REDLINGER BROS FAMILY BUISNESS

Redlinger Bros. Plumbing and Heating began as a vision of two brothers, Howard and ClarkRedlinger. They dreamed of working together and building a business they could call their own.

Howard and Clark purchased two service trucks and leased a basement office space on West Kemp Ave. in Watertown. On April 1, 1946 they opened the doors of Redlinger Bros. Plumbing, providing plumbing services to the folks in the Watertown area. It was a humble beginning.

Much like raising a child, they nurtured their business over the years. They worked hard,excelled in their customer service, and grew their business.  Today Redlinger Bros. Plumbing and Heating provides residential plumbing and heating services as well as mechanical contracting services for commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa. Redlinger Bros. employs 40 full-time employees and adds an additional 10 full-time employees during the summer months. They have offices in Watertown, Yankton and Aberdeen, SO. Jim Redlinger, son of Clark Redlinger serves as president of the company with wife Lori as the secretary-treasurer. Their children CJ, Adam, Jeremy, Jason and Ryan have all worked for the family business. Jeremy is employed part-time at Redlinger Bros. while attending SDSU and Ryan is working full-time in the construction department. CJ and Adam have worked the past several summers in the construction department. Many family dinners and lunches are spent discussing various jobs the company is working on.

"It is neat to see the boys taking a real interest in the progress of the family business," says Lori Redlinger.  Although the “family" consists of Jim, Lori and their sons, Jim views the entire staff as family.  He believes in treating all his employees in a way that expresses his deep appreciation for their contribution to the growth and positive reputation of Redlinger Bros. He values their input and provides opportunities for retreats where employees can voice their opinion about various issues, share ideas and brainstorm ways to improve the company.

This past year, he hosted the first ”Young Guns" retreat. The "younger generation" staff was invited to a game farm at Little Falls, MN. Lori facilitated the retreat where they spent a day sharing their opinions and ideas with Jim. As a bonus, they spent the next morning hunting - the temperature was 3 below zero - but they had a great time. Jamie Furman, a construction worker out of Aberdeen had this to say of the retreat, "This has been a great experience. You rarely hear of a company that looks to their youth for ideas. Thanks for this opportunity. " Many employees have experienced first-hand the generosity, caring and loyalty Jim has towards his staff. When Sue Binde, an employee of 30 years had unexpected bypass surgery and could not work for 6 weeks, Jim assured her she would have a job when she returned.

Family has always been important to Jim, as it was with his father and uncle who preceded him. JIm has always been very generous and caring with his 'company family' as well as with his 'at home' family.

How to Avoid Management by Committee

By their nature a family business will to some degree be run by committee. Family members whether they are directly involved in the business itself or not will often feel they have a say in how the family business is run. In traditional business management, running a business by committee often leads to a business losing market share and therefore profits as internal conflicts get in the way of actually managing the business. The usual advice is that a managing director must be appointed, and they alone make the final decisions within the family business.
However, a family business is different from any other enterprise. In these circumstances the input of other family members can be highly advantageous. Consensual decision making can often lead to a stronger commitment to delivering the stated goals of the decision that was made. It is, however a fine line between consensual decision making and chaos. The strength of the family member at the head of the business will often be the deciding factor whether consensual decision making is effective or not within the business as a whole.

Is Management By Committee Useful?
Many family business are not in essence democracies. From a management point of view the hierarchy within a family business often resembles a dictatorship with senior members of the family in charge of the decision making process. This form of decision making can often lead to mistakes being made and also high levels of conflict within the family business as a whole. After all, family members that feel they have a worthwhile contribution to make are in effect ignored.
Whether a more relaxed approach to the management of your family business would be useful is clearly on a business-to-business basis. However, management by committee does not have to mean a free or all when meetings do occur. A consensus can be reached jointly, with the managing director then taking the final decision. This reduces the levels of conflict as each family member has had their say. And the decision maker has been able to see a number of suggestions that may not have occurred to them without the input of the committee members.

Leading The Family
Having looked closely at how decisions are made within your family business, it is still good business practice to have a clear decision making process laid out that each family member can see. This should detail how committee meetings will operate and how much input is allowed into the decision making process.
Leading a family business and having a management system that makes quick decisions is essential. Some family businesses have attempted to appoint joint managers within their businesses. Generally speaking this is a recipe for disaster as communications inevitably breaks down, that damages the family business overall.
The core responsibility of the head of any family business is to try and stand back from family issues and make decisions that are the best for the business’s long term future. Consulting other family members is a sensible cause of action, but be aware that too much input can cloud the decision making process.

Separating Family And Business
The emotional aspects of family business management can’t be overstated. Family businesses are by their nature very emotive organizations. As such, conflict is inevitable, but left unchecked can lead to a paralysis of the decision making process. The management of a family business must be viewed in the cold light of the commercial decisions that must be made. Often, decisions will not be popular. Separating as far as possible family politics from the decision making process will lead to more effective management of the family business overall.

Articles From: www.afamilybusiness.co.uk

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How to Franchise a Family Business

Business expansion can be a natural consequence of a successful enterprise. For a family business one of the most cost effective ways of business expansion is to adopt the franchise model. Becoming a franchiser enables the family business to grow, yet retain control of the core values that have resulted in the family business’s success.

The franchise format of business expansion can be extremely flexible. Your family business can decide how fast it expands as it is in complete control of how many franchisees it offers its business model to in any given time period. The franchise business model can be ideal as it allows the cost of expansion to be passed onto the franchisee to a certain degree. However, remember that your family business as a whole will still have to invest in the promotion of the new franchise and cover the costs of supporting your new franchisees.

Franchising and Your Family Business

Can your business be easily duplicated in any geographical area?
Family businesses that are based on easily marketed and sold commodities are best for franchising. If your family business depends on specialist skills or knowledge, this could be a major barrier to any new franchisee as they may not possess the skills they need, or can’t easily buy these skills in the area they want to operate their franchise from.

Does your family business produce a clearly defined product or service?
It is important that any potential franchisee can instantly see what kind of family business you are operating. If your family business sells easily recognizable services or goods, the franchisee can understand how they could profitably run a franchise operation they buy from your family business. Complex goods or services are not generally ideal for franchise expansion.

Can your business become a franchise at a reasonable cost?
If you family business produces luxury items of high value they may not be ideally suited to the franchise business model. Any franchisee that buys a franchise from your business must be confident they can make their money back and move into profit quickly. This not only earns them a living, but also ensures your business receives its franchise fee every year.

Is there a wider market for your family business’s services or products?
Some family businesses are successful in their own local area. Think about how well your business could do in other parts of the country. A strong franchise operation should be able to set-up practically anywhere and find customers quickly.

Franchising Checklist

Planning is vital
Just like any other project expanding your family business via the franchise business model requires detailed planning. This component of your project can’t be stressed enough. Feasibility studies either conducted in-house or via an outside consultant will instantly reveal if your family business is suitable for franchising. SWOT analysis can be a useful tool to illustrate how suited your family business actually is to this sort of business model.

Pay close attention to costs
It is a myth that franchising is a get rich quick business model for successful firms looking to expand. The responsibility and costs associated with setting up a franchise operation before even one single franchisee has been found can be substantial. Your franchise business plan should include detailed costs for every component of your new franchise operation.

Training and support
One of the attractions of buying a franchise from the franchisees point of view is that they are in effect buying a ready-made business off-the-shelf. The most successful franchised businesses in the UK have detailed training programs and support networks from the franchiser. Factor in these costs and the additional infrastructure your family business may have to put in place to make the new franchise expansion successful.

Test your franchise package
Before you offer your new franchise for sale either through a franchise agent or begin to market your franchise yourself, test your set up systems. This testing is where you discover where your franchise package requires more detailed work. It is better to reveal any shortcomings in your franchise platform in this testing phase than trying to fire fight a plethora of problems when a franchisee is actually running their business.

Choose your franchisees carefully
Just because someone approaches your business and has the money to buy a franchise from your family business doesn't’t necessarily mean they will be good franchisees. Your family business has a vested interest in selling a franchise operation to reliable business people that will work hard to make the franchise a success. Take some time to evaluate every potential franchise candidate before you offer them a partnership.

Articles From: www.afamilybusiness.co.uk

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