Stagnant
market equals stagnant growth equals stagnant revenue.
What do you do if you find yourself in a limited market and your
business won't grow?
Expand your horizons, reinvigorate your employees and explore other
venues that can utilize your firm's products and services.
That's exactly what The Vacation Channel (TVC), a Branson television
station and video production company, has done with the help of Linda
Gerardo, Rayanna Anderson and others at the Southwest Missouri State
University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Springfield.
The 15-year-old TVC originally provided informational programming
aimed at overnight visitors in the two-county area it serves.
When Scott Earls, TVC's general manager, initiated contact a couple
of years ago with the SBDC he was looking for suggestions to help
improve the firm's business, which had been experiencing sluggish
growth for several years. Gerardo recommended conducting a Strategic
Management Analysis and Review Tool (SMART) assessment of TVC's
business. The analysis covered topics such as customer and market
focus, process management, financial statement analysis, strategic
planning and leadership.
As a result of the SMART analysis, Gerardo and a team of colleagues
recommended a multi-pronged approach for TVC to manage business growth
and increase profitability: better definition of production processes;
improvement of customer contact management; implementation of an incentive
program to control expenses; and diversification of products. The
SBDC also offered a set of training sessions for TVC management and
employees on such topics as image and branding, sales performance,
marketing and strategic planning, advertising and promotions, and
a variety of human resource subjects.
With gradual implementation of several SMART recommendations Stan
Bess, TVC's vice president and general sales manager, has begun to
notice improvements in the company's bottom line. Revenue has increased
14 percent in the past 20 months, according to Bess. He and the SBDC
consultants expect the positive impact of the changes at TVC to continue
over the next few years as improvements are fully implemented.
More recently the SBDC recommended TVC seek business-improvement
ideas from a commercial strategic planning source, THINKtegic. In
conjunction with the THINKtegic facilitator Mike Renfer, TVC's management
team has pinpointed critical goals to accomplish in 2005. Tied to
increased diversification and product efficiency, those goals include:
increasing sales, publicizing TVC-sponsored community-support activities,
focusing branding efforts, honing marketing plans and specifying communication
goals.
As a result of all these recommendations TVC is taking deliberate
strides to diversify product lines. The company is branching out from
its original mission to expand production for the training, promotional
and educational needs of local, regional and national clients. For
instance, TVC recently supplied a crew and technical assistance for
last fall's PBS broadcast "Daniel O'Donnell - Live from Branson".
"The SBDC has been a tremendously positive experience for aiding
in the current and future growth of The Vacation Channel," says
Bess. "It was a pleasure to work with a team of professionals
who remained truly focused on our business, helping us to see the
positive aspects of our company, but not (be) afraid to point out
areas for improvement."
And because of the growth and perseverance demonstrated by the company,
TVC will represent SBDC at the first Client
Showcase and Legislative Breakfast Thursday, Feb. 10, in the State
Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City.
At that event — hosted by the Columbia-based MO SBDC at the University
of Missouri — TVC and 24 other outstanding Missouri companies will
meet with legislators to discuss their products and services. They
also will be recognized for their contributions to the economic development
of the state of Missouri. Recognition from MO SBDC will be accompanied
by legislative resolutions presented by each company's district state
senator and state representative.
For more information on the services of the SBDC program, call Jane
Cargill at 417/836-5685 or e-mail her at sbdc@smsu.edu.
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