Pet Store
Knowing which food is best for puppies and whether a gecko or a degus would make a better house pet isn't enough to breed profits in a pet store. As one small business owner found, solid business operations are critical to building the bottom line.
Melissa V. Poynter Whitton learned this simple but valuable lesson when she took Most Valuable Pets from a dream to reality. Through determination and years of hard work, her pet store gained a loyal following and is renowned for its unique approach to bringing animals and owners together.
Despite its success, Most Valuable Pets' operations were like an uncontrollable puppy. The store was a lot of work, but Melissa never knew what to expect from it. With the help of management consultants from George S. May International Company, Melissa turned Most Valuable Pets into a well-trained, reliable workhorse.
The turnaround started with a crash-course in business operations. Quarterly consultations are keeping Most Valuable Pets on the track to success.
Learning The Ropes
Melissa always loved animals. But her fondness for four-legged creatures went beyond an affection for the family dog. At age 12, when most pre-teens are hanging out at the mall, Melissa was volunteering at a local veterinary hospital where she demonstrated a genuine knack for working with animals.
She began her career cleaning cages, filling food dishes and exercising animals. Within three years her duties progressed to working side-by-side with the veterinarian. As the hospital's veterinary assistant, Melissa learned to provide more specialized care, such as administering medications, securing uncooperative animals for an exam and assisting in surgical procedures.
In her quest to learn even more about caring for animals, Melissa took on the added responsibilities of working at a pet store. In two years, at age 17, she firmly established herself as an overachiever and was promoted to assistant manager.
Despite a promising retail career in the making, Melissa traded the din of yapping puppies, chirping parakeets and bubbling fish tanks for less tumultuous dorm life and enrolled in Auburn University.
After two years Melissa took a break from her studies and moved to Atlanta, where she went to work as a sales representative for the largest wholesale pet distributor in the Southeast.
"Keeping my goal of owning a pet store in mind, I was hoping that working for a distributor would offer a new perspective on the retail pet business. I learn best by doing," says Melissa.
Her love for animals eventually led her back to retail pet stores, and while completing coursework at Georgia State University, Melissa managed several operations ranging from single locations to four-store chains.
Even with a wealth of hands-on management experience, Melissa realized that a degree in zoology was key in her plans to owning and operating her own pet store someday. She returned to Auburn University and completed her degree.
Realizing A Dream
After graduating, Melissa's lifelong dream was finally in sight. She and her future husband, Vince, whom she met while working in Atlanta, returned to Lexington, Kentucky, to open their own pet store.
"Vince has always shared my enthusiasm for animals and is a very business-minded, practical person with extensive pet store management experience," says Melissa. The pair opened their first location in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1993. The name of the business - Most Valuable Pets - is a play on Melissa's initials.
Melissa and Vince set Most Valuable Pets apart from other pet stores with a commitment to quality customer service that includes credible advice on selecting a pet.
That advice comes with an endorsement from the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC), the world's largest pet trade association. Melissa and Vince are the only two Certified Companion Animal Specialists in Kentucky. To receive the certification, the two had to complete educational programs in six animal specialty areas - avian, canine, feline, freshwater fish, reptile and small animal.
Each animal specialty program includes an intensive seminar taught by a leading veterinarian or animal expert and one self study course. The programs cover veterinary care and husbandry, facility maintenance, and the behavioral traits of various breeds and species.
Their commitment to education and customer care paid off in 1996 when Most Valuable Pets was voted the Best Single Pet Store in the country by Pet Product News, a leading trade publication. "We may be in the pet business, but we also say that we are in the 'people business,' says Melissa. "Our goal is to have our customers love to do business with us."
With a reputation for quality customer service, expert animal care and a growing line of pet supplies, Most Valuable Pets thrived and moved into larger quarters in Nicholasville, Kentucky, in 1999.
Once again, Most Valuable Pets set itself apart from standard pet stores and introduced an interactive set up. Very few of the animals are caged and customers can take puppies and kittens into "love rooms" to play with and get to know the animals before taking them home. The store also boasts a Rainforest Aviary, where birds can fly freely in a natural-like setting that simulates thunderstorms, complete with flashes of lightening, every 30 minutes.
"We have become known as Lexington's petting zoo," says Melissa. "We offer tours for school and charity groups and take our pets to visit nursing home residents. We're very active in the community."
In addition to helping manage Most Valuable Pets, Vince manages the store's aquarium and pond service. He designs, installs and services water gardens and aquariums for freshwater and saltwater fish. Customers include restaurants, doctor and attorney's offices and homeowners.
As Most Valuable Pets flourished, Melissa and Vince found themselves spread pretty thin. Now married with a young daughter to care for, the two found themselves spending more time at the store and less time together as a family. And like many small business owners, they weren't generating appropriate profit for their efforts.
"We ran a successful business, even won awards, but profits were low. We were working ourselves to death for very little profit," noted Melissa.
She and Vince had used advisors who helped the owners improve store layout and design but offered little insight on how to increase profits.
In February 2003, when the George S. May International Company offered to do a Survey Analysis of Most Valuable Pets' business practices, Melissa and Vince agreed. "It sounded like they could really help us," said Melissa. "We had been running the business every day, every week, for years. As they say, we couldn't see the forest for the trees."
In the following weeks, May International consultants helped Melissa and Vince see their way to increased revenue, decreased inventory and doubled take-home pay.
"The May consultants were like little elves," says Melissa. "They worked 10-hour days and they showed us what we had to do. In just 10 days, the consultants worked with us to change the entire store."
One of May International's first tasks was to restructure Most Valuable Pets' management team. This gave Melissa and Vince the freedom to plan instead of being constantly involved in routine detail. The team also created task and duty lists to clarify current job responsibilities, as well as plan for future job changes or new positions. The biggest undertaking was the entire overhaul of Most Valuable Pets' computer system. In one weekend, consultants imported existing financial data into the new computer and installed Quickbooks for better financial controls. They also helped Melissa set up a new payroll system and profit and loss statements.
"Payroll used to take us 8 to 10 hours. With the new system it takes about 20 minutes," says Melissa. "But even more important, I can better track our financial progress. Our accountant is in another city, so in the past I didn't know how we were doing until I saw the tax return."
The new financial controls have made the accountant's job easier, too, says Melissa. He no longer has to sort through cancelled checks and paperwork every month. Now Melissa just sends him a financial summary directly from her computer.
The Profit and Loss statement also allowed Melissa to better analyze expenses and identify areas that could be reduced or eliminated. A closer look at advertising expenditures, for example, revealed an opportunity to save over $30,000 annually in costs without compromising sales.
A Gross Margin Test revealed that the business was losing a significant amount of profit to damaged goods, lost or mismarked inventory and unrecorded in-store use of supplies. The May consultants recommended that the store tighten up inventory controls for another $30,000 in savings.
Further recommendations identified opportunities to save even more on payroll taxes and the company's health insurance premiums.
"The difference that May International made to this company is vast. I don't know what we would do without them."
To make sure that Most Valuable Pets stays the course, Melissa meets with the May International consultants quarterly to review operations and identify additional areas for improvement.
According to Melissa, Most Valuable Pets now boasts $1 million in sales and enjoyed a profit increase from 1 ½ percent to 6 percent. Melissa is predicting a 9 percent profit for 2004.
In addition to the boost to Most Valuable Pets' bottom line, Melissa credits the work of May International for her recent designation as Lexington's Woman Business Owner of the Year from the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
"I look forward to a long successful relationship with the George S. May International Company. My growth and achievements have been truly amazing since I partnered with the company. George S. May International Company hasn't just helped me with my work, but with my life."
