THE HERB FARM REVISITED
Restructuring – Bringing in new expertise
As demand for her products increased, Lynn realised that the company had to make fundamental changes to remain competitive in a rapidly expanding market. The Herb Farm needed to increase its product range, production capacity and retail base, and enhance its presence in the market. Lynn recognised that she alone would not have the time nor the specific expertise needed for successful expansion – so she turned her attention to forming a cooperative business partnership to bring in the additional skills and experience required. This proved a more difficult task than envisaged, but, after one unsuccessful attempt at partnership, in 2005 Lynn invited her daughter Sarah to become her business partner and the Managing Director of the company.
Brought up on The Herb Farm property, Sarah enjoyed its expansive rural lifestyle. Lynn's home-made remedies and the business had always been part of her life, but, she says, she never saw herself working in the business when she was younger. Following schooling in Palmerston North, her life took a completely different path as she travelled overseas as an international model, working in Milan, London, Belgium, Singapore and Japan. Throughout her travels Sarah used only The Herb Farm products on her skin, and remained convinced of the unique benefits of her mother's formulations.
Sarah in the gardens (click to enlarge)
On returning to New Zealand, Sarah completed a Bachelor of Business Studies at Massey University, which provided her with a sound knowledge base to bring into the business.
In her new position, Sarah became responsible for managing the on-site business and dealing with the day-to-day operation of the company. She was also given responsibility for the marketing and distribution of the products.
"The idea was for me to take over the running of the business to enable Lynn to concentrate more on the research and development work which is the side of the business she really enjoys," says Sarah. "It wasn't something I ever thought I would do, but as things evolved it felt right and it was something I was genuinely passionate about".
Lynn's choice of Sarah as partner and Managing Director turned out to be a winner for the business. She was steeped in the company's values, had the right business knowledge, and the experience of working in the demanding world of international modelling, in addition had energy, enthusiasm and a vision for expansion.
Above all, Sarah had the ability to approach her task in a highly professional and systematic way, developing a detailed business plan that identified the long-term goals for the company and the steps required to achieve those goals.
"I created a broad business plan working with a few key goals that the business wanted to achieve over a five-year period. These included expanding production capacity, extending the retail base, and rebranding the company. Then a more specific business plan was created to decide what to concentrate on for each of the coming years, with different objectives and actions to be carried out."
Parallel to this, Sarah also developed plans for different aspects of the business – such as marketing – with separate timelines and budgets drawn up to carry out their specific objectives.
"It's quite hard when there are so many facets to the business, you've got to decide what to promote or push for that year. We break down future years as well, but because they're longer term it's hard to be specific," explains Sarah, "usually we'll break them down into five objectives and decide if they will be growth years or consolidation years. That's the basis of our business plan."
For her planning tools, Sarah likes to keep things simple: "I just use Excel and Word. Every business is different so you find a format that works well for you. For me it's got to be visual – it's there for me to keep track of things, and so I can add things when necessary. There's no point in making a plan then filing it away – you've got to follow it and be accountable to it, seeing what doesn't work and why."
As the business expanded, more staff were brought in to take on specialised roles, such as accounting, sales, gardening and production.
"We've worked hard to analyse and document all of our standard operating procedures. This was a huge learning process for me, but having this level of documentation has enabled us to bring in other staff members and give them the capability to take over specific tasks."
This has meant Sarah has progressively had more and more time to work on expanding the business in a sustainable fashion.
