General Driveshaft Service, Inc.
133 W Maple Avenue
Monrovia, CA 91016
Duane and Kristin Howland are the management team of General Driveshaft Service, Inc in Monrovia, California. The company builds and modifies driveshafts for rear-wheel-drive vehicles. The vehicles Duane works on range from large diesel trucks to high-performance race cars and even classic cars. Duane worked for the company for 23 years when the previous owner decided to retire and sell the business. “In 2016, we were trying to figure out if we were going to buy this business (General Driveshaft) or if Duane was going out on his own. We got to the point where we wanted to buy this business and we weren’t quite sure how to do that or how to negotiate with the previous owner. We really didn’t know where to start,” Kristin explained.
The University of La Verne SBDC had just opened its doors and became the talk in certain circles on campus. Kristin became familiar with the center and reached out for consulting. There were only two working consultants at the time: Malcolm Geffen and the center’s director Sean Snider.
One of the first challenges the duo had was agreeing on a purchase price with the owner of the business. “From my perspective, we were quite far apart from what we thought was fair in terms of the price. What he (the previous owner) thought was a fair price we were way apart,” Kristin explained. After weeks of negotiations and the assistance of Malcolm they were finally able to agree to a purchase price and bought the business.
133 W Maple Avenue
Monrovia, CA 91016
Duane and Kristin Howland are the management team of General Driveshaft Service, Inc in Monrovia, California. The company builds and modifies driveshafts for rear-wheel-drive vehicles. The vehicles Duane works on range from large diesel trucks to high-performance race cars and even classic cars. Duane worked for the company for 23 years when the previous owner decided to retire and sell the business. “In 2016, we were trying to figure out if we were going to buy this business (General Driveshaft) or if Duane was going out on his own. We got to the point where we wanted to buy this business and we weren’t quite sure how to do that or how to negotiate with the previous owner. We really didn’t know where to start,” Kristin explained.
The University of La Verne SBDC had just opened its doors and became the talk in certain circles on campus. Kristin became familiar with the center and reached out for consulting. There were only two working consultants at the time: Malcolm Geffen and the center’s director Sean Snider.
One of the first challenges the duo had was agreeing on a purchase price with the owner of the business. “From my perspective, we were quite far apart from what we thought was fair in terms of the price. What he (the previous owner) thought was a fair price we were way apart,” Kristin explained. After weeks of negotiations and the assistance of Malcolm they were finally able to agree to a purchase price and bought the business.
The other challenge after acquiring was taking over the finances of the business. The new owners were unsure if the current accounting system used by the previous owner was accurate. “It took a little bit to unwind that from the previous owner. We had to go back and forth for about 3 months. The previous owner set things up in Quickbooks in his own ‘special way’.” The new owners did run into some other difficulties dealing with vendors after they took over the company but many of those issues worked themselves out.
Malcolm’s guidance has been important to the business, Duane explained his best piece of advice.“The number 1 thing was putting a value on it (business). How do you value a business and what’s a fair price to purchase it at? Obviously, if you pay too much for a business it will take you a long time to work out of that hole.” Malcolm assured the couple of the leverage they had during the negotiating process. “It kind of came down to push and shove. Basically, I was ready to walk away because I was ready to start my own business. Once the owner realized that if I left he would be left with nothing, he came around and decided for the price we asked for,” Duane continued.
Malcolm also helped Duane and Kristin with the task of managing the finances and correcting any discrepancies before acquiring the business. “That part took a long time to unravel, correct, and have things report right,” Kristin explained. Malcolm advised how to manage the business finances once the transfer was completed. “I feel like he gave us a sound way to account for things. He’s helped me with that. He has gone through our balance sheet and P&L. It helped me make sense of things, initially when they didn't make sense to me, and just helped us have it be cleaner,” Kristin continued.
Since consulting with Malcolm and the SBDC General Driveshaft Service, Inc. saw a few notable results. “Our sales have gone up 400% since we took over,” Kristin said emphatically. The owners Duane and Kristin also reorganized the operations, “We’re at one (employee) right now. Our sales have not dipped at all. So, not having them (employees), we are actually leaner but again more profitable,” Duane explained. The company has consistently increased their volume even through COVID-19, that has changed the way the business has interacted with customers but has not impacted their profitability.
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