My leadership team and I engaged your firm to perform a profit erosion analysis and a subsequent consulting project to correct said findings. I am happy to report that I judge the project results to be a success. I have seen marked improvement in the measurement of key performance indicators as well as marked improvement in the KPI themselves. Inspecting what we expect has become a phrase that I will adhere to moving forward as a result of Kai and the Cogent framework. Before we started working with Cogent, we were measuring performance, but the measurements of different departments were happening independently of one another. Meaning that the KPI in sales was not necessarily linked to the KPI in operations.

Operations is the department where we’ve gained the most ground. In the past, sales would deliver a work order to a foreman, but the management in operations had little to no oversight in driving that work to completion. We had crews coming in early and marking maximum hours on their time cards. That practice changed within a few weeks. The daily activity reports serve as a constant reminder to the crews that management is involved and partnered with them In completion of jobs and in effect cuts the distance between the front line worker and management. Reporting of the productivity numbers in to the dashboard has created a vital tool for me to understand where the company as a whole In on any given day.

Sales also saw valuable tools implemented. While our sales process was very clearly defined, we did not have a forward-looking sales pipeline (only a 7-day look-ahead was being discussed). As of today, the sales team is actively discussing 30, 60, and 90-day pipelines and what actions they need to take to hit the desired closing goals. We also identified an underperforming team member and installed a PIP that ultimately helped her decide that sales was not the right career for her.

Lastly, my visibility into key financial metrics has greatly improved. I was doing a poor job In understanding where our money was going and what could be done to help profitability. With my 12-week cash flow, budget accountability, and profit-sharing plan, I feel confident to move into the new year with profitability.

Thank you for the tools and time that you shared with The Urban Foresters.

Grant Crowell
President
The Urban Foresters