Industry
Countertop Fabrication Companies
Services Offered
Southern Stone and Cabinets handles five different types of natural stones as well as man made products to fabricate kitchen countertops for homeowners, remodelers, new construction, home builders, large builders, small builders. They also provide a semi-custom cabinet product.
Duration of Partnership
3+ years
Ken Joyner, CEO
Southern Stone and Cabinets, a leading supplier in Memphis, specializes in countertop fabrication and custom cabinet production for the South. After facing significant operational challenges and financial losses, it was clear that something significant had to be done. Under the new leadership of Ken Joyner, the acting CEO,the company underwent a dramatic turnaround, with help from Kaplan Consulting, shifting the company from substantial monthly losses to achieving profitability.
About three years ago, Southern was at a critical crossroads: Bring in a new team to rebuild and restructure the company or essentially shut it down? In the end, a buyer was found, and a new CEO was hired; however, a considerable amount of work needed to be done in order to get this operation aligned, on track, efficient and profitable.
While the organization had hired Kaplan Consulting to implement EOS into their environment, Ken made it clear that he would not take the role unless Jon Kaplan was retained to continue his consulting efforts. At a time when it would have been easy to cut such costs, he knew retaining Jon Kaplan was a smart investment in their future.
Getting things moving in the right direction was a challenge because the Ken experienced a huge void in leadership. The organization was suffering:
Financial Losses: The company was losing $50,000 to $100,000 per month.
Leadership Void: There was a significant lack of leadership and experienced staff.
Operational Inefficiencies: Poor production processes and a toxic work environment.
Market Challenges: High competition and previous ownership changes had destabilized the company.
The culture of the existing shop was also a problem as many of the employees felt threatened by the changes and revolted against the new management to the extent that several promoted violence in the workshop. This was a significantly serious situation to have to overcome.
118% increase
28 employees restructured
In order to get this operation successfully on track, they had to completely overhaul staff operations from top to bottom. Ken and Jon held weekly leadership meetings and continued efforts to implement the EOS methodology. As a result, they executed effective processes, hired the right people that believed in the vision of the company, and achieved a successful flow in the operation.
Jon made himself available to help discuss, review and drive decisions, especially at critical junctures in the business such as when one of their employees lost his life on the job within two months of the new management team coming on board. Jon provided extensive support, guidance and resources to manage through that very difficult time.
Per Ken, “The reason Jon is so impactful in my business is that he is not only an accountant and consultant with the EOS methodology, but he's also owned granite and cabinet shops. Jon literally already has experience with what I'm challenged with. He has the answer because he's already solved it and that's across the board.”
Results
A large portion of their success is specifically because of Jon Kaplan's involvement in their leadership. They’ve been able to change the culture and customer satisfaction levels have gone from extremely low to extremely high.
Profitability: Transitioned from losing up to $100,000 a month to achieving a small net profit within the first year.
Customer Satisfaction: Google reviews improved from 2.2 to 4.8.
Sustainable Growth: Established a stable foundation for future growth and set a goal for a 10% net profit.
Ken concluded, “Jon understands personalities, he understands motivations and he can read between the lines. There's not a better person that I've ever met that can interview somebody and really know what that person is about. If you don't hire him right away, every minute you wait to hire him, you're just putting off the opportunities that he's going to help you bring to the table.”
