PGV Advisors Managing Partner on That Business Show with Jamie and Kelly

Chris Clabby, Managing Partner at PGV Advisors appeared on That Business Show with Jamie and Kelly. PGV Advisors helps organizations grow profitably by implementing strategies that drive strategic cost reduction, improved working capital, profitable revenue growth.

Chris Clabby and his partner, Sam Datta formed PGV Advisors a little over two years ago and have known and worked with each other for over 10 years. Chris refers to himself as a “reformed Accountant”. He began in Public Accounting and spent many years as Central Florida Office Managing Partner for an international accounting and consulting firm. Chris first began on the tax side, however, quickly learned that many of his clients didn’t want to talk about their tax return from the prior year. They wanted to discuss their business growth and the various ways that Chris could help them save money. From there he learned tax consulting and strategy ideas leading him to focus on that sector. Chris helped his clients in areas of operations or finance. He partnered with other individuals where he built upon his skill-set and created a highly qualified team. From there, Chris found the need for this business, thus he and Sam decided to start their own company.

PGV Advisors’ process includes taking a comprehensive view of the company from top to bottom in order to tailor the approach for each company. PGV looks to the category of spend and finds where there is opportunity to save. From there, PGV Advisors completes a “no charge, risk free” assessment up front They look at the organization and return with multiple areas where they believe they are able find cost savings. What is unique about their process is that, alongside cost savings, PGV Advisors also tells companies their risk profile as well as the complexity of actually making the change.

The focus at PGV Advisors is to assist organizations in creating wealth and opportunity. Approximately 70-75% of what PGV Advisors accomplish is assisting companies in improving their cost-structure. This entails finding goods and services at better price points, enhancing vendor relationships, as well as having the tools and processes to make it sustainable. When PGV completes work for a client, they are finally able to have visibility into their operations and assurance that those savings are sustainable.

Chris explains that many times they will find that companies outgrow their processes and focused on only their core business. Most companies have their business under control, however the problem arises through the unmanaged costs, which is usually 30-40% of a company’s spend. The reason for this is that there is usually a broken or unmanaged process that is causing the opportunity to reduce costs. This is generally due to selling and general administrative expenses. Chris states that many companies purchase services or items on a regular basis without thinking about all of the possibilities needed for maximum cost efficiency. These opportunities missed include understanding market value versus what they are paying and how they might go about procuring items from their vendors.

An advantage of using PGV Advisors is that their services are completely risk-free. PGV offers free assessments and present areas of opportunity to the management team of a company. Usually at the end of the conversation, the management team finds that there are a few areas in which PGV may help them. From there, PGV Advisors needs just one month of bills and contracts and then works behind the scenes. Once completed, PGV will bring back alternative models or a “game plan” for cost savings, such as a different set of vendors or processes. The company makes the final decision on execution. Additionally, the best part about PGV Advisors is that this process is conducted on a success-fee basis.

PGV Advisors offers their services to various organizations in any industry including non-profits, higher education, hospitality, and manufacturing – essentially any institution that is spending money. The PGV team customizes their approach based on where each institution is spending money. Chris shares an through his client that is a $3 Billion company spending a significant amount on telecom in the U.S. PGV Advisors was able to save the company 51% on their cell phone and data plans in the U.S. by learning where they spent money. In this case, it was done through inquiring where the company’s employees were travelling. PGV Advisors then negotiated to get the roaming rates eliminated for Canada and Mexico, which saved them a great deal of spending.

Presently PGV Advisors operates in four major markets: Florida, Houston/Dallas, Atlanta, and New York. There are about 30 employees PGV Advisors plus and offshore team in India where they perform financial analysis and market research. With Florida being one of the four major market places, Chris describes the exciting growth in the Tampa Bay Business Community. He states that Tampa maintains many entrepreneurs, businesses, and a great culture all of which fosters the city’s growth leading to many new opportunities for the middle market industry. With the development of the business community alongside Downtown area, Tampa is guaranteed to bring many new and exciting business growths, which in turn benefits all within the community.

Watch Chris Clabby’s on That Business segment with Jamie and Kelly here!

Learn more about PGV Advisors and many of their client success stories!

Categorized in: Work

This post was written by Elevate, Inc.