FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT: RICHARD LICATA – Page 2
Fall is right around the corner, which means the leaves are turning, the weather is slowly becoming cooler, and the holidays are right around the corner. Personally, it is my favorite time of the year with kids back in school, the trick-or-treaters during Halloween, giving thanks for all our good fortunate for Thanksgiving, and celebrating the birth of Christ during Christmas. Yet, I still wonder, how is it possible that we are more than halfway through the year?
Even though the shoulder months of our busy season are over, this is a busy time to reflect on the past season to determine what we did well and what we could have done better. We brought on a couple of new employees; Ruthie Bast in International and Michael Licata shifted over from Store Your Things to Move Coordination. The new employees of Reebie bring a renewed sense of excitement and an appetite for knowledge. Speaking of International, they are having an outstanding year. Their revenue is up over 67% from last year. Our O&I department is also having a good year. With accounts like Northwestern, Rush, and Loyola Hospital, they continue to provide us with a nice source of consistent volume to make up for the slowness of Consumer Business. No doubt that the Consumer Business is having a tough go of it, being highly impacted by the high interest rates that keep people from buying and selling homes.
Another bright spot in our accomplishments this summer is the excellent Quality we continue to provide our customers. Our Quality scores rated by our customers are some of the highest in Reebie’s history. We currently have an overall rating of 4.73 which puts us in the “best in class” ranking with our peers. Additionally, we are the envy of the system in obtaining new Google Reviews. This year we have secured an additional 134 Google Reviews and have a net quality score of 4.8 out of 5 stars. This is a tribute to the excellent operational organization we have and the quality of service we put on the street.
This is also a time for management to look to the future with the many meetings with our peers for the remainder of the year. We are forever looking for new and better ways to service our customers and employees so that we can duplicate the great service we provide the majority of our customers. We will also start planning for the 2024 budget and determine what we need to do to ensure Reebie continues to grow in revenue and market share while not surrendering on our outstanding Quality.
As we head into the 4th Quarter, we are facing stubborn inflation, high energy costs, and even higher interest rates. However, our business is fundamentally well-positioned to weather harsh circumstances. We are well diversified in our business offerings providing us with more stability and security. But it also means we have to match pace for leaner times and find ways to reduce our costs. We have always taken pride in being lean and mean and we think this attribute is important in the times ahead. I am confident that we can deliver a robust fourth quarter with contributions coming from the operational excellence we provide and the strong sales staff we have.
Excellence Delivered!