerely,

Alec Trierweiler
Co-Owner
Fence Brothers