Scott Futch

First, established an S corporation and then began the process of building the company. Hired a forest technician, secured an office location, established a line of credit, and formed an initial customer base of Fortune 500 pulp and paper manufacturers, as well as solid wood products manufacturers. Next, hired logging contractors, negotiated supply and price agreements with new customers, and began accepting wood orders. Finally, developed business policies and procedures, hired a team of employees, established company and individual goals, and continuously improved all areas of the business to stay on track for profitability and growth.

The business produced over four million tons of wood fiber for more than 20 customer mills and achieved $120 million in total sales revenue over the life of the company. Through hard work and persistence, expanded the business with each customer, secured larger wood orders as time progressed, and increased profits by growing sales revenue and effectively managing costs.

Learned an approach that greatly benefited the business from November through April by securing larger wood orders at special prices. Beginning in the summer months, as the company purchased tracts of timber and placed them in the inventory, looked for qualities in a tract that identified it as one that could be sold in the winter months or during wet weather at special or higher prices. Ear marked potential tracts, then later combined these tracts together in a package deal to commit to the customer. After combining several tracts into one deal, presented this sales opportunity to the customer, agreed on a price, and guaranteed delivery of the products during a specific time of high demand.

Successfully increased tract profits by 50% to 100% by selling them in bulk to the company’s preferred customers. The higher prices and larger volumes of product shipped not only resulted in considerably higher profits, but also gave the company great credibility and proved its loyalty and dependability to its customers.

First, began calling customer contacts at the many manufacturing mills in the territory, introduced them to JTTCO, and established them as new customers for the company. Then purchased timber to build an inventory and hired logging contractors to harvest timber. Hired new employees and subcontractors, developed new customers, managed customer relations, and oversaw all timber acquisitions. Finally, negotiated sales contracts, prices, product quantities, and wood specifications with customers and consistently delivered products on time and in the correct quantities on a weekly basis to successfully meet their needs.

Within six months, established many new customers, built a team of logging contractors and direct report employees, and produced large quantities of forest products. Sales in the new division went from zero at startup to over $150,000 weekly. By the end of year one, annual sales revenue was more than $8 million with gross profits of over $1.2 million.