Dallas Morning News

Small Business
Dallas-Fort Worth entrepreneurs profit from cost-cutting ideas
Posted: 09/03/2009 12:00 AM

By SHERYL JEAN / The Dallas Morning News |

Cost-cutting has replaced sales as the path to profit at many recession-battered companies these days.

Lorenzo Wiley, owner of SiteEvaluators, and employee Valentina Elizalde measure a space for lease in Preston Towne Crossing shopping center in Plano. The company provides architectural reports in a quick five days.  LOUIS DeLUCA/DMN Lorenzo Wiley, owner of SiteEvaluators, and employee Valentina Elizalde measure a space for lease in Preston Towne Crossing shopping center in Plano. The company provides architectural reports in a quick five days.

It also has fueled business for some Dallas-area entrepreneurs, who are finding clients eager to try their inventions to save money and time and increase productivity.

Constant scrimping and reorganizing during a recession can leave companies with less time to focus on generating revenue, so many look to save steps and control expenses by automating labor- and paper-intensive tasks, said Rusty Spears, a regional sales consultant in Dallas for human resources outsourcing firm TriNet.

"The whole trend in times like this is that companies start getting serious all over again about cost management," said Tom Daniel, a senior vice president in Irving for PDI Ninth House, a leadership consulting firm. "Everyone starts to introduce control systems."

That's where local entrepreneurs come in.

Here are four examples:

Company Mileage

Frontera Strategies, an Irving provider of in-office diagnostic testing to physicians, thought its costs to reimburse a dozen technicians who drive their own cars for work were too high and erratic, Frontera partner Ches Williams said.

In April, it began using Company Mileage's Web-based management system, saving about $150 per person per month, he said.

"Like a lot of people, we're just looking for ways to shave expenses," Williams said. "We thought if we put people under a microscope and made them more accountable that we'd see a difference, and we did."

Dallas entrepreneur Kevin Winters developed the patented technology to take the guesswork out of calculating how far employees drive.

Under the system, employees go online to enter beginning and ending addresses or a whole day of driving for work appointments.

Company Mileage calculates the distance and reimbursement amount, synchronizing that with the employer's payroll, accounting and Internal Revenue Service compliance. Company Mileage also provides a mapping service.

"We allow companies to reimburse a fair rate without worrying that employees are fudging the numbers," Winters said. He began marketing the service and an automated expense program in spring.

Company Mileage has found an average inaccuracy rate of 20 percent to 30 percent among clients, Winters said.

Customers, who pay a monthly user fee, save about $1,500 per person per year, he said.

Interverz

Interverz offers a self-service marketing system that can save clients up to 70 percent in production costs, company president Aaron Orner said.

It produces press-ready materials for newspapers, coupons and other print promotions in five days vs. up to three months traditionally, he said.

The savings come from automating the manual process for orders and proofing, said Orner, 34.

"That's where we saw a lot of time and energy wasted," he said. "Now agencies can spend more time on creativity."

A client goes to Interverz's Web site to fill out a print order and lay out the marketing materials.

Interverz then uses its proprietary software to create the materials.

The client can proof or change the documents online and then push a button to send them to a printer or vendor.

Orner and co-founder Alan Sproat got the idea while working at EuroRCG, a marketing firm in Dallas. Interverz launched the product last year.

Interverz charges an initial fee of $20,000 to $30,000, plus a monthly data storage fee of at least $1,500 and a user fee. Orner wouldn't disclose revenue.

Dallas marketing firm Levenson & Hill Inc. uses Interverz for three clients, including a national fast-food franchise.

"Interverz makes us more productive, more efficient," said Andy Harmon, Levenson & Hill's director of branding and activation. "If we can keep our costs down, that increases our margin, and we can pass that savings on to our clients."

Interverz increased Levenson & Hill's workflow about 30 percent, Harmon said, and some of its clients have seen their agency labor costs cut in half.

SiteEvaluators

AmREIT wanted to market two recently vacated retail spots at Preston Towne Crossing in Plano, but it didn't have the architectural plans to help potential tenants determine whether the space would work and to estimate remodeling costs.

It turned to SiteEvaluators in Frisco.

Valentina Elizalde and Lorenzo Wiley of SiteEvaluators document an electrical box at a Preston Towne Crossing retail space. The 6-year-old company also provides site selection and lease negotiation services. " onmouseover=" this.style.cursor='hand'"> LOUIS DeLUCA/DMN Valentina Elizalde and Lorenzo Wiley of SiteEvaluators document an electrical box at a Preston Towne Crossing retail space. The 6-year-old company also provides site selection and lease negotiation services.

Last week, SiteEvaluators owner Lorenzo Wiley and employee Valentina Elizalde measured the space, writing down wall lengths, ceiling height, flooring type and other notes.

SiteEvaluators provides a report (a three-dimensional AutoCAD design or a PDF file) within five days, a week faster than an architecture firm, said Michael Hale, vice president of leasing for Houston-based AmREIT, which owns 32 shopping centers in Texas. It also costs about half as much, saving AmREIT thousands of dollars a year, he said.SiteEvaluators charges 10 to 15 cents per square foot.

"The main difference is the time," Hale said. "[Wiley] is very quick. He not only covers Dallas, but our properties in San Antonio and Houston. That, hopefully, helps us lease the space quicker."

Wiley wouldn't reveal revenue but said business is up 20 percent from 2008. The 6-year-old, six-employee company also offers site selection and lease negotiation services.

Cubeless

Last summer, Southlake-based Sabre Holdings Corp. began marketing a social networking system called Cubeless. It has 15 customers, with a handful more in the pipeline, general manager Erik Johnson said.

Cubeless' first clients were companies using the system for their employees, but its reach has broadened, Johnson said.

"We have school districts using it to connect teachers, staff and administrators," he said. "Some companies use it to support their customers."

Garland-based Naturally Slim, which provides health and fitness programs, earlier this year rolled out a Cubeless network called NS Town so nearly 10,000 participants could communicate with each other and their health coaches.

That online connection helps Naturally Slim avoid the high cost - in the "seven figures" - of setting up telephone help lines for customers, said Wally Gomaa, a spokesman for Naturally Slim.