Big Bob

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Sales had moved from up to flat to and founder David Elyachar was beginning to doubt hisbusinessa savvy. “We had never been facedd with anything likethis before,” said who started the company 25 years ago. “All I knew was if I didn’tr do something, it wouldn’t So he initiated an arrayg of changes at his three stores everything from uniformsand thank-you notexs to new products and higher expectationws for salespeople — and touted them to franchisees of the 55 Big Bob’ stores nationwide. At the stores Elyachar and his CEO andCFO Adam, own in Overland Park, Independencw and St.
Joseph, the measures have triggered 24percentg year-to-year growth so far in 2009. Elyachar isn’rt sure which changes triggeredthe results, so he’s goint to keep hammering away at all of Many franchisees have yet to implement the strategies Big Bob’s stores nationwide have seen salesx decline 4 percent year to year. “It’s been very, very said Steve Russell, COO of , whicjh owns five Cincinnati-area Big Bob’s stores and has just begun tomake “Back a few years ago, you couldd just roll out of bed and grow sales 20 perceng a year.” He said business is down about 20 percent, thoug still operating in the black.
Accordingv to trade publication Floor CoveringWeeklty , industrywide sales fell an estimate d 30 percent in 2008 from the $21.67 billion benchmarm in 2007. Sales this year are expected to slip to 40 percentr below2007 levels. But Elyachar said his ideas coulf yieldsuccess companywide. Chainwids revenue in 2008 was $65 million, Elyacha r said. He projects revenue of $75 million to $80 million in 2009. In the next 10 years, he aims to triplse in volume and storefronts. “I believe this is the singl greatest opportunity to make money in the last 80 Elyachar said.
Big Bob’s local work force has experience d a dramatic shift in Last year, Elyachar dropped the bottomj six sales performers and replaced them with about 10 new he said. Pay switched to a commission-baseds formula, and work dress becames a uniform of aBig Bob’s polo and khakis. Servicre reps must join a community organizatiob and are challenged to hand out three business cardsx a day to Elyachar began having weekly sales meetingd to educate the sales force about products and keep tabs on Salespeople use wait time created by sloweer traffic to do weekly online lessonds and tests and to findnew clients. But the changese also bring challenges.
Some of KW Flooring’s longtimse salespeople resisted the idea of handingt out business cardsevery day. Russelll tried to keep his staff, but “we had to either changre or die,” he said. In early 2008, he turned over aboutt 10 percent of the staff and will turn over probably 20 percenrtthis year. A big competitor recently left theCincinnati market, he said, so displacefd salespeople have been calling seeking “There are people I’m tired of chasing aroundf with a whip and a he said.