Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue IV, 2011 | Page 22

DOMINA
TORS
At the same time, anyone familiar
with the country’s demographics can
see a tidal wave on the horizon of people to care for on the Medicare side of
the business, while healthcare reform
has promised to boost the numbers of
people in Medicaid with millions of new
beneficiaries.
There’s another side to the healthcare reform initiative, one that worries
DiMarco. In a large service company
like his, he has quite a few people on
the payroll who don’t receive insur-

People ask me
about retirement
plans and I say,
retire to what?
This is what I
like to do.

ance coverage. Under the reform act,
companies will either have to pay for
those benefits, or face a stiff fee from
the government. That can hit the bottom line in a big way.
Still, DiMarco says that his seven
years at the helm of the company have
been a lot of fun—and he plans to keep
on doing it as long as it remains that
way. In the meantime, he has a vacation
home at Lake Las Vegas and a team of
managers he’s confident can handle the
challenges and opportunities ahead.

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: $165 million in 2010
2011 goals: $174 million, with 6 million hours of service.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? We do it the
financial way, but it’s also very subjective.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10
years? I ask myself that same question. People ask me about retirement plans
and I say, retire to what? This is what I like to do. I have the flexibility to be here
and elsewhere and there may come a time when it doesn’t fit anymore. But it
would have to be retirement to something, not just retirement.
How has the most recent economic cycle affected you, your
employees, your customers? From a hiring standpoint it has benefited us.
With reimbursement cuts it’s forcing us to look deeper, whether we can do things
better and more cost-efficiently. We’re able to absorb cuts, and growth also helps
offset cutbacks.
Are you experiencing economic growth/recovery in your market? On an overall basis we’re still growing. This year we’re at 8.5 percent, but
at the end of this year we may be down to 7 percent.
What did you change or do differently in today’s economy
that you plan to continue? We’ve looked at management and systems.
We’re changing the software we use to do our business, which will make us more
efficient in scheduling and the financial/billing end. That’s an investment of $3
million.
How do you forecast for your business in this economy? We go
through an annual budget process. We have main leaders in 45 offices where they
review markets and market plans. They prepare budgets and present to us during
a two-and-a-half week period. There’s a strategic planning committee meeting at
the end of September in Lake Las Vegas where we meet annually with key people
to figure out our direction, and where we need to change direction.
Where do you find capital for expansion? We have a great banking relationship in Columbus, where we’re based. And we generate cash flow to

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finance expansion. We have term debt, $15 million, that’s financed. It’s a 5-year
note and through cash flow we can pay it off in three years.
Is capital getting easier to access? Why/why not? For our
organization, it’s easier because of our performance. We put our banking relationships out for bid last winter. We had four banks that we invited to bid and all four
wanted the bid.
Have you used private equity, local banks, national banks,
other institutions? Local banks.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? In 2007, we
opened up ownership in the company. We now have 17 total shareholders in the
company, from generational shareholders in their 60s to their 40s. And they are
key people at the corporate and operations level. Depending on my exit strategy,
we can either sell the company, where all shareholders benefit, or the company
can buy me out.
What kinds of things are you doing to take care of your
employees? Our compensation package is all based on incentives, from the
receptionist on up. On a weekly basis if the business goes up, pay goes up. If it
goes down, pay goes down. They understand the risk/reward concept. For some
making $600 a week, they’ll have maybe $50 at risk. For vice presidents, their
pay is more incentive-based than baseline.
How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, healthcare, etc.)? Other than absorbing them, we also increased the size and talent
in the HR department. With all the rules and regulations out there, we need to be
on top of all of them. And they are complicated.
How do you reward/recognize to