Mentor Insight: 'Re-tuning A Guitar Manufacturing Business' by David Lennox
In this article, business owner, Leadership and Management Lecturer, and Wiseup Mentor, David Lennox, talks us through a practical, real-life example of how he helped to elevate a business' profit margins and consumer engagement with just a few simple but invaluable insights. David demonstrates how speaking with an experienced mentor could be the next crucial step for the growth and success of your business:
The Challenge
SC Relics is a small independent guitar refinishing and manufacturing business in Northern Ireland run by Scott Cameron, an avid guitar player. Scott was understandably cautious about turning his passion into a job, so he worked on it part-time while continuing with his normal job. But the business grew at an astonishing rate and Scott couldn’t keep up. He jacked in his job, and started building guitars full time. But he knew that to get a foothold in a crowded market he’d have to offer a point of difference, be competitively priced and get noticed. The budding entrepreneur was initially unsure how much to charge for his guitars and how to build an audience.
The Solution
Scott engaged me as a business consultant to help give his fledgling business the beat it needed to compete. I came up with three solutions for SC Relics:
Lean Operations
Work out the time-per-guitar. I suggested he measured and recorded each of his processes to establish a benchmark and work out what he should be charging for each guitar. This helped identify areas that needed to be more efficient and through identifying bottlenecks and wasted time was reduced. It meant Scott now could work out his true costs and justify a higher price for his work. This single, small suggestion increased his profit margin by 10%. This also allowed Scott to be more innovative on ways to improve processes and add value for customers.
Start A Blog
Scott also wanted to know how to engage with his customer base better, while growing his presence on social media. With my advice, he took it a step further by starting a blog, which has been very well received. The blog gives an insight into the product process, without giving away his trade secrets. This has increased traffic to his site by almost 6%.
Engage With Influencers
I recommended Scott build his audience organically by engaging with influencers on social media and leverage his suppliers’ audience. One supplier posted one of SC Relics’ guitars which featured their pickups, resulting in his website seeing a spike in traffic (up 4,000 users in a single week). Scott has also used his contacts in the music trade to add influence. He’s been featured in Guitarist Magazine and has had several high profile customers including The Script, Rick Astley, Right Said Fred and Bon Jovi.
Visit David's Wiseup profile or explore our database of mentors to learn more about how their skills and experience could help you.
