 ADVICE FROM
AN EXPERT
Grow your business by
picking
the "low-hanging fruit"
By BONNY OSTERHAGE
Photography ROBERT FRENCH
How do I grow my business?"
is a question that
Shawn McCormick gets
asked regularly, which isn't
surprising. McCormick is a successful
businesswoman who owns four companies
that are doing business locally
and nationwide. And while growing a
business can look different for every
business owner, McCormick says one
of the first areas to consider is the "low-hanging fruit."
"If you're in business, you're making
money in some way, so you need to evaluate
that area first," she says. "See if you
can expand or add to what you're
already doing. Start with the easy stuff,
which is generally your core business,
and pick the low-hanging fruit that's at
your fingertips."
Given her business success and acumen,
McCormick knows what she's
talking about. In addition to being
owner and president of Summit DME
Home Medical Equipment, she owns
ZoeyZones, which specializes in asthma
education for children; Doo and Dee, a
premium disposable diaper delivery service;
and Pulmonary Therapies, a company
that contracts respiratory therapists
for grants related to asthma
research. She is also the outgoing
NAWBO president.
While at first glance McCormick's
businesses may not have a lot in
common, she says they were all born
from her core skills as a respiratory
therapist (RT).
In 1994, she began looking for
opportunities outside the hospital and
found that most RTs were selling respiratory
equipment. A business owner in
Dallas let her take a week to evaluate
each department of his medical equipment
business to see if it interested
her. She started Summit in April of
1995, added an Austin location in
2007, and is opening another location
in Corpus Christi during the third quarter
of 2008.
This level of success and expansion
came with consistent strategic planning
and evaluation. She makes it a priority to
regularly take a step back and get some
perspective on her businesses. "What's
most important to me is putting some
serious thought and analysis into where
we've been, where we're going and how
we can make it better," she says.
McCormick suggests starting with
two basic questions: (1) What are the
three things that I make my living from?
(2) Is there anything else I could be doing
to add to or grow each area? As you
work your way through these three
things, your list of options will grow, and
from there, your business can grow.
LOOK AT YOUR
STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES,
OPPORTUNITIES
AND THREATS
One of the tools McCormick uses is
the SWOT Analysis, which helps evaluate
the internal factors (Strengths and
Weaknesses) and external factors
(Opportunities and Threats) affecting
a company.
McCormick says she gathers key
members of her staff to ask SWOT questions
such as "What are we really good
at? Where are our weaknesses? Are we
missing any opportunities that tie directly
to our core business? What threats in
the external environment affect us?"
She offers an example of how the
SWOT analysis has recently contributed
to a significant idea for expansion. "We
started evaluating the needs of our CPAP
(Continuous Positive Airway Pressure)
patients, whom we supply equipment
for," McCormick says. "We average 360
to 500 new patients a year, and each one needs $250 of CPAP supplies quarterly.
That's about $1,000 of supplies per
patient, which could potentially equal
$500,000 per year in revenue. That's half
a million dollars of annual revenue we
had not previously considered."
She and her team began working
through the steps on costs for software
and adding a staff person to handle the
workload. They discovered that while
they could not find a software program
to do what they needed, they could create
their own customized program for
$50,000. This cost, compared to the
potential revenue, was negligible, so
they continued to move forward.
"Projected revenue for the first
month was $20,000. We were a little
over that amount, and we don't even
have our software program yet,"
McCormick says.
BE DIFFERENT
AND
ADD VALUE
McCormick also asks, "How can we
distinguish ourselves from our competitors?"
She uses the example of how the
company wanted to offer more value to
home health agencies and nursing staffs.
Since all DME (durable medical equipment)
businesses offer oxygen, Summit
wanted to go a step further. The company
began developing programs to complement
the activities of home health
agencies and nurses before they came
into a patient's home. To this end,
Summit offers patient education that
includes free scales for patients to weigh
themselves, free information and materials
to help them manage their diets and
a free overnight oximetry, which identifies
their need for oxygen.
"By offering this pre-evaluation and
education, Summit is incorporating an
added value to the agencies, which
encourages them to continue using us,"
she says.
WORK FROM YOUR PASSION
McCormick says her second business
sprang up in 2001 simply from a passion.
But it wasn't without its obstacles.
"I came from Santa Rosa Children's
Hospital, and my passion was working
with asthma patients," she says. "Once
Summit was up and running, I wanted to
do something to educate children on
their asthma."
McCormick developed a character
named Zoey, a little blue car that finds out
he has asthma. She wrote a book about
Zoey and his real-life situations to help
young asthma patients and their parents
learn how to manage the condition. Then
she found a doctor whose daughter
worked for a publishing company in Fort
Worth, and the daughter put McCormick
in touch with the publisher. After hearing
that asthma was the No. 1 admitting diagnosis
for children, he wanted to see a presentation
from McCormick in two days.
"It ended up being a three-hour
meeting, and he offered me a $10,000
grant to get it going," she says. "I used
the money for layout and design for a
children's story and a workbook."
Unfortunately for McCormick, the
publishing company was bought out,
and the new company published only
textbooks. "I was devastated," she says. "I had the galley, but the book wasn't
published yet."
A few months later,McCormick discovered
that the vice president of asthma for
Respironics would be at an upcoming
DME trade show. Respironics specializes in
sleep and respiratory products and has its
own line of pediatric products. She walked
up to the booth and asked the vice president
for 30 minutes of her time.
McCormick says, "She looked me in
the eye and said, 'I do not sell books.' I
said, 'Just hear me out,' and invited her
for a soda as I shared my vision to brand
Zoey characters on Respironics' pediatric
products." By the end of the meeting,
she says the vice president agreed to put
the characters on her devices. They had a
strong relationship for three years before
Zoey Zones and Respironics amicably
parted ways.
"We still use each other's products, but
it was time to move to new levels," she
says. "But now in the respiratory world
when you think Zoey, you think pediatric
asthma equipment," McCormick adds.
She ended up self-publishing her
books and currently sells directly into
larger organizations such as pharmaceutical
companies, which are her
biggest clients.
FILL A NEED
McCormick's other business ideas were based on filling a
need, and both were natural transitions for her.
Summit offers diapers for adults and children who are ill.
When her oldest daughter and son-in-law had a baby,
McCormick began sending diapers to them in Georgia. "They loved it, and their friends were jealous," McCormick
laughs. "Their friends asked if we could send diapers to
them, too." Thus Doo and Dee was born. Today, the business
is a retail site that offers disposable diaper delivery for anyone
needing the service.
The fourth company, Pulmonary Therapies, was established
when McCormick was asked to participate in grants for asthma
education. She set up the company to contract RTs for this
type of work. She says, "Asthma and books and diapers are
not medical equipment, but they are still related to my core
skills and knowledge."
McCormick is an excellent example of how picking the "low-hanging fruit" can be a profitable, successful way to
grow a business. And taking the time to plan, evaluate and
dream means every business owner can be fruitful as well.
NAWBO San Antonio Upcoming Events
Tuesday, May 6, Cocktail Connection,
5:30-7 p.m., Café Paladar
Wednesday, May 14, Lunch Connection,
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Swede's
Friday, May 16, Lunch meeting,
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Petroleum Club.
Tuesday, June 3, Cocktail Connection,
5:30-7 p.m., Café Paladar
Wednesday, June 11, Lunch Connection,
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Swede's
Wednesday, June 25, Annual Banquet,
The Club at Sonterra.
Tuesday, July 1, Cocktail Connection,
5:30-7 p.m., Café Paladar
Wednesday, July 9, Lunch Connection,
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Swede's
Friday, July 18, Breakfast meeting,
7:30-9 a.m., Petroleum Club.
Register online at www.nawbosa.org; go to Events; select
event and register. You may also send an e-mail to info@nawbosa.org or call (210) 408-1699 for more information. |
