By Dorothy de Souza Guedes

With sales off about 40 percent over the previous year, Doug Grunder could have chosen to stay focused on the issues involved in designing industrial mixers and generating more revenue for his company Marion Mixers.

“In business it’s so easy to get sucked into what’s making you money today and not what’s going to make you money 10 years from now or five years from now or next year,” he said.

If he hadn’t been working with a business coach before the recession, his reaction probably would have been to immediately downsize the company. Instead, the president of Marion Mixers has worked one-on-one with business coach David Drewelow of ActionCOACH for the past year to turn the slowdown due to the economic recession into an advantage.

“I already identified what I needed to do. The recession allowed me the time to do it,” Grunder said. “We worked pretty hard in the down time.”

Marion Mixers manufactures horizontal mixing and blending equipment, supplying equipment in the food, plastic, chemicals, minerals and recycling industries.

Grunder bought into Marion Mixers in 1995 with several other investors. About a year ago, those investor/owners agreed the best long-term strategy in the down economy was to take a hard look at strategies, methods and staff as well as make changes and reinvest any revenue back into the company.

The planning began about 2 1/2 years ago when Grunder began meeting with a group of local business owners, called ProfitCLUB. Those peer group members discussed issues of running a business. Members could ask each other for referrals and how each overcame a particular issue such as hiring or firing, for example.

What Grunder learned in ProfitCLUB helped him realize he didn?t want to immediately downsize when the economy slowed down. Because his company was bigger than those in his peer group and it worked with national and international accounts, not just on a local level, Grunder decided to work one-on-one with a business coach to get the information he needed specific to his business.

Drewelow facilitates ProfitCLUB and Grunder had known Drewelow for years through church. Grunder said he had been negative about consulting, but stressed that Drewelow is not a consultant. There is a big difference between working with a coach versus hiring a consultant, he said. A consultant is hired to complete a specific task. A business coach helps the business owner or manager become as good as he can be, just as a sporting coach helps an athlete, Grunder said.

Coaching is an accountability process, Drewelow said, and the coaching relationship is not about what a coach does for his client, but what they do together. For example, it wasn’t Drewelow’s job to develop a 2010 plan for Marion Mixers. That was Grunder’s job.

Drewelow works with Grunder to break that one-year plan into 90-day increments. When they meet twice a month, typically at 7 a.m. for breakfast, it’s the coach’s job to ask the business owner if he’s meeting his short-term and long-term goals and not just dealing with day-to-day issues. Together they work out what needs to be done on the plan over the next two weeks and what tools Grunder may need to assist him.

One of the first things Grunder did to achieve his goal of having a company that can run without him, was to add another layer of management. Previously, all 35 employees reported directly to him. Over the past year, he’s changed that to three who directly report to him, each of whom is responsible for a group of employees.

“That’s a big change,” Grunder said.

Over the past year, he has reorganized his entire business to make it stronger and position the company to grow as the economy turns around. For example, he laid-off employees in some areas, but hired in other areas. Training manuals and documentation were upgraded. And, there’s even been an expansion of physical space to house the additional employees Grunder expects to hire as the market turns around.

In the manufacturing area, major changes have been made. A bright spot in the company’s key industries is the huge growth potential in the area of recycling and the equipment needed. That has been reflected in the company’s long-term plan. The engineering group was restructured to better handle project work flow.

Grunder also delegated key accounts to sales staff so he could go after new accounts. Sales representatives were measured and evaluated and about half were replaced. A slower manufacturing schedule meant he could take the time to identify and recruit the best people available for jobs. Grunder hired a national sales manager who is restructuring the sales organization. More recently, the company hired an international sales manager.

The leadership team of three attends training and is taught what Grunder learns from Drewelow. To continue working on improving his business, Grunder continues to meet with Drewelow and his peer group.

“He’s always looking for ideas to make himself and his business better,” Drewelow said. “I really commend him for taking a proactive position to work on his business ? because his business is better today.”

A big piece of coaching was not about Grunder’s work, but what he does in the rest of his life. Drewelow asked him to evaluate leisure activities, physical health and more. People should know why they are doing what they are doing, Drewelow said. For most people, it’s just about the money but Grunder has a passion for mission work and wants to use his business to support that and other non-business goals.

Grunder’s plan is to essentially retire in 12 years. His exit strategy is not to sell his portion of the company, but, rather, use his dividends from a successful Marion Mixers to fund mission activities in Haiti, on American Indian lands and elsewhere.

For the time being, though, he’ll stay focused on work.

“There are a lot of things that have changed in the last year – and probably more that are going to change,” Grunder said. “I think we’ve positioned ourselves real well for when the market turns around.”

The business:

Marion Mixers

3575 Third Ave.

Marion, Iowa 52302

(319) 377-6371

www.marionmixers.com

The consultant:

S. David Drewelow

Head Coach, USA Iowa/Nebraska Team

ActionCOACH

415 First Ave. SE Suite 215

Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401

(319) 743-0642

www.daviddrewelow.ActionCOACH.com

This feature shows how business experts have helped entrepreneurs address specific issues that face small businesses.