Denny Miller, Zenith Property NW

NW property manager gets big boost from SBDC

Zenith Property NW, a Vancouver-based property management company serving clients in both Oregon and Washington, opened for business in 2008. In 2011 he contacted SBDC advisor Buck Heidrick for help with increasing profits and gross revenues. Here’s his letter:

To whom it may concern:
Zenith Properties NW, LLC has been working with SBDC certified business advisor Buck Heidrick since May 2011. Buck has been extraordinarily helpful to Zenith on multiple levels. He has helped us to define our Purpose, Mission, Vision, Core Values, Competitive Advantage and Brand Promise and how all of these elements are different yet in-tegrated. Buck helped us to incorporate these ele-ments into the day-to-day operation of our business to make it more successful.
The best way to quantify the impact Buck's coun-seling has had on our business is to take a look at our numbers from January through May of this year (before we started working with Buck) and from June through October (since we have been working with Buck). Zenith's average gross sales has in-creased by a whopping 77.2% from the first period to the second. This has equated to an increase in our revenue from the first five months to the second five-month period of this year by more than $100,000.
This growth in revenue has meant Zenith has been able to retain two partners, three full-time employees and two part-time employees - all of whom have seen increases in their distributions and payroll earnings. Also since May, Zenith has added one new full-time employee and has significantly in-creased the amount it has paid to outside vendors who are small businesses operating in Clark County.
Finally, Buck's insistence that we attend the Profit Mastery course has been the single most valuable edu-cational seminar we have ever participated in. Profit Mastery taught us how to look at the numbers in our business' lncome Statement/P&L and Balance Sheet to identify both challenges and opportunities. The course enabled us to make corrections and improvements that will continue to increase our business' cash flow, prof-itability and equity, and make it attractive to outside sources of capital.
I believe any business owner who does not enroll in SBDC's free business counseling services and take Profit Mastery is playing Russian Roulette with five bullets in the chamber.
A HUGE "Thank You!" to Buck for his assistance and what he has done and continues to do for Zenithl!