Major Overhaul: Address Weaknesses in Your Business

Mike Majors was stuck. Back in 2004, Majors Home Improvement, in Milton, Fla., had produced an annual revenue of around $1.2 million each year for several years, but Majors wanted to grow the business. Since he wore all the hats — sales, marketing, scheduling, production, human resources — as well as lead the company, he couldn’t dedicate the time to make the sales happen. Then, a series of hurricanes forced him to make dramatic decisions.

“Because of the hurricane damage, leads were starting to come in fast, but I couldn’t handle them because I was handling everything,” he says. “I had to make a change.”

Know Your Limitations

Majors decided to add staff. First he identified his own weaknesses: marketing and selling. “I could close sales but that was ... because my name was on the company,” he says. “If I was serious about growth, I needed good salespeople.” He was determined that once he hired good people he would maintain the revenue needed to keep them.

“I never ran help-wanted ads because I don’t want people who are looking for work; I want people who are successful in their current position,” Majors says. He spread the word, and a mutual acquaintance introduced him to Jonathan Wells, then working in a local advertising agency. With an MBA and years of experience in direct-response marketing, Wells turned out to be a great fit.

Next, Majors focused on sales. Again, mutual friends told him about Chuck Mepham, another MBA who had proven his sales success in years with Sears. Today he is Majors Home Improvement’s sales manager.

Let Go

In 2005, the company grew to $3.2 million and both new team members earned significant compensation. Now that the hurricanes are a thing of the past, volume has dropped but is significantly higher than before Wells and Mepham joined the team.

It wasn’t easy for Majors to hand over control of two major areas of the business. “It was difficult to give the responsibility,” he says, “but I think that the fact we were so busy and I had so much to focus on forced me to let go.”

Majors still keeps his finger on the pulse of the company with daily lead, sales, and production reports, and his key managers have earned his confidence. “Now, while they may run some things past me, I trust their judgment and know that they are better at their jobs than I ever was. This confidence lets me focus on other important aspects of the business.”

New Law Will Save Big Bucks for Small Businesses

A bill was sent to President Obama’s desk yesterday that repeals a small part of his own healthcare legislation. However, if it becomes law, it will make life a little easier for remodelers, contractors, and any other small business that uses its fair share of vendors.

By a vote of 87 to 12, the Senate approved the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011 on April 5. The law repeals a burdensome tax paperwork requirement that was part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act approved last year. This would have mandated that starting next year businesses would be required to file a 1099 for every vendor that provided more than $600 in services or goods throughout the course of a year.

The annual $600 limit was for all vendors so contractors would find themselves sending out a stack of 1099s not just for their subs and vendors but also for mundane purchases such as coffee, office supplies, and even fuel.

No doubt the requirement — had it become a law — would have meant that businesses would have to spend resources on accountants and bookkeepers to adhere to the rule rather than on expanding their operation in a more meaningful way.

Aside from eliminating the 1099 requirements, the new potential law also repeals a component in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 that stipulated that as of Jan. 1, 2011, landlords had to submit 1099s to vendors that supplied them with more than $600 of services.

Contractors, remodelers, and other small businesses can continue sending out 1099s as they have been in the past based on the IRS’s reporting procedures.

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