Teaching business classes: Principles of Marketing, Principles of Management.

Much of my success as a president/GM has been due to my ability to forecast what was going to happen with the business. I realized that every small business owner -- regardless of their background -- would benefit from being able to forecast their business so that they would know how much cash they would need, whether they needed a bank loan, and whether they would be able to buy a new piece of equipment. So I developed the best way for them to do that.

Contact me at roger@rogerscherping.com or 651-247-1993. I fill the critical Integrator/GM role at small companies using EOS® on a fractional (part-time) basis. I build for them a solid business foundation and a clear path to profitable growth. My responsibilities are: - Enforce consistent use of EOS® throughout the company - Faithfully execute the business plan - Manage the Leadership Team - Collaborate with the Visionary: understand the vision; get the Visionary doing what they excel at

► Led the Leadership Team in utilizing the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®): led weekly and quarterly L10 meetings, maintained focus on objectives, and held Team accountable.► Implemented new marketing program (website, social media, online advertising, and email campaigns) that raised inbound leads from nothing to 33%.► Rescued SalesForce® implementation to enable effective lead tracking, nurturing and reporting.► Built solid foundation for business: documented all processes, created new accounting and job cost systems, enhanced operations process to improve accuracy, and created company's first budgets and financial forecasts.► Reduced by 60 days the average time to invoice completed jobs.► Reduced by 90 days the average time to produce monthly financial statements.► Refocused sales process to raise orders backlog to record level and outstanding sales opportunities to over $1 million.

As General Manager / CFO of a start up company, I contributed financial and operations expertise to raise capital and execute the founder's vision.► Negotiated a 24% sales increase with large legacy customer on annual contract renewal.► Prepared all due diligence documents for venture capital firm.► Led development of documentation of all operations processes.► Developed initial sales quoting process by leading team to standardize products, create standard descriptions, and develop a digital quoting tool for creating proposals.► Added necessary structure to startup company culture -- improved communication, instituted financial controls, developed processes, and implemented employee benefits programs.► Developed financial reporting and budgeting system to support 3 separate companies.► Managed cash to support both the start up and legacy companies.► Provided investors with financial projections and operational reports to facilitate raising $2 million in capital.

Built a solid foundation for profitable growth at the leading manufacturer of ice fishing equipment during a period of industry-wide, weather-related sales contraction. Raised level of professionalism across company. Through determined focus on future, positioned Clam for strong, profitable growth and much-needed sales diversification. Developed Clam’s first 5-year strategic plan, identifying necessary initiatives to meet ownership’s aggressive goals for sales and profit growth:► Repositioned Clam Outdoors brand with new, focused brand strategy. Restored Clam’s position as long-standing leader in ice fishing industry. ► Rededicated Clam as industry leader in product innovation, and led industry in new products launched in 2012 and 2013. ► Created counter-seasonal sales opportunities, compatible with new positioning of Clam Outdoors, that reduced seasonal risk and increased counter-seasonal sales revenue 85%.► Improved margins 3-5 percentage points by eliminating company’s sourcing agent and purchasing directly from Chinese manufacturers. ► Replaced outdated computer system that had put the company’s short shipping season at risk.► Upgraded and documented all business practices to enable profitable, sustainable growth.► Relaunched languishing Ice Team subsidiary as integrated advertising vehicle for reaching ice fishing niche market. ► Restored quality as key business initiative and achieved 100% quality of imported products by implementing first-ever 3rd party inspections in 2013. ► During first year in 2011, drove record sales and profits, increasing sales 47% and profits 23%.► Following 2012’s warmest winter in the history of the winter sports industry, aggressively managed retailer inventory returns and generated retailers’ opening orders that exceeded the prior year. ► In 2013, increased sales 30% and profits 85% during first 5 months. Achieved 3 separate months of record sales, including the highest single sales month in company history.

As COO and CFO, I drove improvements to position two small, entrepreneurial aerospace manufacturing companies for turnaround and profitable growth.OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES DROVE PROFITS► Realigned resources to allow managers to focus on sales and operations improvements, resulting in a 37% increase in profits.► Developed employee recognition and compensation programs that increased production by 20%.► Drove operations enhancements to reduce costs, including work instructions to document all manufacturing processes.FINANCIAL REPORTING RESTRUCTURING► Restructured financial reporting system to comply with regulations for government contracting.► Improved financial management with company’s first annual budget, monthly projections, and weekly cash forecasts. STRATEGIC PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP► Led team in development of a strategic plan to improve quality and on-time delivery and develop the systems and infrastructure necessary to turn the business around and drive profitable growth.

As the President of Fountain Industries, I drove aggressive sales growth while upgrading a sixties-era manufacturing company to a 21st-century manufacturer of parts washers and trash compactors.SALES GROWTH► Acquired largest competitor, driving customer and product diversification and 50% sales increase. ► Launched major new product line with 100% on-time delivery and superior quality.STRATEGY► Transformed business model from build-for-stock to build-to-order and reduced inventory 40%.► Repositioned company from a contract manufacturer to a value-added design/engineering resource and raised new product margins 50%.OPERATIONS► Recruited new management team and drove operational improvements in all areas of company. ► Simplified product offering by eliminating 60% of products with little net revenue loss. ► Updated manufacturing operations by introducing and driving lean manufacturing concepts, including quality management system, 5S, kanbans, one-piece flow, and just-in-time ordering.► Drove operations enhancements that improved overall on-time delivery from 72% to 96%.

As CFO of an outsourced manufacturer of plastic kitchen organizing products that are sold to large national retailers, I contributed financial and operations expertise to the successful turnaround of a struggling company. SALES GROWTH► Rolled out new $3 million customer by successfully executing new customer launch process.► Won $4 million sales contract renewal through participation in strategy development and negotiations.TURNAROUND► Provided turnaround management expertise to drive 200% sales growth and 500% profit growth.► Raised $2 million for growth by negotiating new line of credit to replace factoring arrangement.► Achieved margin increase of 5% by developing and implementing quantitative pricing strategy.► Aggressively managed cash to support the successful rollout of a record 17 new products in one year.

As GM of a struggling manufacturing company, I led the turnaround and growth of a company with a history of large losses, negative cash flow, and flat or declining sales. Company provides flame-spraying of metal and ceramic coatings on original equipment manufacturers’ critical machine components to reduce wear and corrosion. SALES GROWTH► Increased sales 165%, increased equity by $500,000, and increased profits by $650,000.► Negotiated three-year $3 million sales agreement with the company’s largest customer at a 30% margin.► Wrote company’s first marketing plan, and trained and assisted sales manager on sales calls.OPERATIONS► Managed roll out of a new major customer that drove a 100% increase in sales at a 25% margin.► Achieved ISO9001-2000 international quality certification.

As GM, I turned around and stabilized an insolvent manufacturer of prison cell furniture and detention equipment for the security industry. Company had experienced three years of significant losses and had nearly $1 million of negative equity. SALES► Increased orders by 130% through an improved sales process, new product catalog, direct marketing to architects, updated website, and advertising in industry publications.► Raised monthly sales to record level.FINANCE► Raised $1 million loan and reduced short-term liabilities by 50%.► Negotiated long-term installment agreement with the IRS for $250,000 in past due payroll taxes.OPERATIONS► Improved operations 25% through enhanced production planning and increased use of automation.

As a Product Manager at the world’s largest manufacturer of consumer and commercial checking products, I managed $500 million in consumer products revenue and 40 million annual units. I drove incremental revenue and profit, implemented effective marketing strategies, made annual price adjustments, and negotiated licensing agreements. SALES GROWTH► Generated $3 million in incremental revenue via upgraded product reorders by developing and implementing the industry’s first direct-to-consumer rebate promotion.► Developed new product projected to generate $7 million in incremental revenue from upgraded reorders.► Created new licensed check design that exceeded previous top selling new release by 50%. OPERATIONS► Reduced costs by $2 million through product design changes and product line simplification.► Developed new product quantity strategy projected to generate $30 million in incremental profit and which was quickly adopted by the entire checking industry.