“SCORE helped to teach us some of the rules of the game and to make us do some things that we hadn’t done before because we didn’t realize the relevance and importance,” Karen says.
Hugh also encouraged Karen to rethink what their business focus was. Karen’s husband Mike spent most of his time in the field doing installation work. But the growth of business they were getting from internet orders, including customers from as far away as California, New York and Pennsylvania, meant that bringing Mike down off customers’ rooftops and inside to help with sales would make more sense. Today, while they maintain the retail operation—80 percent of which is now generated through their Web site—they also manage equipment manufacturing, and serve as a supplier to other retail businesses.
“Hugh was patient, understanding and inspirational in making us analyze what we needed to stop doing and what we needed to develop.” Karen says. “Our sales went up nicely, and we hired some more employees. We work smarter now.”
Karen says she will continue working to make the business more efficient, and she plans to look for ways to expand their Internet operations.
“I am looking at what we can do additionally in terms of marketing and streamlining processes. We want to do more online,” Karen says.
“We’re doing now what took twice as many people and twice as much space to do 10 years ago, and it’s because of the Internet.”
Despite her extensive experience, Karen feels that what she discovered working with SCORE had a greater impact than anything else she had encountered.
“I’ve been in this business for almost 25 years, but I feel my greatest business learning has come from working with SCORE.” Karen says. “I highly recommend them to any business, old or new.”
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