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SOS grew gross profits by 18% in fiscal '07; aims to grow gross profits by 33% in '08 with a focus on building long-term business partnerships
« Back to NewsroomSacramento, April 7, 2008 - Coming off a record 2007, voice and data expert SOS already is planning for more strong growth this year. The company is working to increase gross profits by 33% in fiscal 2008, to $6 million in gross profits -- up from $4.5 million in gross profits last year. The gross profit for 2007 was up 18% from 3.8 million in gross profits in 2006.
Last year the company added 45 clients and more than 500 contacts to its marketing database. "In 2007, SOS benefited from effective marketing, including co-marketing with manufacturers Cisco and Interactive Intelligence," said co-founder and CEO Gia McNutt. SOS moved into larger headquarters in Loomis, and Lawrence McNutt, co-founder of SOS, took the post of chief technology officer. The company also launched a one-stop-shop service for managing IT.
This year SOS expects to add at least 7 positions to its current staffing level of 43. Overall, SOS's staff size has roughly doubled since 2005. SOS recently hired Linda Bradley as Human Resources & Operations Manager. Previously, she was the Human Resources & Operations Manager at Home Depot subsidiary Creative Touch Interiors. SOS brought in Tom Aldine as Senior Account Manager. Previously, he was an Advanced Solutions Executive and Cisco Sales Expert at Nexus Integration.
It is also launching an initiative to move customer ratings up from "consistently great" scores to "consistently extraordinary" scores. "While it's harder to make big gains when a company already ranks high, improvement is still important. So we are making changes in the way that we conduct business," McNutt said. "I am making customer-care calls at random myself, to take a pulse with clients. We have a new system to make sure all client feedback gets to the right managers. We are conducting case-closure surveys. Starting this year, the annual employee award for customer service will be decided by customers. And, when it comes to hiring, we continue to look for people with that spark, that commitment, that belief that they can make a difference."
SOS has refined a methodology of causing minimal disruption at client companies when helping them shift to a new system. "Users are disrupted by a sea change in infrastructure, and we know how to avoid that," McNutt said. "From the client perspective it's not about the technology, and SOS gets that. We have found success in providing total solutions to clients, not just 'things' like software or hardware. We focus on building long-term business partnerships with clients. That's why we continually upgrade our processes for everything from handling leads to helping clients achieve quick company-wide adoption of a new system."