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CASE STUDY: Driving a Growing Business

Photograph © Alison Aprhys 2005

Entrepreneur Marilyn Smith, started her successful family business, Courtesycars Australia (CCA), in 1994 with three 5-year-old cars. Working from home, she also raised four children at the same time. Today, she now has most of her family and six employees working in the expanding business, and a fleet of 70 cars from small cars to luxury cars including Porsches, BMW, Alfa Romeo and Mercedes sports cars.

With new employees and expanded service offerings, the business had grown so fast Ms Smith became overwhelmed with the paper work and who was supposed to be doing all the different jobs required for a growing business.

“The fact that we were family, built a stronger commitment to the business and as a result, customers respected this warm and friendly environment. Customers would comment that doing business with us was more like belonging to a family,” said Ms Smith.

Start the Engines
“I knew I needed to prioritise and develop systems, but I didn’t know how. I started causing myself problems because I was spending too much time in one area and not enough in others and was getting so stressed out. So I went to a seminar on Business Efficiency and as I listened to the speaker, I thought she was talking directly to me as everything she said was ‘spot on’ to what I was experiencing,” said Ms Smith.

This was the start of a working relationship with Karina Samperi, from Samperi Consulting Group (SCG), a Business Efficiency expert. Karina was engaged to review the operations of CCA, define a strategy for how the business could be restructured, and developed an Action Plan Report on how CCA were going to achieve it.

“Karina offered a fresh, warm and friendly approach to help us understand what needed to be done, and this gave us some breathing space knowing that someone had the expertise to help us,” said Ms Smith.

“By the time we employed SCG to help us, we had expanded beyond CCA to also offer Luxury Car Hire, Road Side Assistance, Demurrage Service, Wedding Cars, Get-a-way in a Convertible Sports Car and tours around Sydney. So you can imagine the disorganisation we were experiencing with all the different businesses. At times, the office was just chaos with car rentals, preparing for court, taking wedding bookings, managing all the businesses and assisting with accidents. We needed help!” said Ms Smith.

Working from the Top Down
Firstly, Ms Samperi conducted a series of individual training and mentoring sessions with Ms Smith, on how she could work more efficiently at her desk, whilst at the same time manage the change process that was being undertaken. These meetings were brainstorming sessions for each problem as they arose from the domino effect being experienced with the changes process.

“Even though this was a family business, an outsider like Ms Samperi was able to be objective without all the emotions attached. This helped put things into perspective and for me to make the tough decisions that needed to be made in order for the businesses to operate at full capacity” said Ms Smith

Working with the Top Down
Ms Samperi conducted an analysis of the business, by interviewing staff and observing situations that only an expert could see. As often happens with growing businesses, the way things are done at conception are adapted and modified along with the growth in sales, and at some point, this can begin to seriously impact the business.

Even though this was a family business where everyone including the employees were willing to ‘roll up their sleeves’ to get the job done, there was confusion about their responsibilities. Whilst there were a number of urgent tasks for Ms Samperi to work on, priority was given to the most urgent – a human resource system.

SCG developed clearly defined job roles and responsibilities for each staff member, so that for each of the businesses, everyone was clear on what to do, when was to be done, how to do it and why. “We thought that we needed extra staff when in fact, all we had to do was get organised!” said Ms Smith.

“Streamlining systems and procedures, and how all the businesses could operate independently from each other, created a workable system that freed up resources and made operations run more smoothly. This ultimately enhanced the professional image of each of the businesses and improved outputs for all businesses,” said Ms Samperi.

Once the day-to-day jobs were under control and systems were in place, Ms Smith was able to take on other goals she wanted to achieve. All the systems can now be easily upgraded as each of the businesses continue to grow. It has been a long and winding road, and one worth travelling on.

Driving off into the Sunset
Considering the business started out from a home office and because Ms Smith didn’t want her customers to know this, she developed a service that became her unique selling point, which was car delivery and pick up. At the same time, she provided a livelihood for her family and employees.

Whist Ms Smith can look back in the rear-view mirror on what she has achieved in the business, she can be satisfied knowing that the business operates more efficiently and the exercise was worth it, and the benefit being that one day the businesses can be passed on to her children. “I believe that the business has been a great education and experience for the children, even without them knowing it,” said Ms Smith.

Ms Smith believes that a “business that stays still will break down”, so get ready and, start your engines!

For more information or to book your car hire, visit Courtesycars Australia, 128A Mowbray Road, Willoughby NSW 2068, or call 1800 652 253 or go to www.courtesycars.com.au

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