The five brands under the Thoemke Enterprises umbrella were struggling to compete in their respective markets when Joe Thoemke, company President, contacted Scott Wintrip for help. Joe became aware of Scott and his work after two leaders from one of his divisions heard Scott speak at an international conference. “It became abundantly clear to me why they were impressed with him,” said Joe. “His confidence, depth of expertise, and previous successes all demonstrated that Scott was someone who could help us achieve the growth we desired.”
The objectives of the project included:
- Improving how leaders identify measurable results.
- Increasing the client base and market penetration.
- Learning more effective strategies for approaching prospects and winning new business.
- Setting clear and reasonable expectations for staff and management.
Scott kicked off the project by facilitating a leadership retreat near the company’s headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida. Prior to the event, he conducted an extensive review of each brand’s marketing strategy, reviewed processes for each business unit, and analyzed financials and statistics. Using this information as a foundation, Scott focused on five areas during the retreat:
- Developing an understanding of each leader, their leadership style, and each individual’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Creating an agenda to address the needs of these leaders and their business units.
- Sharing best practices for each of the objectives of the project.
- Partnering with Joe Thoemke to set expectations for implementation by the leadership team.
- Structuring an ongoing accountability system for staff and management.
“My leadership team left the meeting energized, focused, and ready to take action,” commented Joe. “Probably more focused than I’d ever seen this group of managers. What especially gave me great confidence were the follow-up mechanisms we put in place for the hardest part, implementation.”
Joe was referring to the monthly leadership forum, accountability reports, and ongoing access to his expertise that Scott provided during the months following the retreat. As an expert in accountability and implementation, Scott had crafted a structure to ensure a smooth path during the change management process. In addition, an audit, conducted by Scott four months into their work together, identified inconsistencies in the follow-through of the leadership team, especially when holding staff members accountable. “Scott taught us about NPS – Nice Person Syndrome, a condition inherent in many leaders. It didn’t feel nice for our leaders to hold people more accountable, so they would back off from time to time, and this was impacting our results. Scott helped us understand why this is a common problem and showed us how to overcome it. As a result, our managers better understand themselves and how to deal with their own NPS. They are better and stronger leaders as a result.”
Outcomes from their work together were quickly apparent. “In just a matter of months,” said Joe, “Scott helped us improve our gross profits in our divisions by as much as 63%, a jump of over 30 points!” Other improvements included:
- Increased productivity by the operational and sales functions of each business unit.
- Better sales strategies in place that were winning more business, including new multimillion-dollar accounts.
- Deeper and broader base of prospects and customers.
- Greater efficiency on the operational team, allowing them to be more responsive to customers.
- Simplified leadership, allowing managers to focus on business growth versus having to micromanage day-to-day operations.
- Significantly improved accountability along with buy-in from staff as they saw the results gained through these initiatives.
- Acquisition of a new and simple system for supporting individuals not meeting expectations to get back on track.
“We’re having a great year and, with the foundations laid this year, next year will be even more profitable. Our ongoing work with Scott will include some enhancements to our organization structure to allow even more career opportunities for team members. Our future is bright and we have Scott to thank for that!”
