Controlling Your Cost to Grow Your Business

One of the first strategies I like to work on with my clients is helping them lower their costs.  Sometimes, professionals like my guest on this show are great to help aid in that process because they have the relationships and teams to review the various bills and programs in place to see if there may be a better solution to the procurement of said service/product.

On today’s show, we’re talking with Kevin O’Shaughnessy who is a cost-containment expert who helps businesses find savings on services like telecom, waste management solutions, shipping services, and more.

But it’s not just about the savings – after all, if a program is not going to be good for the business, it would not make sense. This is where Kevin works alongside the business to ensure everything works out according to plan.

Listen in and see how you might start saving some money today on the services you’re using!

Transcript (auto-generated; may contain errors):

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Hello and welcome to another episode of MOJO: The Meaning of Life & Business. On today’s program,

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We’re going to be talking about profitability and looking at what your costs are in your business.

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It is extremely important when you’re looking at your business to really understand how your costs impact your overall profitability, your operations of the business, and what you can do to really make sure that things are going to work in your favor as

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opposed to against you So i’ve got a really incredible guest on the show today, and before I bring Kevin in, let me tell you a little bit about Kevin, that you know why Kevin is such a great

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guest to tell. talk with us about watching our costs today. Kevin O’Shaughnessy is the owner of Schooley Mitchell of Redbank.

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Kevin works with mid to large size companies to improve their profitability with proven cost.

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Reduction strategies. Kevin brings over 30 years of experience, specializing in finance, sales and trading and general management.

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His diverse Wall Street experience includes working for banking stalwarts, well regarded hedge funds.

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Ultimately really, though fighting to bring the best price for his clients to everything that he does.

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Kevin. Thank you so much for being my yesterday, and welcome to the show.

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Thank you, Jennifer, you’re making me sound pretty good there, I like that intro.

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Thank you absolutely so, Kevin, let me ask you there’s so much that you’ve done in your broad experience.

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From what you’ve done, what is it though that really makes you tech we’re all most passionate about really truly is efficiency, and its efficiency across all aspects of a business.

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So whether whether the you know the process is is doing is correct, and then also the pricing on things. You know, we find a lot of times these days.

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People start like maybe even dumpsters out behind their building.

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You know, 7/10 years ago they they signed up for it, and they just kind of forgot about it.

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Just keep paying the bill instead of checking around and that’s really interesting that you say that I know that I’ve worked with some of my clients, and I told them, Look at all of the bills, that you get especially the

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recurring ones, and i’m using that exact advice. today, because I just got in notice of a renewal of one of my services that I used, and I have to call the company, and well, they told me just call us any time you got one

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of these bills, and as long as you call we can can do something about it.

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But if you don’t nothing’s going to happen and so I know if I simply do an online chat with them, or I call them, is going to have that reduction that they can apply to what i’m knowing it’s exactly

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that idea. there’s so many things that we get in our business that we completely forget about the bill is maybe heading our credit card or bank account.

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We don’t even see the statement come in or maybe it’s a paperless statement.

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If they’re doing something like that and we just forget about it before we jump into that, though what makes you so interested in cost reduction. I mean that’s got to be for businesses it’s extremely important But I know when we

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were talking, Prior, you were sharing a couple of examples of who and some of the idiosyncrasies, if you will, of what makes you you, and how that really helps with that cost reduction strategy, do you want to just share with us that

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we all hear that? because I think that’s going to help people understand more how that’s going to really make that impact.

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Yeah, of course. Absolutely. so. you know some people are just wired that way, right?

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You’re just always looking for the best deal and I think for me.

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It was growing up. I, one of my first jobs, was working in a pathmark supermarket, and I was stocking shelves overnight.

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So a I was obsessed with putting up what we used to call packing the most, you know boxes like, so I always wanted to be the best.

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You know the fast, the now also you have to remember. Here I am, on my knees in a grocery store stock in the shops and those little tags, those little enterprise things right so just became ingrained in my brain.

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I started processing and wait a minute. Oh, if you know what if I buy?

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You know 2 of the smaller ones it’s actually more volume that’s one in the larger can and it’s cheaper, you know.

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You know those little yellow signs you see sometimes like say for saying Pasta sauce?

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Oh, it’s you know 3 for 5 bucks what you didn’t see is the one next to it, which is a smaller orange sign that says this other kick jar is a dollar 50 each, so I can buy 3 of

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those for 450. But people like the shiny sign people don’t look at the enterprise, they you know, and I get, you know, not people.

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Aren’t gonna buy 4 courts of milk because it’s cheaper than the gal that I get.

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There’s some silliness to it some people also are just brand loyal like, for example, me I have to buy homemans mayonnaise.

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I have to buy mine’s catch it so when I work with my clients.

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If they have a particular vendor or a system or process that they’re using, and they’re just married to it for real reason.

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That’s okay, I get it. but let’s work on the things that you can be flexible.

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So you kind of spilled some of the secrets of retail psychology, and there, in terms of how do you get people to buy, and that’s for a different show in terms of an idea with the end caps and all of

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those other issues that come up with what we’re looking at But it’s really funny that you mentioned though if you look at the unit price.

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What you’re actually paying starts making a big difference let’s Translate that, though, to a business, and we kind of mentioned a dumpster that may be behind the building that you’re paying me waste management company that is picking up your

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treasure, or recycling whatever it may be and so as we’re looking, though, at how it relates to a business.

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Let’s talk about the importance here there’s So many levels of things that a business is using whether it’s computer that you and I are using right now to communicate with each other.

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If it’s the video conferencing tool that we’re using right now to talk with each other.

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If it’s the Internet service that we’re using to talk with each other and going all the way to the really simple things like the pen that we use to take notes.

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The pad that we use to actually write on there’s a lot of different things that we have in terms of our business, that we need to be looking at.

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How much we’re spending or investing on depending on how you look at it.

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But there’s other things, though, that we can really control a little bit more, and I know that you specialize in only a handful of those areas.

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Can you give us an idea. Why, it’s so important to really look at what we’re actually putting our money poured, and how that makes a difference to our bottom line.

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Well, absolutely these days. we’re always so sales driven and I get that we should be.

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We should always strive, you know, to sell more of our product.

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Get more. you know ourselves out there. So you see a lot of people push on marketing, hey?

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I’m gonna do your social media marketing i’m gonna do this print Ad: i’m gonna help you with your seo, and you’re gonna come up in the first page of Google and that’s great.

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You do have to increase your sales and that’s important to have a budget for that.

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But the difference People forget is You’ll probably have to increase your sales by a $100,000 to add 15,000 back to your bottom line, right?

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Depending on your margin. whereas if I can find you $100,000 in savings, that’s a $100,000 right back to the bottom line, you know.

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So there’s just different evidence you have to look at both sides of things, And I get that problem also comes from a lot of businesses where the person paying the bills, whether it’s a an office manager facilities man or maybe even just

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a bookkeeper There there’s no incentive for that person, you know they’re just paying the bill.

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There’s no incentive for that person to bring up and say, Hey, I wonder when’s the last time we shopped around?

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You know our dumpster built when’s the last time we looked at maybe getting a new phone system here, you know, like maybe you’re not up to the latest technology.

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So I just think, people get caught up in the sales side of things, and you know, and and I think that they should somewhat.

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But they’re forgetting that other part which actually adds a lot more back to the bottom line than increasing sales.

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You know what I mean Absolutely. And when we look at that dumpster cellar, we look at the different ways in which we are looking at all of these different pieces, and, like you said, depending on your margins, if you are selling, a 100,000

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dollars worth of your product. You may only be putting 1530,000 into your bottom line after you take the costs and the overhead and things on those lines into account.

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But when you can save and these services that you’re paying for and you’re not offering any customer experience issue, then all of a sudden it becomes bottom line revenue, not just top line revenue, and so there’s that big difference in terms

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of what you can do. So when we look then at overall all right.

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So we’ve got the savings now what else so can we do to ensure that we’re not getting into the these introductory offers because so many companies offer these introductory deals concepts and for the first 3 months 6 months

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a year. We’re going to give you whatever it is I know as a consumer looking at the residential guess and electric companies.

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You get all of these solicitations, and they send them to the businesses, too.

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Telecom offer the exact same idea come to us we’re going to give you X number of lines at a or really ridiculously reduced rate for a certain period of time.

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And then, after that, we’ll re-examine How do you though, ensure that whatever it is you’re doing, you’re not on this constant cycle of needing to re-examine or do you need to

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re-examine after every year in terms, of what you’re doing with some of these vendors and the options that you have.

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Well the the great part about working with someone like myself, which I like to say no independent business consultant, independent meaning.

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I am vendor agnostic whereas a lot of times Somebody may come in, and they’ll say i’m you know a telecom consultant.

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They’re getting paid by the service provider or the manufacturer of the phones.

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I only share in any savings I find for you.

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So my incentive is to find you the best deal.

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You know that I can. so to save you the most money, and I would certainly alert my client of Hey, You have to keep this in mind.

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This is a six-month kind of a teaser rate.

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We’re going to adjust that in 6 months and take a look. The other great part about my service, though, is I continue to monitor that bill.

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So I become that single point of contact for whether it’s waste whether it’s telecom whether it’s small packet shipping.

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So I monitor at least on a quarterly basis, depending on the size of the client, sometimes monthly.

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So yeah, any any change in rate, i’m going to know about immediately.

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And i’m going to be on the phone, you know to not customer service to a management level representative that we have relationships with to make sure that the client isn’t you know, getting you know screwed over a little bit

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by that rate going up after a teaser so the you know it really offers the client a piece of mind that someone’s on top of this.

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Someone is paying attention, and it frees them up to do the you know what they should be doing.

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It’s just working on their business and like you’re saying working on the business, not working in the business is so important that too many entrepreneurs and business owners forget you don’t want to be working in the

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businesses working on the business, because that’s How you start having systems, and you start having successes that allow you to step away from the business and not be the one actually running the day-to-day operations of the business, and think

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about it If you walked into any of the Major found-food burger places.

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How often do you see the owner you really don’t it’s designed to run without them there because there’s systems in place that you can allow other people to take it over and that’s where someone like having you

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Kevin come in and ensure that even in these fast-food burger places. you can work with them to still make sure that the dumpster outback or the telecom service, that they’re using things along those lines that that’s

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actually coming through in a way that is going to allow them to be adding even more to their bottom line.

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And that’s really without sacrificing any customer experience issue the user experience, and that’s really important right.

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The user experience absolutely. I mean, I give you a quick example.

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I have a restaurant client, and you know he’s a very personal guy, you know.

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Friendly knows his. You know his. His patrons are coming there, so I I guess whatever.

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Several years ago, when he word the dumpster outside they didn’t have the size he needed.

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So he’s got 3 4. yard dusters so I I get to the site, and i’m like, Why is there 3 like you have plenty of room here?

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Why, isn’t there, you know, so we just got on one tenure one, you know, see something percentage-wise 60%.

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I was like, and that kind of thing like he’s and it makes sense.

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He’s front of the house right he’s out there he’s losing with the you know the patrons are coming in.

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That you know the diners pet time to be thinking about that.

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The dumpster out back right. He needs to be working at like you say, on his business.

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He needs to be the face of that business you know it’s not a verb or joint sure that guy’s probably just got a manager.

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But say the order of a restaurant. You know if he has a manager and Betcha, he’s there a few nights a week, you know, shaking hands and saying hi to people, and the last thing he wants to worry about is what happened to the

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dumpster, you know. so and I asked him He said at the time they didn’t have it.

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They promised me they were gonna swap it out. Nobody ever called.

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Nobody ever cared they didn’t do it so you know you know that’s the kind of stuff we find.

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So that’s like that sometimes. that could be more of the optimization of what we’re doing, especially through the pandemic.

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We found a lot of clients that were still paying for phone lines that were just not necessary anymore, Right?

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If this hybrid situation of people working at home or just fewer people working, they’re paying for things they don’t need, and and that’s a big part of it you know you like you were saying you just keep paying the bill right

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you forget about it and you get caught up you’re doing all those things, and if you want to even just make the analogy of it on a personal level, right, i’m sure your cable bill at home right every here, it goes up and sneaks up and

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you Say, i’m gonna call them i’m gonna get that lower same thing with probably your cell phone Bill.

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You probably have a credit card that the first year they gave you for free, and then it was 90 bucks a year after, and then you forgot.

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You’re still paying that 90 bucks so that’s the kind of thing we help out with.

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But you know, obviously I on a bigger level right and it’s all about those consumer psychology, and even if you don’t think you’re a consumer, because you’re a business in this case you still are a consumer, because you’re

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consuming whatever product it is that the business is selling you.

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And so the consumer psychology is very often we don’t like change.

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We don’t like confrontation for the most part unless you’re an attorney, and you love litigating.

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That’s a whole other story, and you a lot of us are in the position where we will purposely go out of our way to avoid just having to deal with stuff, because it’s a lot.

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Easier, whatever it is it’s there I know it works and i’m not going to rock the boat, and when we look, though, at what we really need to do in our businesses like kevin you were saying we really need to look at

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all of these different pieces. How does it impact our daily operations?

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How does it impact our profitability? How does it impact our pricing?

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And in the high inflationary world that we are living in today.

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40 year heights that we’re living in as of the time of this recording.

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Hopefully. it doesn’t get any worse as we continue moving forward But we’re expecting, as the day of this recording we’re expecting to hear last month’s inflation numbers being almost 9%, and that’s just obscene

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and looking at the Chinese lockdowns that are currently going on due to Covid in China with the No.

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Covid policy is going to further disrupt the supply chain.

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And so watching all of our costs are going to be even more important in terms of what we’re going to be doing, because you know that things are going to continue getting more expensive when there’s even less supply in the market.

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How does that come down, though, to translating if i’m looking at my telecom service?

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Is that going to make a difference with what the supply chain market may be like that?

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Really not dependent what the global supply chain is, and I know I picked Telecom as an example, but I mean in terms of all of the things that you look at.

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How is that going to make a difference? and you mentioned shipping Also, because that’s obviously going to be dependent on supply chain, and any of the major carriers look at the fuel surcharges and things like that and I want to touch on that really

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quick. after you answer this question. Yeah absolutely So I really have been affected greatly by the supply chain, and things I do, because, like, for example, on the telecom side of things.

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There’s there’s plenty of supply here for the you know the voice over Internet protocol equipment, and a lot of times the client doesn’t even need any equipment. you know they’re they’re their laptop or pc or even their

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cell phone becomes You know they’re they’re officeable you know. I’m sure you have the same thing you have an app on your phone.

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You know your business rings on your cell phone so that part hasn’t been an issue.

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There has been some issues with some routers some switches you know when you’re talking about a new buildout safe for someone. But, you know they’re having some trouble getting some of that equipment.

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But overall for me, knocking would for my clients on just the telecom side.

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Supply chain has not been an issue and we find that the carriers, you know.

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There’s more of these guys out there the carriers are becoming more aggressive in the pricing, you know, so that that’s an important thing.

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And the other thing I like to say to my clients is you have to remember.

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I’m not a salesman i’m not trying to sell you a certain type of equipment or a service.

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I’m just working with you define the best value the best suitable value for you and your business, you know.

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So whereas if you find another you know salesman who’s, he’s truly trying to sell you a particular phone system or that that type of thing.

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And then on the other things I look at like say we’re talking about.

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Least you know all our dumpsters are here we’re not necessarily waiting for any.

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You know new dumpsters, you know, from somewhere on a small package shipping side.

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That is exactly a great one to look at, because there are a lot of search charges coming down the pipe from ups from Badx, so we can make sure that those are properly priced in because you know we’re on top of

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that and always watching what they’re doing if you’re a smaller company.

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We can put you as part of an association and get you better rates.

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And the other thing is, we have a proprietary software that those bills get run through every month to make sure there are no errors.

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A lot of times people are setting up Fedex overnight, right supposed to be there by 10 A.

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M shows up at 10 after 10 your client didn’t care It was 10 after 10.

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You didn’t look at the bill Nobody said anything right we look at it.

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I’ve got there 1010 you know what you’re not paying for that, and that’s something that’s a big help. So you know something like that isn’t affected necessarily by a supply chain. But it’s just we have

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the time and the technology to look at that sort of thing.

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And then one of the other categories We haven’t mentioned. Yet that I look at is merchant services or electronic payment processing, which is another very very tedious kind of a bill that you might get to see how every card

00:20:53.000 –> 00:20:57.000
was processed that you accept the payment for so that’s another big category.

00:20:57.000 –> 00:21:05.000
We can help with our technology and full disclosure that’s one of the services that we provide.

00:21:05.000 –> 00:21:15.000
And so we completely understand the merchant services aspects and how it does get confusing. as an example.

00:21:15.000 –> 00:21:22.000
There’s one of those interesting setups, and it really only works with one of the major platforms.

00:21:22.000 –> 00:21:29.000
But that’s the enhanced rate recovery or err pricing for any of you that ever get an application where they’re telling you.

00:21:29.000 –> 00:21:38.000
Oh, yeah, it’s only 1% be very careful about that speaker, because it may not be the exactly how you’re thinking about it.

00:21:38.000 –> 00:21:43.000
And it can get a little bit confusing in terms of what you’re doing, so you can talk with Kevin.

00:21:43.000 –> 00:21:46.000
You can talk with us in terms of exactly what you’re doing in that regard.

00:21:46.000 –> 00:21:55.000
All on the merchant side from what You’re doing as we look, though, at your business model specifically.

00:21:55.000 –> 00:22:03.000
Kevin, what size business is typically in your sweet spot in terms of number of employees.

00:22:03.000 –> 00:22:09.000
Number of offices. What is it that really makes the most sense?

00:22:09.000 –> 00:22:14.000
If someone is listening right now and saying, You know what I really want to see?

00:22:14.000 –> 00:22:25.000
Am I getting the best possible rates is There a particular magic number that says I got a talk with Kevin instead of trying to do it on their own?

00:22:25.000 –> 00:22:30.000
What is it That’s going to make them say I have to reach out to Kevin right now?

00:22:30.000 –> 00:22:37.000
Yeah. and for that there’s a few different metrics and really what it comes down to is how much is a business, you know, spending on these categories.

00:22:37.000 –> 00:22:47.000
I work on it so, and and i’ve only put these metrics, these minimums on just because for for for them to develop, vote their time for me to divide vote by time.

00:22:47.000 –> 00:22:56.000
It just doesn’t make sense unless it if it’s lower that. So say, for example, if you’re spending at least a $1,000 a month on telecom of some kind, and that could be a combination of cell phones

00:22:56.000 –> 00:23:01.000
and landlines, and maybe your Internet same thing for waste what we’ll go down to say 750. Mr.

00:23:01.000 –> 00:23:08.000
Spending $750 a month and more for the the merchant services, as you know, it doesn’t make sense on smaller size.

00:23:08.000 –> 00:23:11.000
So for us. I don’t know where you guys look at but for us.

00:23:11.000 –> 00:23:16.000
We want at least 20,000 a month that they’re taking in in that sort of a situation.

00:23:16.000 –> 00:23:25.000
So a I guess the answer is i’ll talk to anyone because I just like to meet people, and I think I could always offer some piece of advice that may help them along the way.

00:23:25.000 –> 00:23:38.000
The other part, though, is I guess, so it’s a spend. but as i’m finding more and more clients, I would say it’s typically a business with at least 20 to 25 employees and then it can be upwards

00:23:38.000 –> 00:23:47.000
of maybe 500. once you get larger than that there’s generally, you know a pretty hands-on cfo, or maybe even a whole.

00:23:47.000 –> 00:23:51.000
You know Budget committee or or team that that’s looking at that.

00:23:51.000 –> 00:23:55.000
So once you get larger, they they generally don’t bring in someone like me.

00:23:55.000 –> 00:23:59.000
So let’s just say 25 to 500 type type of a business.

00:23:59.000 –> 00:24:07.000
Certainly a multi-location is a great client for me, because, generally speaking, they’re not You know it’s not like a cross. all locations.

00:24:07.000 –> 00:24:16.000
So I can get them, you know a single billing for for telecom single billing for waste and just really eliminate some of that waste that they’re that they’re doing. You know.

00:24:16.000 –> 00:24:24.000
So do you work with procurement officers, too, in helping them figure out how how to lower that bill.

00:24:24.000 –> 00:24:33.000
I know a lot of procurement officers that’s typically what they’re job is all about it’s not that office manager or bookkeeper that simply pays the bill.

00:24:33.000 –> 00:24:36.000
It’s really someone who’s going in bidding things out?

00:24:36.000 –> 00:24:40.000
But are you getting involved with them as well there are procurement officers?

00:24:40.000 –> 00:24:50.000
I’ve worked with them, but a lot of times a procurement officer is like, I say, it’s doing more of the getting the supplies for the business right making sure that they have they’re a

00:24:50.000 –> 00:24:51.000
manufacturer to make sure they have the product.

00:24:51.000 –> 00:25:05.000
You know that they need to manufacture what they’re doing so generally. For me, it’s more of like, say, a facilities manager, an office manager, say, for for medical office, like i have a couple of multi-location

00:25:05.000 –> 00:25:10.000
dentists, multi-location, urgent care, multi-location, doctors office.

00:25:10.000 –> 00:25:19.000
So generally. There, there’s there’s an office manager there’s someone sort of in charge of all that but procurement’s more of like someone you know like the person who’s buy and say the rubber

00:25:19.000 –> 00:25:22.000
gloves for the doctors office. The one is buying the notepads or things like that.

00:25:22.000 –> 00:25:33.000
So what I can do for them is just offer if they don’t have already offer key introductions for people who really do that sort of a thing, and i’m always happy to do that and Jennifer I know

00:25:33.000 –> 00:25:37.000
you’re great with that as well always making a proper introduction always happy to, you know.

00:25:37.000 –> 00:25:42.000
Share, and a good, a good friend, who, you know and trust, will help that client.

00:25:42.000 –> 00:25:46.000
So you know, on that side of things that’s all I really do is maybe you know, obviously top of it.

00:25:46.000 –> 00:26:11.000
But then, just maybe make an introduction where necessary so as we Look at where we go from here. I know that people that may be interested and speaking with you and finding out now that they know they are exactly in your target.

00:26:11.000 –> 00:26:23.000
Market. they’ve got those spend levels, that you mentioned in the various categories, or they have multiple locations, and they’re really not clear on their billing.

00:26:23.000 –> 00:26:33.000
How can they start working with you, or find out more about you Well, it’s easy to find me on linkedin, you know.

00:26:33.000 –> 00:26:38.000
I also have my website, I think I shared with you it’s it’s Schooley Mitchell com it’s backslash, you know.

00:26:38.000 –> 00:26:44.000
Ko: Shauncy. Yeah, you know, I I think you can Google me and find me.

00:26:44.000 –> 00:26:51.000
I think you know pretty easily, and then as far as you know the the process. We do have a service agreement which we actually be able to sign it.

00:26:51.000 –> 00:26:55.000
It’s a small you know a couple two-page document, and it basically says 5 things.

00:26:55.000 –> 00:27:06.000
It says you want me to do the audit you’re going to give me the information to do the audit, and that’s really just the last 3 months in voices much like that it says i’m going to show you my

00:27:06.000 –> 00:27:09.000
calculations. right? So we’re going to come up with that base price and all agree.

00:27:09.000 –> 00:27:16.000
This is what you are currently paying. the fourth thing is the client always has final to say, Go or no go.

00:27:16.000 –> 00:27:25.000
So i’m back to someone with 60% savings and if they feel that that’s too comprehensive. It doesn’t fit them at the moment, or whatever it may be there.

00:27:25.000 –> 00:27:28.000
They can just say no I can’t do it no i’m sorry, Kevin.

00:27:28.000 –> 00:27:32.000
We can’t do it right now, and I walk away still you know no fees attached to that whatsoever.

00:27:32.000 –> 00:27:34.000
And then the final thing is of course it’ll say is hey?

00:27:34.000 –> 00:27:41.000
Don’t do anything to harm me. you know or the schooling Mitchell name, so don’t try to go around me after I kind of showed you how to do things.

00:27:41.000 –> 00:27:45.000
You know, like they’ll start calling you know the vendors yourself.

00:27:45.000 –> 00:27:48.000
So you know, I know so that’s it once we get the service agreement sign.

00:27:48.000 –> 00:27:52.000
Maybe there’s a letter of authorization so I can negotiate with your vendor.

00:27:52.000 –> 00:27:58.000
Certainly can’t ever ever make any changes without the express written you know consent of the client.

00:27:58.000 –> 00:28:04.000
So I You know people think it’s gonna be this you know this this law drawn out process it’s It’s really not.

00:28:04.000 –> 00:28:07.000
It’s just kind of get me on a team once i’m on a team.

00:28:07.000 –> 00:28:18.000
You. We can do all our work behind the scenes quite often we get online access to our clients billing, you know, especially with something like waste, like, you know, there’s no proprietary information on a garbage bill that’s

00:28:18.000 –> 00:28:21.000
stuff, well, you know. So you know, give us online access we can pull it ourselves.

00:28:21.000 –> 00:28:28.000
You don’t even have to go to your account or whoever, and get get that business right with small packet shipping.

00:28:28.000 –> 00:28:36.000
We require the the online access just because that’s a crazy crazy Bill, and it’s so much easier to download the file.

00:28:36.000 –> 00:28:40.000
Put it right through our software and figure out you know what the what the savings we can do there.

00:28:40.000 –> 00:28:52.000
So i’d Say all and all I could take as much as especially these days, you know 6 to 8 weeks, and that’s really not even the fall up on our side what we’re finding is when we’re calling the

00:28:52.000 –> 00:28:57.000
vendors, you know, around their short staff so we’re trying to get new pricing and different things.

00:28:57.000 –> 00:29:04.000
They want new clients. But they’re they’re having trouble staffing as well, and getting back to us, and you know we’re putting in their bid.

00:29:04.000 –> 00:29:12.000
So. All I would ask, too, is just maybe a little patience, and patience is definitely a virtue.

00:29:12.000 –> 00:29:29.000
When we look at what we’re dealing with in the world that we’re living in today, there’s so many companies with the great resignation that are finding themselves short staffed even before the pandemic some companies were already having

00:29:29.000 –> 00:29:48.000
problems in the customer service area to make a difference, and to really properly be supporting all of the people that are looking for for the whole, for the pricing negotiation and things along those lines that we are all trying to figure

00:29:48.000 –> 00:30:00.000
out what we’re doing, and the pandemic and everything game after just exacerbating the problem that was there before.

00:30:00.000 –> 00:30:07.000
And so it’s really important. Remember, like kevin was saying. it can take a little bit of time to get the process to move forward.

00:30:07.000 –> 00:30:22.000
But when you are working with kevin you’re at least going to know that you’ve got the horizon set, and know where you’re going to be going to ensure that you are going to be seeing some sort of

00:30:22.000 –> 00:30:25.000
savings with what you’re doing you’re not guaranteed.

00:30:25.000 –> 00:30:31.000
We know there’s no such thing as a guarantee in life, except for death in taxes.

00:30:31.000 –> 00:30:40.000
But other than that. We know, though, that there are certain things that we can really be hoping for.

00:30:40.000 –> 00:30:57.000
And Kevin is really going to be doing his best to deliver the kind of solution for you that is not going to be impacting your user experience like we spoke about and hopefully helping you find a way to add to your overall bottom

00:30:57.000 –> 00:31:02.000
line that savings that Kevin is in a position to deliver for you.

00:31:02.000 –> 00:31:16.000
And so if you want to be reaching out to Kevin, he gave you the website, or Linkedin that you can go to, and that will also be in the notes for this show in the description.

00:31:16.000 –> 00:31:32.000
So you can reach out to Kevin. Follow him on Facebook, linkedin his website email all of that that you can really be in a position to get into that conversation and start working with Kevin to ultimately get to where you want to

00:31:32.000 –> 00:31:40.000
be, and what you’re doing for your business and adding that money back into your bottom line.

00:31:40.000 –> 00:31:45.000
The only thing I would ask is that from that savings that you are going to be saving.

00:31:45.000 –> 00:31:50.000
Consider giving a little bit back into your community if kevin is able to save you percent.

00:31:50.000 –> 00:31:59.000
And you’re sharing some of that with kevin If you can give even 10% of your savings back into your community.

00:31:59.000 –> 00:32:04.000
You’re really going to be making a huge difference especially in the world that we’re living in today.

00:32:04.000 –> 00:32:11.000
Whatever it is your community, if your community is giving at the time of this recording again to the Ukrainian.

00:32:11.000 –> 00:32:27.000
People to help the humanitarian situation, there if it’s giving to the food pantries. if it’s giving to any of the cancer foundations to the police to whatever it is that you are interested in help your community with some

00:32:27.000 –> 00:32:31.000
of that savings it’s money that you didn’t have yesterday that you are going to have tomorrow.

00:32:31.000 –> 00:32:45.000
So if you take just 10% of that savings and you allocate that you also now can be a socially conscious company that you are going to be looking at what am I doing better for the community participating in a community

00:32:45.000 –> 00:32:56.000
we’re giving to the community we’re giving back a and that is how you are in a position to really start making even more of a difference, and it doesn’t matter what kind of entity you have every entity can be doing

00:32:56.000 –> 00:33:02.000
more of that. whether you’re a nonprofit for profit, there’s so much that you can be doing that, Kevin.

00:33:02.000 –> 00:33:09.000
Thank you so much for being my guest today. I hope that all of you that are listening really got a lot out of this.

00:33:09.000 –> 00:33:18.000
And really have an idea what you can be doing. If you are too small to work with Kevin, you have a couple of ideas where you might be able to go.

00:33:18.000 –> 00:33:29.000
If you are the right kind of business to work with, Kevin definitely reach out, and if you are a bigger business and you need someone with those introductions, Kevin is happy like he said. to At least give you a little bit of

00:33:29.000 –> 00:33:33.000
guidance. Make some introductions to help you you never know who you’re going to meet.

00:33:33.000 –> 00:33:41.000
That may need. the help from Kevin, or people just like Kevin as you are moving through life.

00:33:41.000 –> 00:33:46.000
So, Kevin, Thank you once again for being my guest on that note.

00:33:46.000 –> 00:33:57.000
This has been another episode of MOJO: The Meaning of Life & Business, and until next time here’s to your success.

About Kevin: Kevin O’Shaughnessy is the owner of Schooley Mitchell of Red Bank. Schooley Mitchell is one of the largest cost reduction consultancy firms in North America. Kevin works with mid-to-large size companies to improve profitability with proven cost reduction strategies. 

He brings over 30 years of experience to Schooley Mitchell specializing in finance, sales/trading, and general management. His diverse Wall Street experience includes working for banking stalwarts JP Morgan and Bankers Trust, well-regarded hedge fund firm Harbert Management Corp, and the premier international brokerage firm TP Icap. 

Kevin spent more than 20 years at TP Icap/Tullet Prebon fighting to bring the best price for his clients in the commodity markets, ranging from interest rate products to energy. His responsibilities included general management of operations, strategic business development, and client relations. 

Connect with Kevin on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and on the web at https://www.schooleymitchell.com/koshaughnessy/