Challenge: Sustaining growth through transition
The owners at Teron Lighting, Inc. (TLI) were transitioning into retirement and sought to diversify their wealth. They needed a partner to aid with succession planning, and that’s where Roebling Capital Partners was able to lend our expert resources.
The company, while financially strong, was somewhat unsophisticated from a systems and processes perspective. As is the case with many lower-middle-market companies, TLI was run as a lifestyle business, as opposed to one that was seeking to scale and grow dramatically.
Naturally, this meant that there would be some foundational enhancements that we would have to make immediately upon transition to position the company for sustained growth.
Solution: Creating a solid foundation
The RCP team immediately identified the “low-hanging fruit” opportunities that when addressed would instantly enhance the general operations of TLI. Most notably, we needed a management transition, a new enterprise resource planning system, and a more robust finance and accounting function.
Additionally, we refreshed the marketing function, including introducing a Customer Relationship Management system to increase customer touchpoints and team accountability. Enhancements to the website and digital content were a natural next step.
Finally, making subtle enhancements to the sales function (via new hires, new processes, and minor restructuring) was an obvious growth avenue to pursue, as the sales department is critical to the ongoing success of the company.
Today: A company empowered to grow
By addressing these initial opportunities, we positioned the company for growth into year two of our investment and beyond. We knew that we needed to establish a firm foundation before seeking to catalyze transformational growth. Now that we have that foundation, we’re in growth mode.
By investing in key new managerial hires, augmenting the sales and marketing function, broadly improving systems and processes, and changing the culture into one where employees are empowered to have autonomy and take pride in their work, TLI is enabled to continue to scale in the coming years.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Reeve Hoover is an Associate at Roebling Capital Partners, a lower-middle-market private equity investment firm.
