By Debbie Depp
A few years ago The
Support Group, a leader in FileMaker database design
and development, wanted to accelerate revenue growth.
Staffed with brilliant software developers and an enviable
customer list, the focus was on technology. The business
model was simple, as stated by the President, Rich Coulombre:
"get the work, do the work, collect the money."
No one had the job description of developing business
("get the work") and there was a punch-the-clock
mentality among the programming staff. The sales approach
was reactive not proactive. Like many small companies,
the challenge was how to grow, especially tough in a
niche market.
As Jeff Turner, VP & GM at The Support Group, began
staffing up, he restructured positions and job responsibilities
to focus people on the simple business model. He knew
he had to define a role for business development, since
the developers' focus was on "do the work"
not "get the work." Managing directors were
responsible for developing new business and maintaining
customer relationships for incremental revenue. A new
position, Systems Engineer, was created with a dual
function - sales support and development work for projects.
FileMaker training classes contributed about a third
of The Support Group's revenue, so an inside salesperson
was hired to centralize this function. Jeff promoted
a new manager from the development ranks. He needed
someone who could relate to the developers, coach and
manage during this cultural change.
Top-of-mind awareness was key to meeting the objective
of exposure to the broad audience of FileMaker users.
That meant being proactive. To generate leads they built
a mailing list, did e-mail campaigns, offered white
papers, conducted webinars with partners and recently
launched a monthly FileMaker newsletter aimed at expert-level
users. With over 10,000,000 FileMaker licenses sold
worldwide, marketing was like searching for a needle
in a haystack, since only a small percentage of FileMaker
users need to outsource their FileMaker development.
One of their most productive marketing techniques was
conducting "lunch and learn" sessions. The
Support Group finds a sponsor within a company or university
that has a large number of FileMaker users, and provides
lunch along with a one-hour information session to a
group of FileMaker users, often leading to revenue-generating
projects. It's not surprising, since Jeff believes that
they close business when the team is able to demonstrate
its expertise.
Although starting time was officially 8:30 a.m., arrival
times were unpredictable. Trying to get the developers
to start work at 8:30 resulted in a punch-the-clock
mentality with everyone figuring they should then leave
right at 5:00. So, instead of focusing on clock time,
Jeff decided to shift the developers' focus to billable
hours, since that was directly correlated to revenue.
Jeff instituted flexible hours with 8:30 a.m. as the
goal. However, with the new focus on billable hours
- "do the work" - the developers didn't clear
out at 5:00. Not wanting to demotivate the development
team, the old weekly standard of 30 billable hours was
raised to 35. To drive revenue Jeff created a three-level
bonus plan awarding performance at 35, 40 and 43 billable
hours. Jeff said, "We saw a massive increase in
productivity. We got 40% more hours out of the team
within 2 weeks."
Throughout the cultural transition Jeff was concerned
about being overbearing and people getting burned out.
"I wanted to create a fair balance and make good
trade-offs," he said. His proactive approach paid
off. Business picked up and doubled within two years.
Being able to attract highly qualified people has improved
recruiting efforts and he anticipates a positive impact
on turnover. Jeff understands that technical people
aren't always motivated by money, so e-mails for achievement
and monthly Above and Beyond awards are given. Previously
company revenue was effectively capped because all the
developers were so busy. But with three new hires on
board Jeff is looking at a phenomenal fourth quarter.
"We now have a bigger engine that can crank out
more hours."
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