"We belong to a very progressive national chain (Flooring Xtra) but the heart of our business is the fact that our clients deal with the principals, Julie and I. That's why we like to deal with Darren Hull, who is a principal of his own company, Venter & Hull.
Big ticket items like carpet are the first projects to come under the magnifying glass in a recession, and although we have a great business that is supplemented by our interior decorating company, the past couple of years have been about knuckling down and watching the bottom line.
Darren has been a critical and leading part of this process, guiding and supporting us with the strategic management of our business.
We meet with Darren to review financial performance and business planning/development issues every month. A key part of this is preparation of monthly financial statements which helps us keep a control on our costs and helps us avoid horrible surprises. The best part is that because we have such a good reporting system, this allows us to concentrate our meetings on strategic planning and we like to involve Darren in all of our key operational decision-making.
We find Darren is a wonderful business mentor, very professional, trustworthy, caring and – can we say - calming? He is an indispensable part of our business."