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<h1><a name="Home" id="Home"></a>Bull Free Solutions LLC</h1>
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<p><a href="#Home">Home</a> | <a href="#HowWeWork">How we Work</a> | <a href="#TopLineSolutions">"Top Line" Solutions</a> | <a href="#BottomLineSolutions">"Bottom Line" Solutions</a> | <a href="#ContactUs">Contact Us</a><br />7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352)978-9864</p>
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<h2>Sales & Organizational Turnaround Consulting and Management for Homebuilders, Developers and Real Estate Firms </h2></center>
<p>Slumping sales and increased cancellations have drastically affected both the "top line" (sales revenues) and the “bottom line” (EBITDA) for homebuilders, developers and real estate brokerage companies.</p>
<p>Although the basic need to generate sales, revenues and profits remains unchanged, a willingness to explore new ways of getting the job done is necessary in order to avoid fulfilling Einstein’s prophecy that “doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results is insanity”. Business as usual doesn’t work anymore! </p>
<p>You need a fresh perspective and new eyes that can objectively review your situation in order to bring creative ideas, renewed energy and visionary leadership to improve and/or motivate your team and drive a revitalized execution to improve your competitive position. Bull Free Solutions LLC offers “cafeteria plan” consulting and/or management services to turn things around in both of these important areas. </p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions LLC offers over 100 years of collective experience by seasoned industry executives who have been through several major downcycles and who know how to handle the perplexing issues associated with either or both the "top line" (sales and marketing) or or "bottom line" (operations). Whether you need consultation or direct on-site management of operations, we will make a huge difference in restoring credibility, turning around profit and restoring wealth. We work only within the industry and we are experts at turning around flagging sales and/or operations.</p>
<p>As our name suggests, we do not believe in fads, gimmicks or the latest "systems" proffered by so called sales or management "gurus". From us you'll get only straight talk, penetrating analysis, creative thought, and methods and solutions proven effective for these tough market conditions.</p>
<p>Typically, we can set up fees that are based in significant part on sucess, so that we partner with you in the outcome. Finally, we guarantee results! Call us at (352) 978-9864 to set up a FREE initial consultation.</p>
<p align="center"><center><a href="#Home">Home</a> | <a href="#HowWeWork">How we Work</a> | <a href="#TopLineSolutions">"Top Line" Solutions</a> | <a href="#BottomLineSolutions">"Bottom Line" Solutions</a> | <a href="#ContactUs">Contact Us</a><br />7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352)978-9864</p>
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<h2><a name="HowWeWork" id="HowWeWork"></a>How we Work</h2>
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<p>With over 100 years of combined experience in managing and "turning around" both the top and bottom lines for homebuilders, developers real estate companies and lenders, Bull Free Solutions LLC will guarantee the achievement of substantial, positive changes to any and all functions for which you engage our assistance (selected from our "cafeteria plan of solutions"). Generally, in less than one month from our date of assignment, you will begin to see significant enhancements to cash flow, margins and profitability that will more than offset the cost of our services. While it generally will take longer than that to achieve a full turnaound (it took a while to get to this point and it will take some time to fully reverse things), the changes we will bring to your top <em>and/or</em> bottom line are sustainable, our services will result in a <em>huge net benefit</em> to you over time. </p>
<p>Recognizing that each company and each geographic market brings different challenges, we begin all engagements with a brief, yet comprehensive diagnosis of the existing conditions that have kept your company from maximizing its potential in whatever market conditions may exist locally. This step typically requires 1 to 2 weeks on your site (depending upon the size and complexity of the organization) and serves as the foundation for developing a custom solution tailored to your company’s own culture, offerings and market conditions. Because "time is of the essence" in all turnaround situations, we like to schedule ahead as much of the initial onsite evaluation as possible. It will be necessary for us to speak with several top and mid-level managers, including the CFO and CEO during the initial assessment period.</p>
<p>In the next step (lasting about a week in any given market), staffing deficiencies (if they exist) as well as non - or underutilized best practices are identified. We set up tactical goals (but ones of strategic importance) and then devise performance measures tailored specifically to make employees and independent contractors accountable for intentionally rapid and positive, change in performance. To be effective, these measures must be objective, quantifiable and accessible. Having developed over 130 statistically reliable and time proven effective measures of organizational performance pertinent to residential development, construction and sales, we will equip you to constantly monitor the behaviors that are predictive of success. </p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions also can assist with simple, <em>extraordinarily cost-effective</em> solutions to disseminating feedback to employees on all such measures and we can help you devise communications that are necessary to get ALL stakholders aboard with greater morale and an enhanced willingness to cooperate in turning things around. </p>
<p>Your personnel will learn the skills and strategies to differentiate your company from the competition and <em>achieve startling results</em> you could not have dreamed were possible so quickly.</p>
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<h2 align="center"><a name="TopLineSolutions" id="TopLineSolutions"></a>"Top Line" Solutions</h2>
<p>With respect to <em>“top line”</em> concerns, we find ways to take advantage of the new "mindset" among consumers and dramatically increase sales even in today’s depressed environment. In fact, with our help, you can restore sales to levels that match those of the "still heady" period prior to the emergence of over-exuberant investors and the sub-prime debacle. Of course, it’s not just putting up “unit sales numbers” that is important. </p>
<p>In all likelihood, you are locked in a downward spiral of excessive discounting and eroding margins and profits. It could be a serious mistake to continue down the present path during a downtrend that may last for another 12-24 months. Bull Free Solutions LLC can train your sales team to better "sell value" and offer less concessions than you presently offer, but in a way that not only establishes urgency, but makes customers believe they are getting an even better deal than you are offering today.</p>
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<h2>Sampling of Services Designed to Revitalize Your TOP LINE</h2>
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<li>Perform tactical and strategic market research, and benchmarking to ensure that your product sells faster and better than that of your competitors and then capitalize on your new market position to bury those competitors. <br />
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<li>Enhance the role of web-based marketing and manage development of new websites, search engine placement and web-based advertising programs. <br />
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<li>Eliminate poor selling product lines and replace with new lines that maximally appeal to the target demographic. <br />
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<li>Value engineer all products to enhance affordability. <br />
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<li>Develop an advertising budget that yields maximum ROI. <br />
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<li>Set up and "staff-up" call center operations. <br />
</li>
<li>Identify and capture new market segments through the design and introduction of highly targeted programs based on lifestyle codes. <br />
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<li>Design and implement turnkey “e-marketing campaigns” and national marketing programs for specific communities. <br />
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<li>Drive customer satisfaction to all time highs. </li>
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<p><a href="#Home">Home</a> | <a href="#HowWeWork">How we Work</a> | <a href="#TopLineSolutions">"Top Line" Solutions</a> | <a href="#BottomLineSolutions">"Bottom Line" Solutions</a> | <a href="#ContactUs">Contact Us</a><br />7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352)978-9864</p>
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<h2><a name="BottomLineSolutions" id="BottomLineSolutions"></a>"Bottom Line" Solutions</h2>
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<p>Recruit, hire and train new “top-producers” to replace underperforming sales staff. Convert existing mediocre performers into top producers and top producers into SUPERSTARS! Develop aggressive but realistic sales targets and a performance management system that assures you will reach those targets. Fashion and implement research to update company marketplace positioning, identify possible new markets and revenue sources and create immediate solutions to marketing impediments or sales objections. Precisely because sales revenues have atrophied so dramatically, it also is likely that you need to address “bottom line” concerns. It is wise to continuously reassess departmental and overall budgets with an eye to further cost cutting so that earnings are substantially less subject to the vagaries of the down cycle than are revenues. Nevertheless, cost cutting must be done carefully to avoid eliminating the very things that will drive a strong re-emergence <em>NOW</em> and an enhanced market share in the future when the cycle reverses. A strategy that maintains your best talent is critical to such an endeavor. </p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions LLC offers the experience of seasoned industry executives who have been through several major cycles in the past and we know how to handle the perplexing dilemma of which staff members to keep and which to let go. We will enable you to carry out necessary and cost saving personnel decisions using a methodology that has survived legal challenge. We offer equally effective strategies that will improve construction scheduling and process efficiencies, eliminate waste and negotiate better prices and terms with suppliers and lenders. We can create the communications necessary to rebuild morale among employees, trade partners and other stakeholders. And we can do all this while improving product quality and enhancing customer satisfaction! </p>
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<a href="#Home">Home</a> | <a href="#HowWeWork">How we Work</a> | <a href="#TopLineSolutions">"Top Line" Solutions</a> | <a href="#BottomLineSolutions">"Bottom Line" Solutions</a> | <a href="#ContactUs">Contact Us</a><br />7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352)978-9864</p>
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<h2><a name="ContactUs" id="ContactUs"></a>Contact Us</h2>
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<p>Bull Free Solutions <br />
7303 Spring Mountain Lane<br />
Yalaha, FL 34797<br />
(352) 978-9864</p>
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<p align="center"><a href="#Home">Home</a> | <a href="#HowWeWork">How we Work</a> | <a href="#TopLineSolutions">"Top Line" Solutions</a> | <a href="#BottomLineSolutions">"Bottom Line" Solutions</a> | <a href="#ContactUs">Contact Us</a><br />7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352)978-9864</p>
<p>Sales and Operational Crisis Management and Turnaround Leadership for Homebuilders, Developers, Brokers and Lenders<br />
Slumping sales and high rates of cancellation have had devastating effects on the revenues and bottom line earnings of homebuilders and other firms dealing in the sale of residential real estate. Never before has there been a greater or more urgent need to revitalize sales and operations in order to restore revenues and profits and ensure ongoing viability for firms operating in our industry.</p>
<p>While it may be comforting to attribute your company's difficulties to economic uncertainty or poor market conditions, there certainly are things that can be done (even in today's difficult markets) to address lack of sales. There also are things that can be done today on the operations side of your business to protect the "bottom line" from suffering to the same extent as have your sales numbers.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions offers help in the form of a "cafeteria plan" of consulting and management services for distressed homebuilders, developers, lenders, brokers, and others saddled with under-performing residential real estate. Clients may choose any single service from the cafeteria menu or choose multiple services in virtually any combination.</p>
<p>For Homebuilders, our services range from single issue consulting or training to full turnaround management of a community, division, region or entire company. In the latter scenario, one or more of our top people may serve, on an interim basis, as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Restructuring Officer, Chief Financial Officer or other high level executive.</p>
<p>We also offer a range of services for lenders. Among these are detailed assessments of homebuilder/developer sustainability and future ability to pay based on assets and liabilities, working capital, cash flows, market factors and management quality Results of our work provide clarity lenders need to evaluate the viability of proposed workouts. Bull Free Solutions also serves lenders through the coordination of loss mitigation negotiations and we provide a variety of resources for directly disposing of already owned (or soon to be owned) bank held (REO) properties.</p>
<p>The senior consultants at Bull Free Solutions have extensive experience as top tier industry executives who have successfully navigated this and several previous major downcycles. Our marketing & sales solutions have been proven repeatedly to rejuvenate sales even in slow to nearly dead markets and our operations solutions improve communications, revive morale and credibility, increase efficiency, reduce waste and restore profits and wealth.</p>
<p>Unlike most turnaround professionals, we work only within the residential real estate and homebuilding industries and we are experts at turning around flagging sales and inefficient operations. Typically, our fees are structured to be in large part, dependent upon our success, so that we become your partner in the outcome.</p>
<p>As the name Bull Free Solutions implies, we do not believe in fads, gimmicks or the latest so called "revolutionary ideas" put forth by self-styled management gurus. From us, you'll get only straight talk, common sense, penetrating analysis, and creative solutions that are effective in today's brutal marketplace.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions will bring a fresh, unbiased perspective to objectively review your company's present challenges. We'll then devise creative strategies and bring renewed energy and visionary leadership to help you stop the bleeding, improve cash flow and if necessary, find additional sources of capital. In short, we will help you drive a rapid revitalization, establish an immediately improved financial picture and create an enhanced competitive position to capitalize upon during the next up cycle.</p>
<p>As Einstein once noted, "doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results is insanity". "Business as usual" just doesn't work anymore! Call Bull Free Solutions at (352) 324-2244 or click here to request a FREE initial consultation and get back on the road to professional and financial success.<br />
</p>
<p>7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352) 978-9864</p>
<p>The Bull Free Philosophy<br />
It is a frequently overlooked fact that most so-called "new management" ideas or systems are nothing more than repackaged old ideas or systems. Before Bull Free Solutions LLC advocates any "breakthrough" ideas, we investigate how their application would differ from a simple use of logic and reason when applied to high quality data unique to the target client. We have yet to run across a turnaround situation where common sense, logic and custom-tailored solutions are not preferable to adapting the latest and greatest gimmick or fad generated by "sales or management gurus".</p>
<p>True breakthroughs in sales or management theory and practice are quite rare. Instead, knowledge moves forward as the sum total of prior knowledge suggests the next step. Although we continually review new literature in order to stay current and benefit from valuable insights, we disregard ideas and programs that merely feature the latest captivating buzzwords. We prefer to adopt a skeptical mindset and base our consulting practice on first uncovering and then acting rationally upon the best evidence that can be assembled with regard to the company’s present condition and the options available to it to alleviate distress.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions does NOT rely on conventional wisdom, widely accepted assumptions, or the latest repackaging of old ideas. Our business decisions and solutions are based on evidence that we uncover through documents and records review, interviews with management, employees and other stakeholders and our own benchmarking information for companies of various sizes and in various markets across the United States. We prefer to base action plans and execution on data specific to each client's particular situation and our own experience with what has worked in previously successful turnarounds that have involved similar obstacles.</p>
<p>At Bull Free Solutions, we work to ensure that we understand all the data and evidence about your business practice, not just general admonitions that fit others' assumptions and biases. We are committed to continuous improvement in both our fact gathering and in our execution. We avoid structuring actions that are based on unverifiable belief, casual benchmarking or the maladaptive idea that "one should not change the way business always has been done".</p>
<p>With us involved in your turnaround or asset disposition you can rest assured that you are in "the Bull Free Zone". You’ll get ONLY straight talk, penetrating analysis, tailored solutions and exceptional execution and follow-up. You will also learn how to build on our foundation to continue progress in the strategic term.</p>
<p>Call us today at (352) 324-2244 or click here to set up a FREE initial consultation.<br />
</p>
<p>7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352) 978-9864</p>
<p>For Homebuilders/Developers<br />
If you are a homebuilder or developer, you probably find yourself squeezed by slower sales, increased competition for a slice of a smaller pie, unstable commodities prices and perhaps issues involving liquidity or lack of working capital. In any case, you almost certainly are locked in a downward spiral of excessive discounting and eroding margins and profits on those few sales you can make today.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions delivers effective revitalization in both sales and operations areas of the homebuilding business. Choose just one (or any number of services in any combination) from our cafeteria plan to address problems that are of highest priority. Of course, if your company is in danger of incipient financial default, you should engage us for a full turnaround, restructuring and corporate renewal.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sales:<br />
Thomas Watson, Sr. (the founder of IBM) once said that "nothing happens in business until a sale is made". Few statements of universal applicability stand the test of time, but that is one of them. Do you know how your homes and/or lots are sold? How well have your salespeople responded to the noticeably different characteristics of prospects shopping in today's market? Could your sales revenues be significantly improved if you had more professional or adaptable sales personnel or sales management? Or, do you have good salespeople who simply need additional training & coaching to develop the unique skills necessary for success in "downcycle" selling?</p>
<p>Whatever your answers to the above questions, we think you will agree that it could be a serious mistake to continue along your present path during a downtrend that many industry experts predict may last for another 24 months. When slow sales are allowed to continue over extended periods, the morale of not only the Sales Team, but also of all other employees begins to drop precipitously. Many good salespeople "internalize" the enhanced level of rejection fostered by downturns of this length and as a result, become incapable of overcoming (without help) the mental obstacle created by their increasingly futile efforts. If your salespeople already are in this state of mind, it is the proverbial "canary in a coal mine" and a sign that your company needs to act soon to avert a deepening spiral to more serious difficulties. Our professionals will review your marketing/sales programs, evaluate your point of sale operations, review your merchandising, do appropriate benchmarking and then, apply our findings to train your salespeople to kick things up several notches.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions finds ways to take advantage of the different "mindset" of today's buyer to dramatically increase sales even in today’s depressed environment. When your sales staff begins to capitalize on our insights and solutions, you will not only have restored morale, but also your sales revenues. With our help, you can reestablish sales at least at the levels that match those of the "still heady" period prior to the emergence of over-exuberant investors and the sub-prime debacle.</p>
<p>The professional sales trainers of Bull Free Solutions can train your team to truly "sell value" and sell more while you offer far less concessions than you do presently! We will teach your salespeople methods that not only establish higher perceived value and higher prices for you, but at the same time improve customer satisfaction with pricing.</p>
<p>For more information on Bull Free Sales Solutions, click here.</p>
<p>Operations:<br />
Precisely because sales revenues have atrophied so dramatically, our clients need to address "bottom line" concerns. Of course, in the absence of external benchmarking, it is very difficult for companies to determine where to cut expenses and how to improve that bottom line.</p>
<p>Through our expertise, along with data we continually gather and the tools we have developed, Bull Free Solutions will evaluate operational effectiveness, identify the best opportunities for improvement and establish the key performance metrics that will track progress toward appropriate goals. Results of our analyses provide powerful information that allow management to prioritize improvement efforts and establish baselines against which future progress can be assessed.</p>
<p>We believe that it is sound business practice to continually reassess departmental and overall budgets with an eye to further cost cutting so that earnings are substantially less subject to the vagaries of the down cycle than are revenues. Nevertheless, cost cutting must be done carefully to avoid eliminating the very things that will drive a strong re-emergence NOW and an enhanced market share in the future when the cycle reverses. A strategy that maintains your best talent is critical to such an endeavor. In fact, because protected classes have continued to be added, it is all too common that reductions in force bring with them not only the loss of talent but also fail to avoid the threat of costly litigation.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions offers the experience of seasoned industry executives who have worked through past downswings and we know how to handle the perplexing dilemma of which staff members to keep and which to let go. We will enable you to carry out necessary and cost saving personnel decisions using a methodology that has survived legal challenge. We offer equally effective strategies to improve construction scheduling and process efficiencies, eliminate waste and negotiate better prices and terms with suppliers and lenders. We can create the communications necessary to rebuild morale among employees and rebuild credibility with customers, trade partners and other stakeholders. And we do all of this while improving product quality and enhancing customer satisfaction!</p>
<p>Call Bull Free Solutions at (352) 324-2244 or click here to request a FREE initial consultation and get back on the road to professional and financial success!<br />
</p>
<p>7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352) 978-9864</p>
<p>Lender Solutions<br />
Lenders today have high numbers of noncurrent loans for residential real estate, land development and construction financing. In coping with the dilemma of burgeoning distressed debt, lenders typically employ one of three main strategies:</p>
<p>Restructure weak credits while trying to delay write-downs; <br />
Try to sell some of these loans to private or institutional investors; or <br />
Accelerate their real-estate-owned (REO) sales, trying to avoid overly steep discounts (particularly on large undeveloped land parcels and stalled housing tracts). <br />
Bull Free Solutions stands ready to help lenders with any or all of them.</p>
<p>In connection with the first strategy, banks may be holding significant amounts of paper for homebuilders who are barely scraping by. Some of these homebuilders will fail while others might be fine if extended a bit of financial reprieve. The difficulty comes in knowing when it is time to restructure loans versus pull the plug. Bull Free Solutions can provide the information lenders need to make the right decision.</p>
<p>As noted on other web pages on this website, our work in corporate turnaround with underperforming homebuilders and developers normally begins with a detailed assessment of a company's financial condition and its prospects as a viable candidate for turnaround. The assessment protocol used can also be of inestimable value to our lender clients who wish to reevaluate risk associated with loans that may still be performing, but that promise to go bad if a company's operations are not restructured. As noted elsewhere, it includes a rigorous examination of:</p>
<p>a company's cash flow and balance sheets; <br />
the window of time remaining before funds are exhausted; <br />
level of support and forbearance expected from creditors, investors, employees and other stakeholders; <br />
availability of additional capital from loans or equity investment; <br />
market strategy, pricing, purchasing, systems, procedures and production; <br />
profit contributions by community, division, product line or other meaningful segments; <br />
redundant or underutilized assets; and <br />
effectiveness of the company's management team;<br />
Armed with results from such an assessment, lenders can determine with confidence whether solutions might be found to quickly rescue and revive troubled debtor companies to safeguard the lender's already substantial investments in them. Alternatively, our assessment may reveal that the time is now to take immediate charge of assets and plan asset disposition strategies.</p>
<p>With respect to the second strategy discussed above, if the strategy is a preferred one, Bull Free Solutions brings together the resources of a large network of commercial lenders, investment funds and financial experts in arranging sale of non-current loans to these entities.</p>
<p>The third straegy of accelerating REO sales is facilitated by our real estate arm (Trans-USA Realty). Trans-USA can successfully dispose of "tough to sell" REO holdings (including single-family homes, condo-conversions, damaged properties, unfinished projects and holdings that would be better suited by bringing those properties into marketable condition. We work to secure loans and complete the projects at maximum yield. More importantly, we work with our clients and with local experts to identify and implement appropriate solutions with minimal expenses for our lender clients.</p>
<p>The choice of which of the above three strategies to employ depends upon the unique circumstances of each case. While most lenders would prefer to sell properties this year rather than incur tax liabilities and other costs as they wait for the housing market to rebound, that strategy may not be the right one in all cases, especially when the asset is large involving multiple lots, condos and finished or unfinished homes in a single development location. Depending upon geographic location and local market conditions, engaging in a conventional sales strategy with new marketing and a new on-site sales team from Bull Free Solutions can dramatically reduce losses that the lender would suffer by using alternative strategies such as the sale of distressed paper, pre-foreclosure.</p>
<p>Still, with roughly one in seven of all homes for sale in the United States being foreclosures, one cannot expect prices to start reversing anytime soon. As a result, some lenders are turning to public real-estate auctions, to quickly sell their REO holdings receive some cash and move on! Trans-USA Realty has an auction staff trained to obtain the very best price possible for our lender clients during these events and we work hard to deliver a big crowd and sales at prices in excess of expectations.</p>
<p>If it appears that auctions will not get north of 80 cents on the dollar for your distressed assets, Bull Free Solutions and Trans-USA can often locate developers and/or investors interested in bulk purchase of raw land or stalled projects (including condo-conversions). We also offer services that will sell out entire subdivisions retail, through conventional sales methodologies.</p>
<p>Trans-USA Realty is able to sell REO's aggressively in such situations because our on-site operations benefit from centralized web-based and call center telemarketing functions. Finally, because of that centralized support, we can also dispose of your geographically disparate "one-offs" (i.e. scattered resale homes and lots which may currently suffer from lack of a coherent marketing strategy). For further detail on Bull Free Solutions' REO Solutions, click here.</p>
<p>In these difficult times for residential real estate, lenders rightfully are paying closer attention than ever to mitigating losses on their REO properties. The selection of an outsourcer for the disposition of the REO properties is critical to success in that endeavor. The multi-disciplined approach of Bull Free Solutions allows for a true one-stop shop for lenders seeking outsourcing to cope with burgeoning non-performing assets and difficult loan resolutions. Most often our fees are entirely contingent upon our success, so that we partner with our clients in the outcome.</p>
<p>Call Bull Free Solutions today at (352) 324-2244 or click here to set up a FREE initial consultation.<br />
</p>
<p>7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352) 978-9864</p>
<p>Broker Solutions<br />
As the downturn that began in 2006 has steadily diminished the ranks of real estate agents (something long-timers call "the cyclical cleansing"), it is clear that most real estate sales professionals who remain in the business today are serious about their work and have at least a basic intellectual awareness of successful sales methods from the training they have received. Yet, it also is true that most of even these more capable individuals have failed to improve their bottom line sales (at least relative to their peers in the industry) via systematic application of sales success concepts in their daily transactions.</p>
<p>As we describe on the Bull Free Philosophy page of this website, we believe that many so called "sales training gurus" out there today offering a "new" sales approach are really offering nothing more than recycled old ideas. Unfortunately, by virtue of their need to use new buzzwords or new spin, their new ideas are not as easily implemented as are the old ideas from whence they sprang (usually in a purer and simpler form). Moreover, the techniques that work in one market (e.g., Active Adults) will not work in another market (e.g., first time buyers, high-end buyers, second home buyers, etc…). It is no surprise then, that most real estate salespeople are motivated to try a "new approach" but do so only once or twice before rejecting it out of hand or deciding that it will not work for them.</p>
<p>How Bull Free Solutions Can Help<br />
How do you move your salespeople beyond mere intellectual awareness of sound sales techniques to an application of them that can yield a steady improvement in the number and scope of your sales transactions?</p>
<p>Our expertise, developed through years of research by our Executive Staff will help you to deliver value to your customers. We have repeatedly discovered that value in ANY real estate sales environment is created in the selling process itself! Simply put, you create value by how you sell rather than what you sell. There are two main ways by which salespeople can distinguish themselves and your company even without reference to other unique selling propositions being offered. Whether the market is heady or stalled as it is now, the following two actions always generate more sales:</p>
<p>helping the customer to discover previously unrecognized problems that they are suffering through; and</p>
<p>bringing to light an unanticipated solution to those problems.<br />
Of course, geographic locale, company structure and other factors also produce differences in which of the myriad other tried and true methodologies are likely to produce the most successful results and Bull Free consultants/trainers can rapidly identify and implement the right solutions to increase your unique company’s market share and profitability. We can help any broker, sales manager or team leader drill-down to the essential selling principles needed to be applied daily to quickly and dramatically improve sales team performance. We then incorporate performance management metrics, feedback mechanisms and one-on-one coaching sessions that are designed to keep people on the track to higher production. Once your sales managers and team leaders are thoroughly comfortable with the new more productive environment, our part in your success story is ended—although we are available on a continuing basis for specialized training. </p>
<p>If you want to consistently produce higher sales than ever before, just call Bull Free Solutions at (352)-324-2244 and you will immediately see the improvement you are seeking. We guarantee an improvement in your market share! Our fees are structured to ensure that if our work with your team fails to result in the achievement of aggressive, agreed upon goals, there will be no charge for our service. Click here for a more detailed description of our Sales Success Solutions.</p>
<p>If you are interested in talking to us in person or seeing first-hand what our services can do for your call us at (352) 324-2244 or click here to set up a FREE initial consultation. Bull Free Solutions consultants travel throughout the United States to present at conferences, conventions and tradeshows and to meet with potential clients. We are always happy to make special trips to meet with potential clients for whom a good fit seems likely.<br />
</p>
<p>7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352) 978-9864</p>
<p>Sales and Operational Crisis Management and Turnaround Leadership for Homebuilders, Developers, Brokers and Lenders<br />
Slumping sales and high rates of cancellation have had devastating effects on the revenues and bottom line earnings of homebuilders and other firms dealing in the sale of residential real estate. Never before has there been a greater or more urgent need to revitalize sales and operations in order to restore revenues and profits and ensure ongoing viability for firms operating in our industry.</p>
<p>While it may be comforting to attribute your company's difficulties to economic uncertainty or poor market conditions, there certainly are things that can be done (even in today's difficult markets) to address lack of sales. There also are things that can be done today on the operations side of your business to protect the "bottom line" from suffering to the same extent as have your sales numbers.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions offers help in the form of a "cafeteria plan" of consulting and management services for distressed homebuilders, developers, lenders, brokers, and others saddled with under-performing residential real estate. Clients may choose any single service from the cafeteria menu or choose multiple services in virtually any combination.</p>
<p>For Homebuilders, our services range from single issue consulting or training to full turnaround management of a community, division, region or entire company. In the latter scenario, one or more of our top people may serve, on an interim basis, as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Restructuring Officer, Chief Financial Officer or other high level executive.</p>
<p>We also offer a range of services for lenders. Among these are detailed assessments of homebuilder/developer sustainability and future ability to pay based on assets and liabilities, working capital, cash flows, market factors and management quality Results of our work provide clarity lenders need to evaluate the viability of proposed workouts. Bull Free Solutions also serves lenders through the coordination of loss mitigation negotiations and we provide a variety of resources for directly disposing of already owned (or soon to be owned) bank held (REO) properties.</p>
<p>The senior consultants at Bull Free Solutions have extensive experience as top tier industry executives who have successfully navigated this and several previous major downcycles. Our marketing & sales solutions have been proven repeatedly to rejuvenate sales even in slow to nearly dead markets and our operations solutions improve communications, revive morale and credibility, increase efficiency, reduce waste and restore profits and wealth.</p>
<p>Unlike most turnaround professionals, we work only within the residential real estate and homebuilding industries and we are experts at turning around flagging sales and inefficient operations. Typically, our fees are structured to be in large part, dependent upon our success, so that we become your partner in the outcome.</p>
<p>As the name Bull Free Solutions implies, we do not believe in fads, gimmicks or the latest so called "revolutionary ideas" put forth by self-styled management gurus. From us, you'll get only straight talk, common sense, penetrating analysis, and creative solutions that are effective in today's brutal marketplace.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions will bring a fresh, unbiased perspective to objectively review your company's present challenges. We'll then devise creative strategies and bring renewed energy and visionary leadership to help you stop the bleeding, improve cash flow and if necessary, find additional sources of capital. In short, we will help you drive a rapid revitalization, establish an immediately improved financial picture and create an enhanced competitive position to capitalize upon during the next up cycle.</p>
<p>As Einstein once noted, "doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results is insanity". "Business as usual" just doesn't work anymore! Call Bull Free Solutions at (352) 324-2244 or click here to request a FREE initial consultation and get back on the road to professional and financial success.<br />
</p>
<p>7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352) 978-9864</p>
<p>REO Solutions<br />
In these difficult times for residential real estate, lenders rightfully are paying closer attention than ever to mitigating losses on their bank owned (REO) properties. The selection of an outsourcer for the disposition of the REO properties is critical to success in that endeavor.</p>
<p>While a web search will reveal numerous firms offering to outsource REO disposition, very few of them provide the full complement of services that will most efficiently and inexpensively deliver results to a lender’s REO Department. In many cases, these outsourcing firms do not offer the knowledge or experience necessary to effectively manage asset disposal while fully protecting against unnecessary loss exposure. In fact, many of these companies are nothing more than referral networks in which the REO properties are listed with other brokers across wide geographic areas.</p>
<p>Using a simple referral service as an outsourcer may be a viable approach for lenders with only a few widely scattered resale properties to sell. But, it should be clear that in most cases, such "sub-letting of responsibility" also diminishes and diffuses accountability. Most vendors offering REO outsourcing normally do not perform services beyond those provided by a general real estate brokerage --and therefore will require much more lender involvement and management in the process. This, in turn, greatly increases the lender's expenses associated with REO disposition.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions is a single source REO disposition vendor. We do a more thorough job at a lower cost than our "referral network" competitors whose services are far more limited! We can provide "soup-to-nuts" operations for lenders needing to liquidate entire communities. By setting up a credible, full scale marketing & sales program spanning lead generation to closing, we can often generate much higher sales prices (not only in the sale of retail lots and homes), but also in bulk sales of inventories to other developers or sources of investment capital. Developers and investors will pay much more for an ongoing operation that restores a sense of normalcy to a community facing the stigma of bankruptcy or serious underperformance by its original developer. We have expertise in all facets of managing such communities (large and small) with our own salespeople and managers. We will also bring in a land development team if infrastructure is incomplete. Lastly, we are experts at managing relationships with community residents and their Associations to restore pride and stem the emergence of additional resale competition with the bank’s properties.</p>
<p>While workouts/revitalization of master-planned communities is a niche in which we have vast experience, we also excel at setting up national marketing programs for the quick disposition of scattered resale properties. Bull Free Solutions carefully monitors any and all second-tier service providers (sales associates, appraisers, title companies and attorneys) so that our clients’ non-performing assets can be moved quickly from monitoring and supervising of eviction (if necessary), publication of necessary notices all the way through contract, clearing of title; inspections, repairs and ultimately, closing. We understand how costly it can be to the to the client when REO inventory is languishing on the market because an outsourcer failed to establish correct market value or properly convey the value proposition to potential buyers.</p>
<p>To be effective, REO disposition requires at least a NATIONAL strategy, if not an INTERNATIONAL one. It also requires technological sophistication and an understanding of the advertising venues that work for specific geographic and demographic market segments. Our REO websites are database driven, user friendly and monitored by an "attendant" (a licensed asociate)who can guide a prospective buyer's online experience and answer any questions they may have. We staff a call center for lead generation and follow-up and our Trans-USA Realty sales teams are equipped with the sales training and coaching they need to outperform the competition.</p>
<p>Of course, there are additional aspects of REO property liquidation that can generate unnecessary expenses and expose lenders to risks. These include neglect, vandalism, or destruction by disgruntled mortgagors, excessive holding times, and lost opportunities. Bull Free Solutions will protect your interests in these areas. For example, we fully understand how delays can occur if quick action is not taken to ensure that title matters are resolved immediately. Particularly in the case of subprime defaults, it is likely that there will be cases where liens were not properly removed from record; were not extinguished at the time of foreclosure; or were simply never discovered and never addressed. It is unfortunate for the client when responsibilities of the outsourcer (e.g., the clearing of title) suddenly become their problem at closing. If an REO outsourcer is merely referring these matters back to the lender, they are not providing the level of service you deserve. At Bull Free Solutions, we won't let that happen. We are very much attuned to the fact that time is money for our clients and we work hard to eliminate threats to your bottom line.</p>
<p>The multi-disciplined approach of Bull Free Solutions allows for a true one-stop shop for lenders seeking outsourcing to cope with burgeoning non-performing assets and difficult loan resolutions. Most often our fees are entirely contingent upon our success, so that we partner with our clients in the outcome.</p>
<p>Call Bull Free Solutions today at (352) 324-2244 or click here to set up a FREE initial consultation.</p>
<p>Turnaround Consulting & Management<br />
We offer a full complement of business turnaround and restructuring services for companies dealing in residential real estate. Although we use the term "turnaround" in its broadest sense here, it is necessary to distinguish between turnarounds of departments or 'aspects of operations' from what we refer to as "full turnarounds". Bull Free Solutions' cafeteria plan of service offerings reflects the fact that not all turnarounds in our industry are of equal dimension or difficulty. Instead, there are gradations of underperformance. In some cases, still profitable companies simply are being outperformed by competitors and need a tune up in one or more areas to reach new levels of efficiency, quality or customer service. In others, the situation will be considerably more dire with the company teetering on the brink of insolvency or receivership.</p>
<p>Management change cannot begin until company leaders have decided that change is necessary. Those companies who recognize the need for radical change in specific underperforming areas before that underperformance spreads are quicker to recover from distress and often perform "better than ever" once solutions are put in place. For companies serious about improving performance and with the determination to take action before things get to the point of requiring full turnaround, we offer an energizing, "work in the trenches", cooperative style. Bull Free consultants roll up our sleeves and work with current management to identify the quickest path to significantly improved performance and we offer to stay until major benefits are realized to our clients' "top" and "bottom" lines.</p>
<p>Working with a company that is truly in financial distress presents more daunting challenges. Since current top executives are naturally predisposed against giving up authority, the motivation for management change must often come from the Board of Directors or as a result of pressure from lenders. But, even in those cases where present management acknowledges the necessity for change, they often lack the ability to bring it about because they are the people who created the problems to begin with. Immersed in a culture of "sacred cows" and so fooled by the imperceptibility of "the creep" to distressed conditions, oftentimes current management cannot properly analyze what is wrong, much less begin to fix things.</p>
<p>Some of the more common reasons that management may not recognize the real problems facing the company include: abandonment over time of true "management by the numbers"; neglecting to constantly and rigorously benchmark the competition; and a failure to think outside the box to foster real improvements in the company's performance. Bringing in a consultant who is a veteran business leader (rather than a consultant by background) experienced in turning things around can be of invaluable aid in quickly identifying the critical problems so that they can be addressed immediately with sensible, effective action.</p>
<p>In a full turnaround, our assessment protocol begins with a rigorous examination of:</p>
<p>the company's cash flow and balance sheets; <br />
the window of time remaining before funds are exhausted; <br />
level of support and forbearance expected from lenders, creditors, investors, employees and other stakeholders; <br />
market strategy, pricing, purchasing, systems, procedures and production; <br />
profit contributions by community, division, product line or other meaningful segments; <br />
redundant or underutilized assets; and <br />
effectiveness of the company's management team; <br />
The aim of our assessment methodology is to uncover ways to:</p>
<p>bring about significantly improved cash flow through cost reduction, improved working capital management, liquidation of underutilized or underperforming segments; <br />
provide leadership and talent to support such changes; and <br />
regain credibility through improved communications with various stakeholder constituencies and gain their "buy in" for necessary, drastic change; and <br />
accomplish all of this within a very tight time-frame determined by cash flow and the degree of forbearance of constituent stakeholders are willing to allow. <br />
Full turnaround management is a complex operational exercise in providing leadership to rapidly and dramatically reshape a company. While improved performance in a short period is the key objective, getting there involves persuading board members, investors, managers and employees to execute painful changes they have heretofore avoided while at the same time convincing impatient lenders and creditors to allow some forbearance for a long enough period of time for necessary changes to take effect and produce results. Sometimes, distressed companies in our industry require not only improved operational efficiency, but also a withdrawal from unprofitable locations or ancillary businesses that have caused managerial, financial, and competitive resources to become diluted. This can be tricky for all but the most experienced of turnaround professionals, as there is often a lot of resistance to the disassembly of something others have built, whether economically viable or not.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions understands that in ALL of our engagements, time is of the essence and hence we work with deliberate speed, all the while recognizing the need to conserve client resources because, regardless of the condition of the company or the economic conditions being faced, "cash is king". Typically, within just 3-4 weeks, we will have completed our assessment protocol and identified fast track, actions that will produce both the highest rate of return and quick and measurable progress toward a restoration of profits and wealth.</p>
<p>Of course, no assessment by itself ever improved a company's performance. The real value proposition offered by Bull Free's turnaround solutions comes from:</p>
<p>Involving the whole organization in generating ideas and gaining "buy-in"; <br />
Providing the support of consultant/managers experienced in driving change; <br />
Accomplishing fast, whole or partial business turnarounds; and <br />
Making performance metrics and controls integral to the budgeting process and day to day operational management so that bottom line results are clear and continually monitored from that point forward. <br />
To determine if your company is a candidate for full turnaround management, click here.</p>
<p>To learn more about the phases of Bull Free turnaround management, click here.<br />
</p>
<p>7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352) 978-9864</p>
<p>Which firms are Candidates for Full Turnaround?<br />
As noted elsewhere on this website, firms within the broad confines of the residential real estate industry have been differentially affected by the current prolonged market downturn — there are gradations of underperformance and distress among them. The reality is that virtually every company in the industry is "off " and most homebuilders, developers and real estate brokerage firms can legitimately point fingers at the sudden, dramatic downturn in the residential real estate market that began in 2006 as the major underlying cause.</p>
<p>Since lack of sales is a common thread, it is useful to note that at any given time, fully 50% of all real estate projects on the market are not achieving their proper share of the market. In other words, chances are good that even if all other aspects of business are performing at peak effectiveness, your company could benefit from improvements in the marketing and sales functions and their respective returns to your bottom line. Bull Free Solutions' cafeteria plan offers over 100 services to revitalize sales. Our consultants and trainers provide a third party objectivity that is impossible to achieve "in-house" and we have never fail to increased sales in our engagements. We'll work by task (hourly rate), by month or with a fixed or contingent fee by sales project.</p>
<p>For those whose companies are in worse shape (i.e. insolvency can be seen on the horizon), other factors are likely to have played a role in their decline as well. These may include over-leveraged or inadequately financed conditions, significant quality issues, lack of proper operating controls, poor customer service, and so on.</p>
<p>The reality is that a spiral downward to a distressed condition does not happen overnight. It is an insidious process that takes time to develop. And, because daily changes to a company's operating status are often imperceptible, it can be hard for present management to recognize the specific issues that need to be systematically and collectively addressed. It's sort of like looking in a mirror each day and not realizing how much your appearance has changed over a few years until presented with a photo taken long ago.</p>
<p>So, just how do you tell if your company is a candidate for full turnaround services, as opposed to just needing a "tune up" in certain areas? Usually, financial information is the best source for determining the need for a turnaround, but certain critical non-financial symptoms also can clearly indicate its need. Let us review the financial indicators and non-financial indicators in that order.</p>
<p>During the boom years of 2004 and 2005, most homebuilders enjoyed sales not only far beyond their expectations, but also far beyond their capacity to adequately service them. This in turn led to higher cycle times, and reductions in quality and customer service. Of course, explosive growth also brings high capital investment requirements and the "throw off" of a lot of cash. Many companies who leveraged to meet increased funding needs are finding themselves considerably over-extended now that the boom has turned to bust.</p>
<p>When combined with the reduced revenues and cash flows associated with a down cycle, excessive debt and insufficient capital create the need to operate with little or no margin for error. Credit may be overextended at a time when inventories are growing and both fixed assets and employees are being underutilized.</p>
<p>In general, interim turnaround management (full turnaround intervention) is called for in when the company presents any one of the following financial symptoms: </p>
<p>the company has been reporting large losses for some time and the bleeding continues; <br />
making payroll, paying suppliers and vendors timely and/or repaying recurring debt obligations is a problem; <br />
paying taxes or other non-immediate bills could be a problem; <br />
important projects are generating losses; and <br />
lenders and suppliers are getting stricter with terms indicating a loss of confidence in the firm. <br />
In some cases, a homebuilder's declining financial condition may result in a weakened or even adversarial relationship with its lenders. In fear of its credit being jeopardized, management may attempt to conceal negative financial information from lenders or avoid filing timely reports and responses to queries. This is almost always a recipe for disaster and must be addressed immediately with the help of a third party turnaround specialist who can work to regain credibility with these stakeholders.</p>
<p>While any one of the financial situations described above should be a huge "red flag", other non-financial symptoms can also point to the need for drastic turnaround action. These include:</p>
<p>Referrals have dried up; <br />
Customer satisfaction (whether measured internally or by third party has declined; <br />
Employees complain about lack of leadership among themselves or to customers or trade partners about lack of leadership; <br />
Employees are fearful of losing their jobs; <br />
Good employees are voluntarily leaving; and <br />
Management is no longer working as a team. <br />
Both the financial and non-financial symptoms described above are but part of a larger distressed condition created by ineffective management policies and actions.</p>
<p>Lack of planning: In all but the largest homebuilding companies, even if there are strategic and business plans, they often are merely in the heads of top managers and are not adequately communicated to employees. <br />
Inattention to market dynamics: Changes in customer preference or buying power go unnoticed by inattentive management. Managers may also fail to continually monitor changing demographics, and the changes to advertising venues that would best produce more sales at a lower cost per sale. <br />
Little performance accountability: When companies operate without adequately measuring, reporting and providing feedback on operational and financial performance, it is impossible to hold people accountable for attaining realistic goals. <br />
Blurred focus: The business may have diversified too much either geographically or through expansion into ancillary businesses with the idea of spreading risk. However, overdiversification can cause a company's managerial, financial, and competitive resources to become overly diluted; the result being that the company becomes vulnerable to losing market share in its core area(s). <br />
Poor communication: Perceptions that the company is foundering (and hemorrhaging money to the extent that owners are rapidly losing equity and creditors will be unable to obtain full repayment of the loans they made to the company) can become radically exaggerated and begin a self-fulfilling prophecy for demise. Also, when information flows become constricted, it can give deception or dishonesty the chance to develop undetected and unreported. <br />
Inadequate Succession Planning: If key managers become incapacitated or otherwise leave the company, the business may falter due to the resulting void in direction. <br />
Insufficient Attention to Customer Satisfaction: Last, but not least, a company must continue to pay attention to present and former customers. You must assure that your present ones get a good product that offers genuine value. You must continue to provide outstanding service and excellent communications Although the latter idea may seem to be counter to the need to reign in expenses, your maintaining an adequate budget for promoting customer satisfaction can make a huge difference in a company's potential to survive the full extent of the current downturn. <br />
Management change to correct these deficiencies cannot occur until company leaders have decided that change is necessary. If management continues to cling to out-dated ways of doing business, continues to think that "what has worked before will continue to work", and continues to be in denial, then the company will be unprepared to take advantage of growth opportunities when they return. In short it will continue to fall further behind. Clearly the organizational costs are less to companies that work to resolve issues early before they are compounded.</p>
<p>No matter whether you need only an operational tune-up or full turnaround management, Bull Free Solutions can help. To better understand the nature and phases of our turnaround work, click here.</p>
<p>Call us today at (352) 324-2244 or click here to set up a FREE initial consultation that can start your journey to a brighter future for your company in both the short and long term.<br />
</p>
<p>7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352) 978-9864</p>
<p>Phases of a Full Turnaround<br />
The turnaround managers of Bull Free Solutions focus on underperforming companies for whom we are able to increase sales, decrease costs and make operational changes that will significantly boost business performance. Assuming that we are brought in for more than just a "tune up" of marketing, sales or specific operations functions, our work in such corporate renewal spans five predictable phases.</p>
<p>Phase 1: Assessment</p>
<p>Whenever we are called upon to help a company in real financial distress, we first must determine the chances of the business's survival, identify appropriate strategies to keep the doors open, and develop a preliminary action plan. This means that the first week or so of an engagement is spent fact-finding and diagnosing the scope and severity of the company's ills. Is it in imminent danger of failure? Does it have substantial losses but its survival is not yet threatened? Or is it merely in a declining business position? </p>
<p>For a full turnaround to be feasible, at least one existing "core business" must be viable assuming a reasonable effort to save it. The company must have adequate financial and organizational resources to be reasonably expected to succeed, if a viable turnaround concept is uncovered. The turnaround concept must be preferable to other options available (such as a sale of the company or an orderly liquidation of its assets). Bull Free Solutions offers consulting services to accomplish these latter options, as well. Nevertheless, in most cases, when a company is in trouble (and there are no "special buyers" for whom the troubled company or some of its assets represent a greater value than for others in the general marketplace, a full turnaround intervention is indeed, called for.</p>
<p>If it is determined that a turnaround is feasible, a more detailed assessment of strengths and weaknesses is conducted to examine such areas as competitive positioning, marketing, sales, operations, human resources and organizational structure. While our assessment is underway, our turnaround manager(s) must deal with various constituencies and special interests. The first and often most vocal group is often comprised of angry lenders and other creditors who may have been kept in the dark about the company's financial status and who are now wary with regard to the company's future. Employees are another group who, by virtue of a longstanding dearth of communications, are so confused and frightened that they spend more time gossiping and worrying about job security than they do in fixing the company's difficulties. The turnaround manager must be open and frank with all of these constituencies, instilling in employees and outside parties alike, a belief that the company can overcome its present difficulties and succeed.</p>
<p>Phase II: Devising A Turnaround Plan</p>
<p>Once the key problems are identified, our turnaround manager develops a strategic turnaround plan with detailed specific objectives and an action plan that will accomplish them. Often, the actions identified as necessary may include some restructuring activities to dispose of business units or assets as a means to raise cash. If there is sufficient time, the turnaround manager may try to reposition these business units before placing them on the market, but if they cannot be made attractive to buyers, liquidation would be considered. Other actions in the plan typically involve such activities as staff and management training, work process modification, establishing better performance measurement and control and making changes in product design, advertising and promotions. </p>
<p>Once the turnaround plan has been created, the Bull Free Solutions team must then present it to the company's board, management and employees as well as to critical constituencies outside the company (bankers, major creditors, and vendors) in order to BUILD confidence that the plan will succeed. This can be a daunting task in and of itself due to potential unhappy human resource consequences, blows to the egos of management and the genuine difficulty in accommodating different interests in a situation often characterized by economic necessity, lender pressure, conflicting loyalties, wavering support and all too frequently, management denial concerning the need for radical reengineering. </p>
<p>It has been said that a mediocre plan, violently executed, is preferable to a great plan that is never implemented. And, when one compares more successful vs. less successful turnaround outcomes, almost always the critical differentiating element is less the quality of the proposed turnaround strategy than whether a widespread and steadfast commitment to execute the plan emerged from the various constituencies. Fortunately for our clients, the seasoned industry executives who work as Bull Free turnaround managers have an almost legendary ability to build consensus.</p>
<p>Phase III: Restructuring the Business</p>
<p>When the condition of the company is critical, our plan is necessarily simple but drastic; take immediate corrective action to stop the hemmorhaging and enable the organization to continue operations. As stated in the more general discussion of turnaround management elsewhere on this website, cash is the lifeblood of the organization. In a time rife with emotional undertones, employees must be laid off, and business units, locations or entire departments may be shut down. Having sized up the situation objectively, our turnaround manager will makes these cuts swiftly. </p>
<p>A positive operating cash flow must be reestablished quickly as this can be a saving grace that allows for short-term debt restructuring shy of bankruptcy. This is particularly important in those cases where a sufficient amount of cash to implement the turnaround strategies is not easily found. Creditors are far more likely to agree to such a restructuring if they can see support for the likelihood that the company will soon restore the profits required to repay its debt. </p>
<p>The result of Bull Free Solutions' efforts in this phase of the turnaround is to establish an organization sized more in line with the realities of the market --- no longer bleeding cash and better able to compete for a fair share of the pie.</p>
<p>Phase IV: Streamlining and Improving Remaining Business Operations </p>
<p>In addition to getting the company "leaner", the turnaround plan will have identified other financial, marketing, and operational actions designed to deal with outstanding debt obligations, improve working capital management, reduce operating costs, improve budgeting practices and performance controls, correct product line and customer mix issues, reexamine pricing, prune or alternatively expand product lines, and if appropriate, accelerate high-potential projects or products. The goal is to achieve a sustainable increase in profitability and a substantial improvement in returns on assets and equity. If the core business of the company is capable of surviving long term, it must now concentrate on enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. </p>
<p>During this phase of a turnaround, human resources become more important than ever. The turnaround manager will work to devise compensation and bonus systems that reinforce the turnaround effort get people to think "profits" and "return on investment." The need to survive until a new up cycle occurs will replace culture and tradition as the primary shaper of the company's new business model.</p>
<p>Phase V: Institutionalizing the Restoration of Viability</p>
<p>As the company gradually returns to profitability and to achieving an acceptable return on equity, the emphasis shifts from cash flow concerns to rebuilding a strong balance sheet, securing long-term financing, and implementing strategic accounting and performance control systems. The turnaround manager must work to make the leaner, more rational operations part of a new corporate culture" going forward. He or she must engineer what others call a "psychological shift" to replace negative attitudes with a positive confidence in the company and its prospects for the future. </p>
<p>BULL FREE SOLUTIONS</p>
<p>Our diverse clientele of homebuilders, developers, lenders and real estate brokers demonstrate a range of financial and operational performance. Some companies are doing fairly well; many more are "underperforming"; and some of them are in clear distress. While this page described our approach with the most distressed of clients, it is important to note that with the exception of a typically more cooperative relationship with current management, our approach to smaller scale assignments is similar in that each situation and need is different. Sometimes, management is just "stuck" with a particular sales or operational issue and needs a fresh pair of eyes to uncover missed elements of an underlying problem. We begin each engagement, however large or small with a responsive, fresh attitude as we collaborate to get a handle on the issues. We are comfortable working at all levels from the sales floor to the Board Room. We have an open ear with all parties involved and we treat everyone with respect. Finally, our relationship with you will be based on the highest degree of integrity and confidentiality. </p>
<p>Call us today at (352) 324-2244 or click here to set up a FREE initial consultation.<br />
</p>
<p>7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352) 978-9864</p>
<p>Sales and Operational Crisis Management and Turnaround Leadership for Homebuilders, Developers, Brokers and Lenders<br />
Slumping sales and high rates of cancellation have had devastating effects on the revenues and bottom line earnings of homebuilders and other firms dealing in the sale of residential real estate. Never before has there been a greater or more urgent need to revitalize sales and operations in order to restore revenues and profits and ensure ongoing viability for firms operating in our industry.</p>
<p>While it may be comforting to attribute your company's difficulties to economic uncertainty or poor market conditions, there certainly are things that can be done (even in today's difficult markets) to address lack of sales. There also are things that can be done today on the operations side of your business to protect the "bottom line" from suffering to the same extent as have your sales numbers.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions offers help in the form of a "cafeteria plan" of consulting and management services for distressed homebuilders, developers, lenders, brokers, and others saddled with under-performing residential real estate. Clients may choose any single service from the cafeteria menu or choose multiple services in virtually any combination.</p>
<p>For Homebuilders, our services range from single issue consulting or training to full turnaround management of a community, division, region or entire company. In the latter scenario, one or more of our top people may serve, on an interim basis, as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Restructuring Officer, Chief Financial Officer or other high level executive.</p>
<p>We also offer a range of services for lenders. Among these are detailed assessments of homebuilder/developer sustainability and future ability to pay based on assets and liabilities, working capital, cash flows, market factors and management quality Results of our work provide clarity lenders need to evaluate the viability of proposed workouts. Bull Free Solutions also serves lenders through the coordination of loss mitigation negotiations and we provide a variety of resources for directly disposing of already owned (or soon to be owned) bank held (REO) properties.</p>
<p>The senior consultants at Bull Free Solutions have extensive experience as top tier industry executives who have successfully navigated this and several previous major downcycles. Our marketing & sales solutions have been proven repeatedly to rejuvenate sales even in slow to nearly dead markets and our operations solutions improve communications, revive morale and credibility, increase efficiency, reduce waste and restore profits and wealth.</p>
<p>Unlike most turnaround professionals, we work only within the residential real estate and homebuilding industries and we are experts at turning around flagging sales and inefficient operations. Typically, our fees are structured to be in large part, dependent upon our success, so that we become your partner in the outcome.</p>
<p>As the name Bull Free Solutions implies, we do not believe in fads, gimmicks or the latest so called "revolutionary ideas" put forth by self-styled management gurus. From us, you'll get only straight talk, common sense, penetrating analysis, and creative solutions that are effective in today's brutal marketplace.</p>
<p>Bull Free Solutions will bring a fresh, unbiased perspective to objectively review your company's present challenges. We'll then devise creative strategies and bring renewed energy and visionary leadership to help you stop the bleeding, improve cash flow and if necessary, find additional sources of capital. In short, we will help you drive a rapid revitalization, establish an immediately improved financial picture and create an enhanced competitive position to capitalize upon during the next up cycle.</p>
<p>As Einstein once noted, "doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results is insanity". "Business as usual" just doesn't work anymore! Call Bull Free Solutions at (352) 324-2244 or click here to request a FREE initial consultation and get back on the road to professional and financial success.<br />
</p>
<p>7303 Spring Mountain Lane * Yalaha, FL 34797 * (352) 978-9864</p>
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