About Rich Vegter
Education:
DePaul University – MBA – concentration in Finance
Roosevelt University – BA Marketing
Experience:
Service Sanitation, Inc. President/Owner – 15 years
United Site Services – SVP-Sales – 9 years
Black Tie Sanitation Services, President – 2 years
PSAI Experience:
President of PSAI 2006
Board of Directors – 2003 – 2006
PSAI Scholarship committee – 10+ years
Former PSAI Image and Education Committee Member
From Rich Vegter:
I encourage you to read the full story on my journey below. I trust you will find that I am uniquely qualified to help your business grow and provide an easier and faster path to success. It is far too costly and painful to miss important issues and opportunities. For a small investment, you can save tremendous amounts of time, energy and financial resources as well as achieve much more than you ever thought possible. I’m a big believer in working smarter, not harder. Please let me know how I can help.
What We Do
Vegter Consulting Group (VCG) leverages 30 years of experience and a highly successful track record of driving profitable growth for local, regional, and national companies. This translates to driving earnings and enterprise value. VCG focuses on 4 primary areas to help clients work smarter instead of harder.
1. Sales, Marketing & Business Development
The growth of your business can be impacted by many areas but typically the primary driver of growth is having a strong focus on sales and business development. Companies often fall into the trap of believing that sales growth is a function of discounted pricing or the hiring of a superstar sales rep who has “connections”. Discounting is usually very dangerous and short sighted. The superstar strategy is often short lived and an expensive disappointment. There is much more to successful business development, but it does not have to be complicated. VCG helps clients take a step back and assess all areas that will drive their business forward. It is critical to choose effective strategies, remove any obstacles to growth and to put the right processes in place.
Although VCG can address any of the individual items below, it is recommended to start with a full assessment of your overall sales organization; from there we can help you develop a cost effective and impactful Go-to-Market strategy. Once priorities are established, we can typically generate positive results quickly.
Below is a list of some of the Sales and Business Development areas you may want assistance with:
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Review and development of your sales processes
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Building an effective “Go-to-Market” sales strategy
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Inside/Outside Sales team development and alignment
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Sales personnel assessment
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Sales compensation
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Customer segmentation
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Product line expansion
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Geographic market expansion opportunities
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Up-selling and cross-selling strategies
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Strategic alliances
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Customer retention strategies and measurement
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Prospecting and new account acquisition strategies
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Sales territory design
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Sales training for both sales reps and sales leaders
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Consultative product training
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Comprehensive pricing strategies, models, and controls
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Understanding market share and customer share
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Customer Relationship Management systems (CRM)
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Sales Operations & Administration
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Customer Care management, metrics & training
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Voice of the customer programs
2. Leadership & Management
Success starts at the top and the leader sets the tone for every business. Quality management will make or break your business. It is critical to have the right team, and to have them focused on the right things every day. It is equally critical to have goals and objectives as well as having the right measurement and accountability tools in place. As management guru Peter Drucker said, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things” – both are critical.
As a leader of a rapidly growing business, Rich made many mistakes he can now help you avoid in growing your business. As you can imagine, growing from a single location with 4 employees to 150 employees across multiple locations creates many evolutions of both management structure and the level of talent and skill needed to run a larger business. When running a national company and leadership team, this takes on an even larger magnitude. Many entrepreneurs spend too much time working “in” their business instead of “on” their business.
VCG helps clients take a step back and ensure that they have the right team, structure, and culture in place for success. Below is a short but powerful list of Leadership and Management items that you may want to evaluate or implement:
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Management Structure / Roles & Responsibilities
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Assessment of management team personnel
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Incentive compensation alignment
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Strategic Planning and positioning in the market
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Quality assurance and customer feedback strategies
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Team building / company culture
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Employee recognition & retention
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Budgeting
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Success metrics
3. Mergers & Acquisitions
M & A is potentially one of the most powerful drivers of value to your business. It is also, unfortunately, one of the areas that is the most misunderstood and where most business owners are at a tremendous disadvantage to buyers who have much more experience. VCG helps clients in all aspects of M&A as either a buyer or a seller. Many small business owners do not know where to start or who to trust. Often, they turn to long time trusted advisors (lawyers/accountants) or friends who can provide a valuable service but often do not have a full understanding of the real value of your business. For example, an accountant may focus on the book value of your business as a stand-alone entity, and not the full value that will be created when combining businesses in your market.
Whether you have a company in mind you would like to buy or if you have plans to sell, VCG recommends taking a hard look at how M&A may impact your business or your market. From there, you can develop a strategy for the inevitable opportunities that will come your way. Even though you may not be planning to sell your business today, there are steps you likely should be taking now to optimize your value down the road and prepare you for the inevitable exit or transition of ownership.
Having completed many acquisitions, as well as working with many colleagues over the years, Rich has a tremendous amount of industry experience. In addition to knowing the industry, Rich also has an MBA (Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance) from DePaul University in Chicago. You can be confident that you have a trusted ally on your side.
Below are just a few of the M&A items VCG can assist with:
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Review of your business, including operations, finances, and legal matters
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Review of long-term planning for exit or transition of the business
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Understanding the real drivers of value
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How to value your business for sale
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How to value potential acquisitions within and outside of your current operating area
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Understanding of synergies: operational, administrative, pricing power in the market, etc.
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Branding issues
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Effective acquisition integration
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Deal origination strategies
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Price negotiations
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Identifying potential buyers and sellers
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Understanding acquisition related issues surrounding real estate, employment contracts and non-compete agreements
4. Operations
As President of Service Sanitation, Inc., Rich spent many years focused on the Operations of the business. We could not grow without the rapid evolution of our structure, our quality, our product line, our maintenance programs, fleet management, and our technology. Driving productivity and operational capacity while maintaining quality and a safe workforce is a challenging balance. Staffing then, as it is today, remains a top challenge and this will not change anytime soon.
Many owners spend most of their time on operations which is logical as this area of the business comprises most of the expenses, capital investment and staff.
A company cannot grow without expanding its operational management structure, quality assurance, reviewing product offerings, strong maintenance and fleet management programs, a commitment to safety, and optimization of technology. Driving productivity and operational capacity while maintaining quality and a safe workforce is a challenging balance. Staffing remains a top challenge and this will not change anytime soon.
Below are just a few of the many Operational topics VCG can help you assess and develop a more effective path forward:
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Staffing strategies
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Performance metrics
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Understanding the real ROI of quality
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Safety Culture
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Dispatch culture and labor management
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Routing / Event integration
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Maximizing synergies between roles / operational efficiency
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Understanding true operating costs
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Employee retention
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Compensation / Incentive pay
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Organizing roles and responsibilities
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Leveraging Technology