"I was a carpenter who became an owner of a family building business, without having first learned all the fundamentals of how to grow and run a great company. Everything I learned came from the school of hard knocks. EOS has really helped because it incorporates all the fundamentals into a complete system for developing and strengthening leaders and managers. Instead of being reactive, we have become proactive, making better decisions that improve our customers’ experiences and ours too. Our team is now all moving forward in the same direction toward shared goals. In 2008, a very tough year for the residential construction industry, our revenue actually increased 18%.
EOS takes tried and true "best business" practices and helps you customize them to fit your company. One of my leaders shared, “We’ve learned that business can be simple – it doesn’t have to be complicated and complex.” EOS definitely simplifies everything. A big windfall for me is that my son is learning all the stuff I never learned, and getting all the business tools I never had, which should position him well for taking over the business when I’m ready to step down. Our EOS Implementer exhibited genuine interest in helping us to become our best, as individuals and as an organization. He didn't disappear after he finished implementing EOS with us but continues to assist and offer support in genuine ways and is always available when we do call for assistance. Beneath his humble demeanor is a wealth of practical knowledge. It has been a great experience.
Brian Pennings
Pennings & Sons
An EOS Implementer invited our leadership team to a 90 minute meeting in November, 2006 to explore EOS. We felt we had “hit the ceiling” and taken our company as far as our own management skill set would allow us to go, so were open to listening. Another business owner we knew recommended the Implementer and EOS, so we did the meeting and elected to start the process.
Doing any reconstructing of your business can be scary. We weren’t a failing business needing to be rescued. We were a successful business wanting to do even better. The fear was that we could change things and make it worse.
The power of EOS is in its process for integrating simple, practical tools into your organization, and the nice thing is that you don’t have to conform your company to the tools; the tools conform to your company. As we mastered each tool, we just started doing things better: making better decisions more efficiently; organizing everything; communicating our ideas and vision better; getting our people all working together and towards the same goals. We’ve experienced higher productivity, lower overtime and greater profitability. We are much stronger now, more focused and advancing steadily, and the icing is being able to take 10 days off with everything still advancing while I’m gone.
Having the implementer was also helpful. He asked questions we would not have asked, added perspectives we would not have considered, and challenged ideas and processes that were working already but had room to grow. Would we have made all this progress without EOS? Maybe eventually. Our Implementer put us on the fast track to greater profitability and growth, and elevated my partners and I to management levels we would/could not reach on our own. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat.
Kurt Steensma
Steensma Lawn & Power Equipment
www.steensmalawn.com
In the 10 years prior to implementing EOS, we were a company that experienced substantial and consistent revenue growth year after year. But we hit a ceiling. With growth came complexity. Our leaders weren’t on the same page, there was confusion about direction and roles, finger-pointing, politicking – profit dropped considerably. It wasn’t fun.
After being introduced to EOS in a 90 minute meeting, our leaders committed to implementing the tools and the system. Honestly, it was tough going at first. The system revealed lots of issues we needed to address, but with the tools and the help of our Implementer, we addressed and resolved them all.
EOS has helped us develop a trusting, engaged, focused and empowered leadership team. Our vision is clear with everyone on the same page and moving in the same direction. We now have a clear HR process for bringing right people into our company and maintaining our culture. Everything is much more systemized with good people following good processes. That means our customers are consistently getting good service. We’re growing again and profits have been increasing steadily. For an added bonus it has freed up more of my time so I can look out for our long term future.
EOS is well worth the investment of time and money. Our Implementers involvement was also very valuable. He brought experience, confidence, a sense of optimism (that we could really do it) and the patience to help us come up with all the right answers for our organization. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give the whole experience a 10 (and I don’t give many 10s).
Joe Cekola
Imperial Beverage – Elite Brands
www.imperialbeverage.com
"Applying the EOS principles has helped us achieve extraordinary results. Last year, we doubled revenue and tripled profits! Even better, our entire organization is aligned with our goals and vision - with powerful results."
Marc Schechter
Schechter Wealth Strategies
www.schechterwealth.com
"Our vision is clearer, and now we plan more strategically and really use the EOS problem-solving techniques. We've met 89 percent of our Rocks for eight quarters - and had 49 percent growth in three years!"
Curt Rager
Autumn Associates
www.autumnassoc.com
"After our work with the EOS Process™, we are a very different company. We have a more effective and mature executive committee team. These simple techniques have played a key role in our changes.
The EOS concepts have revolutionized our enterprise. We are highly profitable, adroit, and flexible, and we have a results-oriented culture. Implementing the EOS tools has made a meaningful difference in who we are today."
Albert M. Berriz
CEO McKinley
"We have been a part of the EOS Process™ from the beginning, and we are committed to it for life. As a result, our revenue has more than quadrupled (466 percent) in the last three years, and profits are up even more than that. The EOS Process™ simplifies all of our business issues. It provides a forum and the tools for us as a leadership team to talk openly and honestly about all of our internal and external issues."
Rob Tamblyn
The Benefits Company
"Our company has been named to the PROFIT 100, which recognizes the 100 fastest growing companies in Canada over the past five years. We have grown by over 1000 percent since working with the EOS concepts and principles. Our amazing growth is attributable to the work our EOS Implementer has done with our company."
Kevin Brady
Brady Financial
"The EOS tools have changed my life! I'm now able to let go of the day-to-day, knowing I have developed a team that can efficiently handle the details. We have consistently grown every year for the last four years in a very tough market, while the competition has struggled."
Ronald A. Blank
President
The Franklin Companies
"With this process, the vision for my company has been greatly accelerated. It has helped in unprecedented ways."
Todd Sachse
Sachse Construction
"Your help with Asphalt Specialists Inc. has proven to be invaluable. Your EOS Model™ and your V/TO are business tools that are both practical and user-friendly. They have taken ASI to a new level. Our company has experienced a powerful cultural shift."
Bruce and Dan Israel
Asphalt Specialists, Inc. (ASI)
"Please accept my warm thanks and appreciation for all you have done to help us transform ourselves and our organization from 'good' to 'great.'
Through your coaching, experience, and use of your tools, you have helped me reorganize and more fully develop our leadership team and get us all laser-focused on what is most important. We are now fully accountable to each other and growing healthier every day.
Our business has grown 300 percent over the last five years.
It would be my pleasure to highly recommend you to any business owner that wants to grow their business and build a healthy leadership team using your tools, coaching, and experience.
We look forward to continuing this process with continued success.
The concepts and tools that have been masterfully captured in the pages of this book have provided some of the magic that has helped us. Don't miss it!"
Craig Erlich
CEO
pulse220, an experiential agency
"The EOS concepts are simple and concise, apply to all business models, and produce real ($!) results very quickly. By implementing EOS, we have been able to outpace our competition, remain extremely focused and disciplined, and grow a company from start-up to sales of eight figures with no significant outside capital and never having a year in the red. These tools will accelerate your business and give you the foundational principles to understand how a healthy business operates."
R. Tyler Smith
Integrator/Owner
Niche Retail, LLC
www.NicheRetail.com
"You have been instrumental in working with our company to create a road map not only for the next year but the future. We have implemented tools that have been integral in creating not only a direction but a culture. We have created solid core values, which have forced a restructured organization with common goals and passions. We have fully implemented The EOS Tools™ throughout the organization. These have been instrumental in assuring individual and department accountability. The tools are simple to use, teach, and understand throughout all levels.
I cannot say enough good things about what you have done to help our company. You've enabled me to grow my business 100 percent over the last three years while staying balanced and having fun."
Bernie Ronnisch
Ronnisch Construction Group
"I wanted to take a minute to thank you for the help you have given to Image One. It has been a direct result of the growth our organization has experienced. Prior to implementing the disciplines in this book, my partner and I felt like we were running our business by the seat of our pants.
Team building and hiring has improved tenfold since we introduced our core values. The team has embraced the values, and it has become our culture.
The Meeting Pulse has improved communication among team members. We are now more proactive, which translates into greater efficiencies.
The decision to close our computer division after six months was critical and a turning point in our company's history. Without your assistance, we would not have seen the light as soon.
Your coaching has given me the tools to be a better leader. I knew I had it in me, but you helped bring it out!
Finally, your Business Model has helped me to really focus on the importance aspects of building an organization and turning it into something special - for the entire team.
Our growth rate has averaged over 20 percent per year. These results put us in a position to sell our company to a public company for above-normal multiples and reacquire the company after just a year and a half.
THANKS."
Rob Dube
President
Image One
"EOS has done a remarkable job for me as a business leader, as a person and for our company. It has improved my business and my life dramatically. I am having more fun, and my sales and profits have increased by 50 percent over the past three years. The EOS Process takes one's vision and sets up systems to make it a reality. I would recommend the EOS Process™ to any organizations that are ready to go to the next level and to hold themselves accountable to achieve everything that they knew they could."
Bob Shenefelt
CEO
RCS International
www.reallycoolsolutions.com
"If you want to improve the profitability of your business and the quality of your life, implement EOS in your company. It helps companies gain focus and traction. We are a much stronger organization today as a direct result of applying the concepts."
Jerry Reinhart
President and CEO
Pomeroy Investment Corporation
"Most consultants tell you what you need to do as a business owner and why it is important. EOS shows you how to do it. I wish I could have learned the EOS principles 20 years ago. They really work, and inserting them into our business has revolutionized how we develop and provide our services. We are more profitable than ever, even when our local economy is suffering."
Thom Barry
President
TF Barry Co.
"The EOS tools work. They really help us stay consistent and focused on our vision. The principles have helped me build a solid leadership team, crystallize our plan, and create the discipline to take the organization to the next level."
Sam Simon
President and CEO
Atlas Oil Company
"This is my 3rd start-up company and it is off to the best start. We are exceeding our projections and we know it is because we have implemented EOS. From vision to project accountability, the system is both simple and comprehensive.
Much of my career has been spent in consulting so I have had the privilege to see how a number of companies are run. I have not seen a more effective operating system than EOS. This is why we engaged our Implementer and he has exceeded our expectations every step of the way. I recommend the EOS Process wholeheartedly."
Corey Clothier
Saber Leadership & Teamwork
"Spiech Farms was going to end 2006 with a net loss of 3% on $5,000,000. Things weren’t awful, but we definitely wanted to do better. We first began implementing EOS in January of 2007, and by all external indicators there was nothing unusual going on. That’s because all of the extraordinary stuff was going on inside Spiech Farms. It did feel a little awkward at first, but as we became more and more comfortable with EOS, things became simpler and soon everything began to work better. As a result, we turned in an amazing year, growing to $7,500,000 and posting a 6% net profit for 2007!
We thought we were doing a pretty good job before EOS. We had grown our company to $5M and posted some decent years up until then. I guess it’s easy to be satisfied when you don’t know what you’re missing. The whole leadership team is so much more confident about the future now, and we’ve never been so unified as a team. I guess the big WOW! in all of this is knowing that our dreams are not only attainable, but that the controls are in place to literally determine our own future! In 2008, we have planned for 22% growth and we’re right on target to meet or beat that number."
Steve Spiech
www.spiechfarms.com