Case Studies
Artform Kitchens
Artform Kitchens are a well established Joinery business located in West Gosford on the NSW Central Coast. They are one of the few companies in their area capable of providing an end to end joinery service with all expertise, equipment and infrastructure under one roof from their main factory.
Artform Kitchens Managing Director Craig Hutching’s had been working with a high profile business coaching group in Sydney for 12 months when he realised things weren’t progressing to his satisfaction. He started searching for a better option. In his words “I was looking for something that went beyond business coaching and would deliver permanent, measurable improvements to my business”. He also wanted a solution that would engage and motivate his team.
We started with an initial Diagnostic Process to determine where the key areas of opportunity were for Artform. With The3rdgears Diagnostic System can analyse up to 16 key business performance areas. After our initial discussions with Craig we identified 7 Key areas of opportunity for Artform to achieve significant improvements. We the put together a project plan to work with Craig and his team to achieve the results
As a result of our project with Artform they have broken several performance benchmarks including highest turnover month in company history, highest number of commercial projects delivered in a 12 month period, highest number of domestic projects delivered in a quarter, increased referral and word of mouth enquiry by more than 100%. Craig also has much more personal time for hobbies, fitness and family. He now has his own personal trainer and is fitter, healthier and stronger. He recently purchase a beautiful beachside resort style home on the Woy Woy peninsula and is often seen at the local cafes in the area having brunch or lunch with his wife and their friends on weekdays.
VHR
Valley Hydramulch are specialists in sprayed grass applications and revegetation. Their work is most commonly seen alongside new road projects that require roadside revegetation. They have their own specially developed in-house engineered plant & equipment that provides them with industry leading capability and project success rates.
VHR had been founded and managed by Paul Clarke over 40 years ago and Paul was at a point where he was wanting to step away from the day to day management and oversight of business operations. The business had also stagnated in its growth and he was wanting to reinvigorate the sales and marketing processes of VHR.
We developed a two tiered project plan. The first stage would split its focus between building team and operational capabilities, once this had been successfully completed we would move on to focus on improving and developing sales and marketing systems.
We worked with Paul’s team to identify and develop potential leaders and managers within his existing team and created a new senior management structure centered around two new key roles, being Operations Manager and Projects Coordinator. We also developed a Business Process Improvement program that was managed and facilitated using The3rdgears proprietary management software platform. Once these had been successfully implemented we moved on to develop a Sales and Marketing Plan which was implemented with the involvement of key team members.
Within 18 months revenue had more than doubled, profitability was at the highest levels in company history and the new management team has taken over daily operations of the business. Paul now spends much more time fishing in his 18 foot Haines Hunter, towing it to various locations along the NSW coast line, as well as spending much more time with his grandchildren and holidaying with his wife and their friends.
Robbos TyrePower
Grant and Natalie Roberts are the husband and wife team that own and operate Robbos Tyrepower. Grant is a trained mechanic and this has been his lifetime career.
While Grant was a great mechanic he often found the demands of business overwhelming. He needed to be able to rely more on his team and he wanted to improve the quality and consistency of his customers experience.
We developed a project plan that would focus on a combination of team building, training, performance management and business process improvement which was implemented over a 12 month period.
National Tyrepower Dealer of the Year! Robbo and his team underwent a hugely successful transition. Although many of the changes required were personally challenging Grant had the strength of character and conviction to the success of his business that ensured all significant hurdles were overcome.
Grants personal growth and development were just as impressive to watch as the improvements in his business as we moved through the various stages of our project together.
As a result Grant has now been awarded National Tyrepower Dealer of the Year. Both of his stores have also significantly increased their turnover and profitability and he has a stable, reliable team of well trained staff that run the majority of his day to day operations.
Grant now has free time to work-on and race his heavily customised twin-turbo V8 Holden Ute, which can often be seen at Sydney Motorsport Park. He also spends more time with his wife Natalie and his two children on weekends, and to guide his Son through his apprenticeship in the business.
Project Services
The Chriss Group
The Chriss Group is a family run group of IGA supermarkets that now span several locations throughout Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle
Terry the founder and father of the Chriss Group Family was wanting his sons to take larger roles in the Operations and Management of the family business. Andrew, the youngest of his two sons was also keen to take the reigns and drive expansion of the family business
We worked closely with the two sons to streamline every aspect of the businesses operations and to develop new systems for business intelligence and reporting.
Successful transition of management from father to sons:
- Establishment of an organisational structure that meant the family could work together harmoniously
- Management systems that allowed expansion from 2 stores to 5 stores in only 3 years
- Huge Increases in profit and turnover achieved across the group of stores
GB Electrical
GB Electrical is one of Newcastle’s largest and longest established Electrical Services companies. They provide a comprehensive range of electrical services for residential, commercial and industrial customers.The company is owned and managed by four directors who are each responsible for different areas of the business.
While the business was very successful it was becoming increasingly challenging to manage all of the associated functions and co-ordinate resources between the groups’ business units. This lead to the Directors each being over worked which was also holding back the businesses growth, as they were running at maximum capacity yet there was excess demand for their services. The Directors were each becoming increasingly tired, however they each also wanted the business to develop and grow.
Given that there were four different key stakeholders involved, each with their own personal goals and priorities the first step was to facilitate a common direction between the four Directors.
Once we’d achieved this we focused on redesigning the organisational structure and developing Key Performance Measures for each Business Unit. We also developed an operational plan designed to reengineer key elements of the businesses day to day functions.
In their strategic vision the directors established a key goal of increasing overall turnover by 25% within two years and to have each business unit running effectively under management. They also wanted to see significant improvements in day to day efficiency and increased co-operation between business units and staff.
“We’ve just received our 4th quarter figures since we started the project and we have increased our turnover by 16% for that period while maintaining a steady cost base. We’re right on track to achieving our 2 year growth targets. Our day to day operations are much smoother and we’ve had some really big wins in certain areas of the business. I have more time to do the things I should be doing and everything is running much better. To be honest, as much as I wanted this to work, when we started I was pretty sceptical that anything was going to come of it. We’ve tried things like this in the past and they’ve just fizzled out or not worked for us, but this is really impressive. The business is a lot different and we can all see real improvement from The3rdgears systems.”
– Darren Andrews, Operations Manager and Director
New Haven Farm
New Haven Farm Home is a not for profit organisation that provides permanent live-in care for people with disabilities. Having recently reviewed and updated their Strategic Plan NHF’s board acknowledged the increasing need for their services in the community. However, there are significant expense and infrastructure investments required to provide their services and this represented a real challenge to their expansion goals.
Fortunately their Strategic Planning process also uncovered a potential opportunity to fund their expansion goals while also introducing prospective new Clients to their service offer. The Board identified an opportunity to provide a new Short Term Accomodation service also known within the industry as Respite Care.
To do this they would need to create an entirely new business unit with its own infrastructure, facilities and management processes, along with specialised training for its Support Workers.
This is where The3rdgear entered the scenario. After discussions with several consulting firms NHF recognised The3dgears unique model was the most likely to produce the results they were needing within the tight timeframes of their launch goal date.
We started by identifying the key implementation team within NHF who would work closely with The3rdgear to plan and delver the operational goals of the new Short Term Accomodation Service. With only 9 months to create an entirely new business unit the implementation team had their work cut out for them.
Little did we know, there would be even more challenges thrown at us as we progressed through the development and implementation phase. NHF are located in a rural region west of Sydney. Shortly after the project commenced so did the Firestorm that swept South Eastern Australia, this was then followed by local flooding, which was then followed by the Covid-19 crisis. In spite of all these hurdles we still managed to complete our project on time and on budget and deliver a fully functional operational business unit for NHF.
In total we developed 34 operational business systems across every key functional element of the new business unit. These covered all key aspects of Human Resources, Finance, Administration, Operation, Sales, Marketing, Reporting and General Management.
Harmony Stone
Harmony Stone was a young Stone Masonry business having only been in operation for 2 years when we met them
Ritchie (the owner of the business) was overwhelmed by his workload and the demands of managing his small team of young apprentice tradespeople. He was struggling to find the time and resources to manage all the administrative aspects of his business as well as the daily operations and delivery of finished product to his clients.
We developed a project plan focusing on several key operational areas of the business as well as systems and structure to coordinate team members daily activities and streamline the operations. We then worked with Ritchie and his team for 9 months to implement the changes.
“I’m so happy! I was really frustrated and quite miserable before this happened, but now I’m just really happy with everything. The business is going really well, I’m making good money, I have a good team and it’s still growing. I’ve been on 3 overseas holidays this year and everything is still running nicely, it’s just great. Thank you for everything.” Ritchie Hayward Managing Director
Home Sweet Home Nursing
Home Sweet Home Nursing is a start-up business in the Aged Care and Nursing Industry. They provide high quality in-home care that allows elderly, frail or disabled people to live their lives in the comfort and enjoyment of their own homes.
Business partners Karen and Marella both had extensive experience and qualifications in the Aged Care and Nursing industry, but neither had run their own business. The learning curve was going to be steep. They were already overwhelmed by the amount of work involved in creating a business and needed clear, practical planning, as well as fast easy to implement actions to get their business up and running quickly.
We started by applying The3rdgears Start-up Planning System to identify and prioritise the key parts of the HSHN business model. We then moulded these into individual action plans focusing on the core areas of Sales, Marketing, Financial Management and Operations. Each area had its own plan developed and these were worked-on simultaneously with a target 90 Day Launch date.
We worked with HSHN to create their key marketing messages and strategies. We built their company website (homesweethomenursing.com.au), and created a brochure to assist with the sales process we had developed together. We also assisted in sourcing and screening legal and financial service providers to help establish the basic management and compliance aspects of running the business.
The final stage was to create a practical Operational Plan that would guide the development of their day-to-day operating and management processes.
When HSHN came to us they’d already invested 6 months of valuable time and money but had nothing to show for it. The3rdgear helped them create an effective strategy and business model, along with all the basic processes needed to start operating their business.
Because of the The3rdgears Start-up Planning System Karen and Marella now have a business plan, a live website, a company brochure, a sales and marketing system, and they’ve secured their first paying clients, all within 90 days of starting their project with The3rdgear.
“The3rdgear have been amazing, we really didn’t think we could achieve so much in such a short period of time, I’ve been recommending them to everyone we know. Every small business should be using this system”.
DKM
We started by facilitating a detailed personal Strategic Vision for Dorry. This was then translated into a strategic vision for the business, which was shared with all staff. Once we had the teams’ buy-in we moved forward to define an organisational structure that would work for the future. We also developed accountabilities and performance measures for each member of the team.
In addition to these organisational systems we conducted Executive Development coaching for DKMs’ key team members over a 6 month period. This allowed us to develop each team member fully into their evolved role and prepared the business for further growth.