Tell me about yourself and your company.
I’m a two-time grandfather and I recently moved to Texas with my wife. I’m part of an organization currently called ERA Group — up until last year known as Expense Reduction Analysts. ERA Group is a global cost-management consultancy that helps businesses optimize supplier contracts and reduce expenses, on a performance-based “no savings, no fee” model by sharing in the savings it delivers. The company started 32 years ago in the manufacturing industry in the UK and is still headquartered there. We’ve expanded globally, which means we can tap into expertise that might not exist in the U.S.
For example, in the EU, they’re able to do some very creative things with energy cost management that we can’t here because of our regulations. That’s the beauty of a global network — if a client’s challenge is outside my wheelhouse, there’s probably someone, somewhere in ERA who’s solved it before.
In the U.S., we have about 230 consultants. Our headquarters is just outside Dallas, but we’re fully virtual.
For someone who’s never heard of ERA, can you walk me through exactly what you do from the first conversation with a client to delivering results?
We start by evaluating the previous 12 months’ vendor spend – we want to know who they’ve paid and how much. Then we come back with an Opportunity Assessment with data on where we think there are cost categories with potential savings, typically health insurance, IT/telecom, office supplies, medical supplies, etc. If the prospect agrees, our analysts will take a deeper dive to find out exactly what service or product they bought and for how much. Once we’ve determined what we call a “baseline cost”, we can renegotiate with incumbents or go to market to find new vendors. We present the options to the client, and the decision is completely up to them on which option to choose. We do find that almost 70% of the time clients stay with incumbent suppliers!
Once they choose their option, our team will work with the existing vendors on contracts or implementation of the new vendor. Then we monitor monthly, quarterly, or annually for 3 years. The engagement period allows us to make sure the vendors are delivering on what they promised. It also determines what we get paid as our fee comes from real savings; and most importantly, it allows the projects to be self-sustaining.
And this wasn’t your background originally, right?
Not even close. Three years ago, if you’d asked me about cost management, I’d have said, “What the heck is that?” My background is almost entirely in sales — mostly enterprise-level software sales, often in manufacturing and engineering.
I like to joke that I have a master’s in physics and somehow ended up in sales. I tell myself the degree helped me talk to engineers and maybe gave me some “street cred” with technical teams, but honestly, software sales is a different animal.
My wife and I moved here four years ago, and I joined a software company out of Austin that made delivery management software — mainly for lumber yards. I’d tell my wife, “If you see a truck with a forklift on the back, that’s my customer.”
Then came the plot twist. On a bleak Friday the 13th in January 2023, my boss called me. The first time he’d called was to hire me — this time it was to say he couldn’t pay me anymore. I was in my mid-50s and suddenly thinking, “Well, now what?”
I filed for unemployment, updated my LinkedIn to “Open to Work,” and that Monday I got a message offering free career counseling. I was skeptical but figured, “Why not?”
It turned out not to be a sales pitch but a guided process to help me decide my next step. They worked with people at career crossroads — some retire, some go back to a W-2 role, and some buy a franchise.
When you hear “franchise,” you probably think Dunkin’ Donuts or Jiffy Lube. I learned it’s much broader — there are franchises in coaching, accounting, IT, wellness, fitness, even chiropractic. (I’m a member of The Joint, which is a franchise.)
I didn’t have $200K sitting around, but I discovered the ROBS program — a section of the tax code that lets you use retirement savings to start a business without taxes or penalties. I had a dormant 401(k) from previous jobs, so I thought, “Maybe this is the way.”
On August 1, 2023, I launched my ERA practice. It’s been just over two years now.
I love a good redemption story! On paper, it looks like a big career shift, but maybe not as big as it seems?
Exactly. I wanted to stay in B2B, avoid brick-and-mortar, and not have employees. My wife has employees, and let’s just say I hear the downsides over dinner.
In software sales, my job was to open doors and connect the right people — not to become a deep technical expert myself. ERA is the same way. I bring curious executives to the table and introduce them to subject matter experts who can dig deep into their cost structure.
What kinds of expenses were you most excited to help companies reduce? Where do you typically find the biggest wins?
Definitely insurance, especially health insurance, shipping with UPS/FedEx, merchant card fees. Really, a lot of the areas where we as consumers know we’re getting the shaft!
Who’s the ideal client for ERA — industry, size, or stage of growth? And conversely, who might not be a good fit?
We are industry agnostic, but our top 5 verticals are manufacturing, healthcare, nonprofits, retail & distribution, and private education. Typically, we are looking to work with companies with $10M+ in revenue, and we like businesses with multiple locations as there are added facility costs!
As a CFO, if someone offered to evaluate my costs for free, I’d jump on it. Why do people say no?
It’s one of the biggest surprises for new people in this line of work. The main reason people say no? It’s not a priority.
If I ask a business owner, “What would you do with an extra $200K?” and they can’t answer, they probably don’t feel the need. Sometimes outside factors overshadow cost savings — like tariffs or supply chain instability. I’ve had clients hit pause because they were more worried about 95% of their products coming from China than saving $100K on insurance.
Pain drives action. If there’s no urgency, they’ll ghost you.
That’s what I’m seeing too. Even now, with companies struggling or going under, some still aren’t motivated.
Yep. I know people in turnaround consulting — the folks you call when you can’t make payroll. Back in February, we thought 2024 would be a huge year for them and for us. By summer, they were still “waiting for the wave.”
I think a lot of owners are sitting on cash, strengthening their position, and waiting to see what happens — which is counterintuitive, because now’s the time to optimize expenses before you’re forced to cut jobs.
If I’m a business owner, what are the top 3 signs or pain points that mean I should pick up the phone and call you?
- When a company is experiencing a cashflow crunch
- There is added pressure to increase margin or EBIDTA
- If an owner is thinking about an exit.
Can you give me an example of a recent client success story — what you did, what you found, and what the outcome was?
We worked with a small e-commerce company, $5M in revenue, on reducing their shipping costs. We ended up saving them $250k!
Another one I like to talk about is a $15M Community Health Center in CA where we saved them over $600k in lab services, language translation, medical supplies, and shipping. The key here is that our savings are unrestricted funds, and these folks used the extra cash to help pay their employees!!
One thing I love about your model is you already fit into a company’s budget. You’re recovering money they’ve already spent.
Exactly. That’s what drew me to ERA. We’re helping people keep employees, grow, and expand — without adding new costs. And if a company doesn’t meet our minimum threshold, sometimes I can help them by connecting them to my network.
There are other cost-reduction firms out there. How does ERA set itself apart?
First, we are one of, if not the only one, that operates globally in over 60 countries! Second, we have an experienced team of 60+ expert analysts in the different cost categories in which we work. Part of our analyst’s secret sauce is the vendor networks they’ve created, not from commissions or kickbacks as we don’t accept those, these are true relationships built around helping clients.
Anything else you want people to know?
Other than the fact I’m a dog owner — two dogs, which sometimes wins people over — I’d say our biggest competition isn’t other firms, it’s skepticism, fear, and ego.
- Skepticism: “This is too good to be true.”
- Fear: They don’t want to share their financials, or they worry we’ll find something embarrassing, or that we’ll make them look bad.
- Ego: Longtime CFOs who believe, “I’ve been doing this for 32 years; I know what I’m doing.” Those are the toughest to win over.
Even if they had the time, they don’t have the breadth of experience your team brings.
Right. A CFO’s job is to keep the doors open and look ahead. Let us find the cash for you so you can focus on strategy.
And time in a role doesn’t necessarily make you an expert.
Absolutely. I’m amazed every day by new companies and tools I’d never heard of. It’s like physics — when I was in school, our textbooks felt complete. Now there are particles that didn’t even exist in our understanding back then. Knowledge changes fast, and the pace is only accelerating.
Do you ever uncover operational inefficiencies or opportunities outside of cost savings when you work with clients?
For sure, and I think that is an under-marketed service we provide as everyone thinks ERA is just about beating up vendors for a better price. Many times, cost savings come from process improvements in an organization. These could be making better purchasing decisions like buying in bulk and consolidating vendors. Other areas are exploring other options available in the marketplace. We do a lot of tweaks, and our goal is to get our clients at least equal if not better products and services at a great price!
Let’s close with the elephant in the room — AI. Friend or foe?
Definitely a friend. I’ve made three pivot tables in my life — two of them with ChatGPT. I’m not an Excel guy, but in five minutes, ChatGPT took raw GL data and turned it into a pivot table with vendor summaries.
AI is great for tedious tasks and first drafts, but it still needs human oversight. It can’t tell me if a price is at market value or whether something matters to a specific client. What it does is free up our time to focus on the strategic, human side of the work.
Love that.
