WeatherTite Windows, a window replacement company in Girard, Ohio, generated $9.2 million in sales last year, but its owner and founder, Merv Hollander, knew that the company could be spending a lot less on general and administrative expenses than it was. The problem, he says, is that digging into those expenses takes time, and he didn’t have any time to spare.
That’s why Hollander was relieved when his son, an engineer who once sold for the company, offered to take on the task. “A lot of us manage with our heart instead of our head,” Hollander says. “You can’t do that anymore.”
Hollander gave his son an office and the authority to look anywhere and everywhere in the company for possible cost savings. That included taking a closer look at employee benefits, licenses, marketing venues, company credit cards, and banks the company does business with. One cost-saving example: the company's use of placemats. They’re gone. “Why do I use placemats?” Hollander says. “'Cause I got snookered.”
Several years ago the owner tried to hire his son as WeatherTite Windows' chief operating officer. The son, who had a full-time job elsewhere, told him: "Dad, you can’t afford me."
But now that Hollander's son is onboard, the owner says, “It’s exciting when there are new eyes. And I love it when he comes to me and says: ‘This is just unacceptable.’" So far, Hollander says, his son has reduced the company's general and administrative expenses by $300,000. “That’s our way to recovery.”