Big Mountain Transport (BMT) is a first and last-mile parcel delivery company that operates in and around Salt Lake City, Utah. National shipping companies like FedEx rely on local contractors for pickup and delivery. BMT is one of those contractors, handling packages at the most crucial points on their journey.
In the middle of 2018, two smaller transport companies merged to create Big Mountain Transport. Bob Aris and his leadership team took over operations shortly after in July 2018. Bob’s vision for the company was to provide the highest quality service by hiring the right people and making smart investments in technology.
He wanted to put the company on a sustainable growth path. However, he was keenly aware of the growing pains that some companies face when they aren’t truly prepared to grow. Since 2018, Big Mountain Transport has expanded, handling 2 to 3 times the volume of packages they did at the company’s formation.
Pickup and delivery independent service providers work face-to-face with the public. That means they must be thorough, organized, fast, and friendly. At every stage of growth, Big Mountain Transport has been able to maintain consistent performance metrics and customer satisfaction. But for continued growth, Bob Aris knew he needed to implement more robust financial management and operational procedures.
Big Mountain Transport is now one of four companies that make up “Mountain Group”. This is a collection of companies that Bob and his team operate in tandem, including Big Mountain Transport, Markline, Mountain Group Equipment, and Lone Peak Trucking. Bob’s businesses have evolved and expanded their operations, creating some new operational challenges for Bob and his teams.
In order to restructure his businesses for a larger scale of operation, Bob knew he would need to seek professional financial management services. In early 2021, his own attention and time had been stretched to the limit.
A trusted colleague suggested that Bob reach out to Mary Ferry of Advantage Insights. Bob shared his companies’ financial databases with Mary and they worked together to formulate plans of action to address the most pressing challenges.
Big Mountain Transport is a company with unique payroll challenges. Their growth path has led them to begin hiring out of state. Bob needed a payroll platform that would allow them to easily hire and pay out-of-state drivers. Each state government has its own regulatory environment including rules for tax withholding and unemployment insurance that complicate payroll procedures. Big Mountain Transport also offers some unique payment incentives to its staff, resulting in complex payroll calculations.
According to Bob, Mary and her team were able to build a scalable payroll system to meet their needs. Advantage Insights has provided weekly support meetings to onboard Bob’s staff to the new payroll system.
“Advantage Insights has deep expertise and they understand the complexity and unique methodology we have for some of our team incentives.”
-Bob Aris, Owner/President, Mountain Group Companies
This new payroll system is fully integrated with BMT’s financial statements in QuickBooks, creating a consistency of information across their management systems.
Because of his background in finance, Bob Aris knew how increased visibility of his companies’ finances could transform his operations. He also understood the time and focus needed to overhaul their financial statements would be too much to add to his plate. According to Bob, their financial statements were suitable for their current size, but in order to grow, he needed more complete, potent financial reporting.
As described above, Mountain Group is comprised of smaller companies that handle different aspects of their overall operations. Bob needed to be able to get a read on the financial performance of each company and review relevant KPIs for each. He also wanted financial statements that could reflect the financial health of Mountain Group as a whole.
With help from Advantage Insights, Mountain Group’s financial statements can deliver more information than ever. Mary and her team use Futrli to provide individual reports for Bob’s companies, as well as an overall view of Mountain Group’s financial performance.
Bob’s new financial statements go even further than he expected. He can now track individual metrics like gas used per dispatch, per mile, per stop, etc. All costs and income associated with any delivery or contract can be tracked. This granular financial reporting allows Bob and his teams to easily identify areas for improvement or opportunity.
“I showed the detailed reports I get every week to one of my peers and they nearly fell out of their chair. ‘You get this every week?!’”
-Bob Aris, Owner/President, Mountain Group Companies
The Advantage Insights team has helped organize legacy information and build processes that keep Mountain Group’s financial statements current, accurate, and searchable. Any performance indicator that Bob and his teams want to track can be built into regular reports with help from Advantage Insights.
Before Mountain Group partnered with Advantage Insights, their budgeting practices were somewhat limited. Bob and his teams had set expense benchmarks and crude growth expectations but weren’t producing highly-detailed budgets. This would need to change in order to accommodate hiring new employees at an increased rate.
Part of Bob’s growth strategy is to hire high-quality team members and limit turnover. In order to responsibly commit to a growing payroll, Mountain Group companies would need to budget accordingly.
Hiring demands aren’t the only reason why Bob wanted to produce more advanced budgets. Another growth strategy relates to their equipment and technology. Mountain Group companies invest heavily in equipment and technology that will allow them to scale up dramatically. These investments represent serious financial commitments that necessitate multi-year strategies.
With more detailed budgets, Mountain Group will be able to confidently invest in tools and software with their profit projections in mind. Advantage Insights has introduced custom solutions for budgeting, drawing from increased visibility from financial statements. Mountain Group leadership is better able to understand their financial limits and expected profits, helping them invest aggressively and sustainably.
For Bob Aris, smart growth means remaining profitable and managing uncertainty. Current market conditions that impact price, supply, and demand are historically volatile, increasing uncertainty. In such an environment, thorough financial management represents a key competitive advantage.
Big Mountain Transport is a successful, growing company built on teams of exceptional people. But that growth has introduced challenges of scale. These challenges demand more information in order to identify prudent solutions.
Bob reached out to Advantage Insights because he understood the complexity of these challenges. Upon working with Mary and her team, Bob says he wishes he could find more partnerships that were just as beneficial as this one.
“When Mary tackles a challenge for me, I have this incredible comfort level with her expertise and the knowledge of her team.”
-Bob Aris, Owner/President, Mountain Group Companies
For Bob Aris, a partnership with Advantage Insights has provided an unexpectedly high level of financial awareness. He can now plan further into the future, creating a multi-year path to build the infrastructure they need for continued growth.
Like all Advantage Insights clients, Mountain Group enjoys a level of support that is tailored to their needs.
“We can’t afford to hire someone of Mary’s caliber full time, but her fractional model is tremendous. We get as much of her time as we need without more than we need.”
-Bob Aris, Owner/President, Mountain Group Companies
No matter what stage of growth your business is in, Advantage Insights is an ideal partner. Financial management services are varied, focused, and flexible to meet the unique challenges your business faces. You can learn more with a free consultation, or contact us if you have any questions.