ABOUT LINDA DOUSIS
Rheometrics, Inc. was the leading manufacturer of rheological (measurement of viscosity & elasticity) research instruments. Linda joined the company in its start-up stage and, 7 years later, sales were $10 million and had 115 employees worldwide. She was Vice-President of Finance, Administration, Human Resources and Systems. Additionally, she was Managing Director of the German subsidiary. She setup, managed and staffed Finance, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Production Control, Customer Service, and Sales & Marketing. She was also responsible for “Special Projects”, including site selection, building lease and purchase negotiations, renovations of facilities; evaluation of underwriters for IPO.
Nametre Company was a 25 year old company owned by a former professor and his graduate student. Although in business for 25 years, they had never grown. She joined as a consultant, eventually became President, and grew the company from $300K to $4 million. After the death of the owner she negotiated an employee LBO from his estate and the subsequent sale of the company to Metrisa, Inc.
For the past several years she was Administrative Support Manager for a Civil Engineering Firm.
In September 2006 she formed Administrative Services and Consulting LLC. She is a Consultant and Instructor for the New Jersey Small Business Development Center; a Counselor and an Instructor for the Small Business Development Center at Raritan Valley Community College and an Ambassador for the Somerset County Business Partnership (fka Chamber of Commerce)..
HER BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY AND SOME EXAMPLES OF HOW WE CAN HELP YOU
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT:
Financial control is critical to a business. Management must know, at all times, the exact financial position including both obligations and future projections. Development of an operating budget, and constant analysis and comparison to budget, permits management to make decisions based on knowledge – not “seat of the pants” feelings. Aside from being a required document for long term financing, the development of, and adherence to, a Business Plan helps to guide the company through the trials and tribulations of growth.
Financial information must be compiled as early in the month as possible for accurate cash flow analysis and business decisions.
Accurate detailed reporting and record keeping is mandatory. Nametre received a professional discount because of the accuracy and completeness of the documentation she provided.
At Metrisa, she worked with several accounting firms, the last being Price Waterhouse Coopers. PWC was able to audit the Nametre records in 3 days and was constantly complimented on the completeness of the information.
She developed and managed the operating budgets for both Rheometrics and Nametre.
HUMAN RESOURCES:
In general, people will perform to the level of expectation the company assigns to them. The personnel inside the organization should be considered the prime candidates for promotion as additional openings occur. Linda used the philosophy of working with the individuals to determine their growth potential and outline a plan of development to achieve the desired goals. At Rheometrics, the person who was hired as Assistance Production Manager eventually became Sales Manager and finally CEO of the company. An electronics assembler from the Job Corp program obtained a degree in Electrical Engineering and is now a development engineer. At Nametre, an electronics technician was eventually promoted to the position of Manufacturing Manager.
It is the responsibility of management to insure that all employees know precisely what is expected of them in their job performance and, at all times, how management views their performance. Employees with growth potential should be worked with to develop their skills and encouraged to obtain the necessary education and skills required for growth. Conversely, not all employees perform at the required level and it is just as important that management be open an honest with them regarding the areas that need improvement. No employee should ever be surprised when they are terminated.
PURCHASING:
Your key vendors are critical to the operations of a business. Developing vendor relationships is mandatory if you expect the vendor to go the extra mile when an item or service is required. Therefore, it is necessary to convey to the vendor exactly what you expect from them and hold them to your requirements. She does not believe you can develop vendor loyalty by switching vendors everytime a new vendor offers you $1.12 for the product you are currently paying $1.15 for. Conversely, it is management’s responsibility to insure that the pricing, quality, support, and service provided by the vendor are of the highest level.
She developed, staffed and managed the purchasing operations at both Rheometrics and Nametre.
PRODUCTION CONTROL:
Inventory is the bane of many companies. Not enough inventory and no shipments are made. Too much inventory and cash that could be used for operations is tied up. Systems are necessary to know exactly what products are required to fulfill orders, what lead times are involved. She setup and ran production control for both Rheometrics and Nametre. Whenever feasible, blanket orders were issued to insure both favorable pricing and guaranteed delivery. SALES (DISTRIBUTORS/REPRESENTATIVES):
At Rheometrics, we sold direct in the US and through Representatives worldwide. She was directly involved in rep selection and training. When Rheometrics decided to open a European Sales and Service operation she went to Germany, established a German corporation (lawyers, accountants & bank), selected and rented the office space and hired the support staff.
Nametre sold both direct and through Representatives in the US and through Representatives and Distributors worldwide. Again, she was directly involved in the rep selection process. Although the Reps/Distributors were managed by the Sales/Marketing staff she maintained ultimate decision making authority over the reps.
The philosophy of managing a Rep network has got to be that we are partners. Reps must be treated the same as staff personnel – goals must be established with each Rep and monitored. You cannot expect to turn a product over to a Rep and have the sales roll in! Constant contact and follow up are required to insure the Rep is a part of the team.
After the purchase of Nametre by Metrisa our European Master Distributor (Marimex) had a conflict with our Sales/Marketing Manager and he decided to no longer represent us. Metrisa then asked that she take over European Rep management. She went to Europe each quarter, meeting with the sub-Reps and customers. Sales more than doubled the first year. Also, Marimex developed updated electronics for the instrument. His plan had been to manufacture his own instruments since he felt he could no longer work with us. Instead, he gave us the rights to the electronics (they are the new 610/710 model instruments) even before we had worked out the compensation for them (which ended up being stock in the company).
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
Your existing customer base is a major asset. Customer satisfaction is a priority. She can site three examples that occurred at Nametre. A major chemical company had purchased an early instrument and was totally unsatisfied with its performance, to the point where Nametre had to accept its return. Eventually, when they purchased again after we had made major changes to the way customers were supported, they ended up purchasing approximately 32 instruments world-wide. A consumer pharmaceutical division of a major health care company purchased one instrument. When there were problems it was determined that the physical dimension they had supplied for the mounting was incorrect. Over the objections of the owner of Nametre, she insisted that we rework the instrument at our expense. Result – they placed a blanket order of $250,000 for 28 instruments. Another company had purchased an instrument in the early 1980’s. Several years ago they agreed to give us another chance. We loaned them an instrument for a month. The result was they asked us to visit them and explain what had happened – why was the instrument now so good.
SUMMARY: In her career she has had the opportunity to become involved in all facets of business. In addition to the areas sited above she had the opportunity to either setup/manage/administrate or perform the functions of all of the operating departments of a company. Linda will be happy to discuss the above areas, or any other areas, with you or your investors.