Murphy Shade Company: Transforming a Window Treatment Business

The Challenge

Brian Murphy runs Murphy Shade Company, a window treatment business serving residential and commercial customers throughout the greater Boston area. Like many skilled tradespeople who've built successful businesses through quality work and customer relationships, Brian found himself at a crossroads.

The business was profitable, but Brian was at capacity. He was handling everything from customer inquiries to installations, with limited visibility into which activities were actually driving profitability. More concerning, a detailed analysis revealed significant concentration risk: a disproportionate share of revenue was coming from just two clients.

Beyond the immediate financial concerns, Brian lacked the operational infrastructure needed to scale. There was no CRM to manage customer relationships, no formal project management system, and no data-driven approach to pricing and scheduling.

Our Approach

We began with a comprehensive financial diagnostic, analyzing Q2-Q4 2024 performance data to understand exactly where the business stood and where the opportunities lay.

Financial Analysis

The initial assessment revealed both strengths and vulnerabilities:

Performance Highlights:

• Served 35 clients across Q2-Q4 2024
• Strong gross profit margins above industry average
• Healthy profitability with room for optimization

Risk Factors Identified:

• High revenue concentration in top 2 clients
• Minimal marketing investment
• No formal systems for CRM, scheduling, or project management
• Owner capacity constraints limiting growth potential

Strategic Recommendations

Based on our analysis, we developed a prioritized set of recommendations:

Systems Infrastructure

A key component of our engagement was evaluating and recommending the right technology stack for Murphy Shade Company's needs. We assessed several platforms:

Field Service Management Options:

• ServiceTitan - Enterprise-grade solution with comprehensive features
• Jobber - Mid-market option with strong scheduling capabilities
• Housecall Pro - SMB-focused with easy adoption curve

Project Management Tools:

• Trello - Visual, simple task management
• ClickUp - Flexible workflows with customization
• Monday - Collaborative work management

The final selection balanced functionality with ease of adoption, recognizing that the best system is one that actually gets used consistently.

The 12-Month Strategic Roadmap

We structured the transformation into three phases:

Phase 1: Foundation (Months 1-3)

• Complete financial diagnostic and baseline metrics
• Implement core CRM functionality
• Establish pricing framework based on profitability targets
• Quick wins on scheduling optimization

Phase 2: Systems Implementation (Months 4-8)

• Deploy full project management workflow
• Launch marketing initiatives to diversify client base
• Implement geographic scheduling to reduce travel costs
• Begin tracking and optimizing profitability by project type

Phase 3: Growth & Optimization (Months 9-12)

• Scale marketing based on data from Phase 2
• Refine pricing strategy using accumulated data
• Evaluate capacity for bringing on additional installers
• Establish ongoing performance monitoring dashboards

The Results

Through our strategic partnership, Murphy Shade Company achieved significant improvements across key metrics:

Key Metrics Tracked

We established a data-driven approach to ongoing performance management, focusing on:

• Gross profit margin — targeting 5+ percentage point improvement
• Gross profit per hour — targeting 20%+ improvement through project selection
• Client concentration — targeting significant reduction in top-client dependency
• Average project size — targeting 50%+ increase through strategic positioning

Client Testimonial

"Revi Systems provided invaluable insights into my window treatment business. The expertise and guidance they gave me made a real impact, and I highly recommend their services to anyone looking to strengthen their business."

— Brian Murphy, Owner

Key Takeaways for Small Business Owners

This engagement reinforced several principles that apply across trades and service businesses:

1. Know Your Numbers

Brian was profitable but didn't have visibility into where that profit came from. Understanding profitability by project type revealed which jobs to prioritize and which to avoid.

2. Concentration Risk is Real

Depending on a small number of clients for a large portion of revenue is dangerous. One lost relationship can devastate the business. Diversification isn't just nice to have—it's essential.

3. Systems Enable Scale

Without the right infrastructure, the owner becomes the bottleneck. CRM, scheduling, and project management systems don't just improve efficiency—they create the foundation for growth.

4. Pricing Confidence Matters

Many tradespeople undercharge because they lack data to support higher prices. With clear metrics on costs and productivity, Brian could price with confidence and walk away from unprofitable work.

5. Strategy Beats Hustle

Working harder isn't the answer. Working smarter—on the right projects, for the right clients, with the right systems—creates sustainable growth without burnout.

Ready to transform your business operations? Schedule a call to discuss how we can help build your growth roadmap.