Total expenses for 42 stores were running higher than previous year. Purchasing function was responsible for eliminating $210K (3% of $7M purchasing budget). Current cost of videos was escalating and adequate inventory levels were necessary to maintain customer satisfaction levels.

Analyzed each of the 42 stores' inventory turns by interest genre. Determined new inventory levels and turn requirements. Reengineered inventory deployment program. Renegotiated vendor and distributor rebate programs.

Reduced cost of goods by $250K, 3.5% of initial $7M budget. Rental income increased by $800K, 4% above original budget of $20M. Sales increases indicated that customer satisfaction was met.

Franchise needed to improve communications with store management, Board of Directors and shareholders. Developed newsletter formats highlighting financial, labor, general expenses, product and marketing issues, human resource issues and general information. Gathered information each week to distribute to managers, and quarterly for shareholders.

Manager newsletter reduced personal number of phone calls received by 50%. Shareholder communication provided a document for review prior to board/shareholder meetings, allowing them time to develop and ask questions, answering many questions beforehand, and saving valuable time spent on mundane items that allowed focus on higher-priority needs.

Industry was experiencing a downtrend. Store sales were running approximately 5% lower than previous year, but needed to maintain same level of cash flow of $120K.

Implemented tighter labor usage program by working with managers on productivity improvements and holding a number of sessions to retrain them on effective scheduling. Implemented an improved product-replenishment program to reduce overall inventory carrying costs.

Decreased labor by $110K while maintaining customer service standards. Reduced inventory expenses by $275K or 5%. Achieved cash flow of $125K, 2% over projected goal.

Company acquired another chain and needed to train and assimilate 300 personnel over a six-month period. Training program had to be developed from scratch in two weeks in order to train the first group coming through.

Assembled and organized all the necessary materials. Developed a logical format, teaching plan and presentation materials. Formatted and edited a workbook. Developed a testing program.

Project was completed on schedule in two weeks. Personally trained 450 personnel at all management levels with a 99% pass rate. Trained an additional six instructors to teach the program in other regions. Program framework became an integral piece of the operations management training program and continued until division was sold.

Directed startup of a new Blockbuster Video franchise.

Developed business plans and pro forma financials. Assisted in securing financing. Contacted and negotiated vendor and services contracts, and placed all orders. Wrote company policy, procedures and employee handbook manuals. Recruited, hired and trained store personnel.

Opened initial store achieving annualized sales volume of $1.2M versus corporate average of $750K. Utilized lessons learned to develop Critical Path management to apply to future development plans.

Development schedule franchise signed with Blockbuster required opening six stores in three years. Needed to secure adequate financing and ensure human and physical resources were available.

Developed construction, equipment and inventory delivery schedules. Recruited, hired and trained store personnel. Employed tight Critical Path management that enabled development to exceed expectations.

Opened all six stores in 2˝-year period, six months earlier than required. Five of the six stores opened ahead of schedule, generating an additional $500K or 8% in total revenue and $180K or 3% additional cash flow above original projections.

Total revenues were 2% under budget. Budget called for 50% revenue increase in the video sales department. Cash resources were very tight and spending levels restricted.

Analyzed current title selection. Sent back nonworking product. Developed new and expanded title listing. Tightened minimum and maximum inventory requirements for each title. Installed new weekly, automated replenishment program. Developed new merchandising/plan-o-gram requirements. Ordered potentially high-turn product.

Tripled title selections and generated $3M (100%) increase in sales revenues in first 10 months. Contributed to increased revenues in entire operation, beating industry averages by 5-7%. Capitalized on existing vendor credit terms, creating sufficient cash flow to avoid tapping into line of credit.

Program is still in place and is analyzed quarterly. Success prompted request to present the program at regional franchise meetings sharing best practices.

Identified need to effectively allocate and deploy video rental product to 42 stores and increase inventory turns by 0.5 turns per rental copy. Company was growing at a quick pace (from 19 to 42 stores in three years) and no additional human resources were available to carefully analyze each store and meet purchase order deadlines.

Needed to purchase and deploy an average of 22,000 pieces of rental product each month. Developed new tracking/budgeting mechanism to closely approximate each store’s revenues for that department each buying cycle. Determined demographic factor that would help properly skew the film genres. Created a spreadsheet to perform necessary calculations for product distribution.

Achieved $525K increase in revenues by increasing video rental turns above targeted projection. Met order deadlines without adding additional human resources. Program is still in use, and is reviewed and refined each quarter to update demographic and revenue adjustments.

Roy Rogers wished to open 12 new franchisee restaurants in the mid-Atlantic region, but franchisees were reluctant to open more stores due to a pending sale of the chain.

Met each franchise group to gauge their development interests and timetable for the next year. Determined the number of new franchisees in the pipeline. Set a timeline/schedule for each potential project. Performed weekly status followup on each project.

Opened 18 stores versus budget of 12, adding an additional 48% to the royalty income stream for that year.

Company’s 15 franchisees lacked initial business plans. Goal was to finish them in six-month period. Coordinated scheduling the principal owners while maintaining ongoing day-to-day duties, convincing five franchise owners that exercise was beneficial for them.

Sent pre-meeting list of questions and necessary materials to focus face-to-face meeting. Met with principal owners of each group to discuss operations, inventory management, staffing, training, and new store development needs. Determined current strengths and weaknesses, and developed goals and plans of action for the following year.

Completed all initial business plans three months ahead of planned goal. Business plans provided a roadmap for the coming year and a source for best practices to share with other groups.

Franchise needed to achieve average unit volumes of $800K (corporate average). Six franchise stores were 130 miles apart, and required considerable purchasing, training and human resource oversight.

Developed and implemented store management P&L standards and goals. Set up a weekly reporting system to immediately analyze current trends. Established short-term incentive and long-term bonus plans for store management. Created and implemented an active customer service standards program.

Stores achieved $1M average unit volume by year three (20% above corporate average of $800K). Achieved an annual average shareholder pre-tax ROI of 20% over the life of the franchise. Ultimately sold the franchise and achieved a 200% pre-tax return on each shareholder's initial investment. These efficiencies set up the company to pay off its debt service eight months early.

Needed to plan and execute offsite annual Managers’ Conference without incurring any company expense. Forced to go to vendors to raise finding for the meeting in an industry under constant consolidation.

Met with partners and key personnel to determine goals and desired result of the meeting. Established a list of requirements to execute the conference. Prepared timelines, schedules and deadlines. Determined and delegated assignments with followup sessions. Raised funds from vendors through a series of letters and followup phone calls. Executed the meeting on schedule and achieved desired result.

Successfully planned and executed five annual conferences with 85 participants (Washington, DC; Williamsburg, VA; Atlantic City, NJ; Caribbean Cruise; Orlando, FL) on schedule. Raised from vendors entire amount necessary to cover the expenses for each conference (approximately $80K per conference). Most counterparts at other franchises did not match this success.