James Hill never dreamed he'd open up his ledger books, disclose business goals or share shop secrets with a team of consultants.
Especially not for a class project.
"I remember what I thought at first: 'Oh, I'm going to have these students over here and bugging me, but I'll help them out' - you know, a charity kind of thing," Hill said the other day, laughing at the now-absurd notion. "I didn't really think I'd get this much out of it - and we really got a lot out of it."
Hill, co-manager of Sleepy Sheep Inc., is sleeping well at night knowing he made a good decision.
The business plan compiled for him free of charge by a team of Kansas University students - part of a semesterlong Small Business Management class offered by the School of Business - continues providing firm support for the mattress and bedding business, 2223 La., which is watching its sales and customer count rise with help from the outsiders' expertise.
"We're going to keep using this thing," said Hill. "It'll be helping us over the next three or four years."
The class, re-launched last fall after a decadelong hiatus, offers students a chance to put their classroom knowledge to work for real businesses.
The class accepts as many as 25 juniors and seniors who are pursuing Bachelor of Business Administration degrees. The students then spend the first month learning how to be consultants - how to fill out time sheets, deliver progress reports and conduct themselves in a business environment - before setting out to help analyze the operations, finances and other components of small businesses in Lawrence, Topeka and the Kansas City metro area.
'Head to toe' exam
"They'll look at it from head to toe," said Curt Clinkinbeard, regional director for the KU Small Business Development Center, who advises the class as a mentor. "We tell them to brainstorm: Don't just come up with three brilliant ideas. Come up with 50 ideas, and let the business figure out which 47 stink. We encourage the students not to hold back. :
": It's insight. Having outside eyes looking in at the business, in a detailed way, is a pretty powerful concept."
The class already has three businesses confirmed as participants for this semester, and inquiries are still being accepted for the remaining two spots and for future classes, said Joyce Claterbos, a business lecturer who teaches the course.
All of the projects are conducted with the expectation that the students will maintain strict confidentiality with their clients, she said. In exchange, the students spend about 250 hours delving into their work - reviewing industry analyses, compiling marketing plans or perhaps traveling to meet with suppliers or customers.
Or even competitors.
"We literally teach them how to be consultants," Claterbos said. "The students research the industry the client is in. They research the competition. They research trends that might be coming up in the industry. For a retailer it might be fashion trends. Or food trends for a restaurant. For a furniture store it might be styles, colors.
"It can help you position yourself so that you have a viable market and you can earn yourself enough to keep you going without directly competing against somebody like a Nebraska Furniture Mart, or a Wal-Mart, or a Target."
'Definitely worth it'
For the folks at Sleepy Sheep, the student team helped develop a marketing plan that called for reaching out to Baldwin, Ottawa and other outlying communities. The students also helped the business improve its focus on particular segments of customers, from students to high-end buyers.
But the biggest payoff came from the suggestion that Sleepy Sheep should market "add-ons" for mattresses, Hill said. The company started fluffing up the store's offerings of bedding, headboards and other items that can make for a comfortable sleep.
While last year's typical sale ranged from $500 to $600, Hill said, the average transition now ranges from $600 to $800.
"We've really focused on building a bigger ticket," said Hill who manages the family-owned store with his brother, Don. "Our average ticket is up a lot more this year. We're just selling more (items with each sale), because of what we did with the students. And we're writing more tickets. :
": It a little bit of time and effort on my part, but it was definitely worth it."
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