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ON THE MOVE TRUHORIZON ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF ITS TECHNICAL SERVICE OFFERINGS TruHorizon Environmental Solutions announced that Bryce Docker has joined its technical services sales team. “For over a decade, our goal at TruHorizon has been to protect the health, welfare, and surroundings of the communities we serve. We’ve accomplished this by partnering with great companies in the energy industry to reduce their impact on these communities. The hiring of Bryce Docker represents an exciting time for TruHorizon, as we expand our technical expertise and service offerings to the construction and industrial markets. Bryce’s education and experience will allow us to support clients across all industries with their environmental and regulatory compliance needs,” said Michael W. Harlan, TruHorizon’s CEO. Docker has 20 years of experience in environmental engineering and consulting with an emphasis on acoustics and vibration.
Docker’s previous experience comes from such notable companies as Bell Helicopter and Brüel & Kjær, where he has worked with other engineers to develop innovative noise reduction technologies. Docker is a graduate of Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in Acoustics. He is a member of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering and the Acoustical Society of America. TruHorizon is a full-service environmental solutions company, headquartered in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with operations strategically located in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Texas. TruHorizon supports the North American energy, construction, and industrial markets with turnkey solutions for noise and vibration control, air quality monitoring, stormwater management and inspections, and compliance management.
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really sells work in this type of firm. No one else understands the business aspects of the business – they are all kept in the dark. Staff turnover is frequently a problem for firms like this. Owners of companies like this are beyond their personal capacity to run their business. And if this owner gets sick, goes through a divorce, or has any kind of personal problems and loses interest in the business for any reason, the system breaks down. ❚ ❚ Lack of management and business development depth. Again a very common problem with some smaller or mid-size AEC firms (let’s say fewer than 100 employees) in particular. The owner(s) may be bad delegators who don’t trust their people or share any financial information with them, nor do they do anything to train their people in selling and management. The result is there is no one to transition to. When the owners get tired or want to move on to the final chapters of their lives they are often trapped by their own companies. There is no successor or successors. They can’t get out. An external sale or shutting down are the only options. And no one wants to shut down. ❚ ❚ Firms with a PR problem. There could have been a disastrous project that resulted in a public lawsuit. Or maybe there was an ethical breach that has sullied the company’s reputation. While your first reaction could be this is the last kind of firm you’d want to buy, consider that you may be able to get them for pennies on the dollar. And again, you may get good employees and pick up some clients to boot. And if your post-acquisition plan includes an immediate name change with an aggressive PR program, you may be able to shed their reputational damage quickly. Bad things happen to good people. You can be their white knight savior. I find that using some of these other “screens” can actually lead to greater success in buying. The owners are motivated and more receptive to your inquiries, the prices you have to pay are lower, and their employees are more likely to be glad to see you in their offices coming to their rescue. These firms aren’t always easy to find. It takes some research and diligence. And they may be in Cleveland or Bakersfield instead of Dallas or Austin. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be great companies to buy. Rarely does a business achieve great success by doing what everyone else in the industry is doing. Is it time you looked at your acquisition strategy differently from all of your competitors? MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.
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THE ZWEIG LETTER December 16, 2019, ISSUE 1324
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