chv_group

Meet Tony | Strategic & Operational Advisory

Liam@studentunionsports.com (Liam Smith) — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 02:00:00 GMT

Tony Koechli | Strategic & Operational Advisory

Tony Koechli established CHV Group LLC in 2003 after more than 25 years of service in privately-owned companies. Today, CHV Group provides practical strategic and operational advisory for business owners and management teams.

Experience Built Inside the Business

Tony's background spans product and process development, global marketing and sales, and managing organizations. He has developed and implemented strategies, managed turnarounds, implemented lean systems, and assisted in mergers and acquisitions.

An International Perspective

Tony has spent most of his career in international positions, residing in Switzerland, Germany, and the United States, and has conducted business throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. He holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a BBA, and is PBCA certified.

How CHV Group Helps

As a single-owner practice, CHV Group works directly with owners and leadership teams in four areas:

Strategy & Planning : Business plans, scenarios, budgets and KPIs
Operational Excellence : Lean, Kaizen, productivity and profitability
Growth Strategies : Market expansion and buy-side acquisitions
Management Advisory : Leadership, execution and succession planning

The approach is Strategy → Business Plan → Budget → KPIs → Execution, turning strategic objectives into practical action and measurable business results.

Let's Discuss Your Business.

Whether you are planning for growth, improving performance, or preparing for a business transition, CHV Group can help.

Contact CHV Group →

What Defines a Learning Culture?

Liam@studentunionsports.com (Liam Smith) — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 15:19:00 GMT

What defines a learning culture?

Creating a Learning Culture within your company or business is a great way to grow the skillsets of your employees. In short, a learning culture can be found in an organization that promotes the development of staff, a healthy collaboration between teams, and employs constructive feedback loops.

Purpose is a word that comes up a lot in today’s job culture. While it is important to the individual, purpose means something different to everyone, and shouldn’t be used as an ideology in a business.

A lot of business lectures and seminars will talk about having a ‘purposeful culture’ but we prefer to instill a learning culture. Not every person is able to find a job in which they find purpose.

In a learning culture, almost everyone has a desire to grow and learn new skills. A learning culture requires a plan to cultivate the right mindset and skillset, but it produces happy and committed employees, which increases the value of a company.

The characteristics of a successful learning culture are closely linked to the ongoing strategies employed by the organization to motivate learning.

Want to learn more about building a Learning Culture within your company? Reach out to the experts at CHV Group for a free consultation

The Growth Triple Play: Combining Creativity, Analytics & Purpose

Liam@studentunionsports.com (Liam Smith) — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 13:29:00 GMT

The Growth Triple Play: Combining Creativity, Analytics & Purpose

According to a McKinsey study, companies that combine creativity, analytics, and purpose are growing at twice the rate of companies that only use one or two of those factors. While creativity has been used in marketing for years, data analytics have also become an integral part of successful business campaigns. Now entering the fold is the concept of “purpose”. Purpose is a new addition that can represent the overall mission of the company or product.

One of the key takeaways from this study shows that “In the period 2018–19, companies using just one of the capabilities—either creativity, analytics, or purpose—saw an average growth rate of more than 6 percent. Adding a second component saw growth rates climb to more than 7 percent. For those that employed the full triple play, growth rates climbed to more than 12 percent.”

Contact the Team at CHV Group if you would like to learn more about how to incorporate the concepts of creativity, analytics & purpose into your organization!

If you would like to read the full McKinsey study referenced above, click here!

Value Driver # 3: Your Management / Operational Team

Liam@studentunionsports.com (Liam Smith) — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 20:02:00 GMT

Value Driver # 3: Your Management / Operational Team

We recently had conversations with two business owners about the future of their companies. Both of them are in the value-added distribution space and have no products of their own.

Both companies were owned by married couples that put most of their effort into building and growing the company. While preoccupied with growing their companies, neither set of owners sought to hire a management team capable of running the company without them. Over the last few years, both companies have remained profitable, but stagnant in growth.

Our suggestion was that their hard work made them good money, but the lack of infrastructure was holding their businesses back.

The CHV team advised that they establish a strong management team and day-to-day system of operation. Doing this will ultimately increase the value of their business and position it for growth.

Need advice on establishing a strong management team at your Company? Contact us today at CHV Group!

Addressing Issues Between Personnel: Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

Liam@studentunionsports.com (Liam Smith) — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 20:56:00 GMT

Addressing Issues Between Personnel: Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

As an Entrepreneur, Leader & Owner, it’s important to keep your finger on the pulse of your operation. Often small, overlooked situations involving operational staff or personnel can cause hidden issues that negatively influence the chemistry among co-workers.

In many cases, disagreements about work or other issues can take a toll on how your employees interact with and support one another. If possible, it’s important to diffuse the situation early on before it can escalate.

Many leaders will let these conflicts develop, hoping they resolve themselves because they feel uncomfortable stepping in. Most of the time, these situations need to be handled early on, as motivation and morale in the workplace can be harmed if these situations fester. If you’re a leader who struggles to handle these situations.

Do you not feel comfortable addressing personal, social & operational disputes/issues between your employees? Reach out to CHV Group and we will provide options on how you can navigate this situation!

Coach Tony | Leaving Your Comfort Zone

Liam@studentunionsports.com (Liam Smith) — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 15:58:00 GMT

Coach Tony | Leaving Your Comfort Zone

Are your employees cruising in the “Comfort Zone?” This is a question that any Small Business Owner should consider. If members of your team are not performing to their highest abilities, you may find yourself going beyond your daily workload to fulfill their duties.

Instead, consider setting up a program/creating a culture that encourages your employees to go above and beyond in their day-to-day operations. Promoting the concepts of accountability and individual effort can go a long way in helping your employees elevate their performance and tap into a new level of productivity.

Consider your employee’s “Comfort Zone”... not in a physical context, but a mental context. Oftentimes, anxiety and fears are the biggest hurdles to overcome. In many ways, anxiety can be the enemy of both production and creativity. This can especially be true when faced with a new job or role.

Whether someone is starting a new job, or getting promoted, these new responsibilities will force the employee to leave their comfort zone. For an individual, this can often be very overwhelming. Typically, it is best to encourage accountable employees to dive in and meet these anxieties head on, as that will be the best way to learn and grow from the experience.

It is only when you overcome your fears and anxieties, that you will achieve both breakthroughs and liberation in your life.

For more advice on your business, reach out to CHV Group today!

Coach Tony – Communication in an International, Multi-Generational Workforce

Liam@studentunionsports.com (Liam Smith) — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 21:30:00 GMT

Value Drivers: Recurring Revenue Streams

Liam@studentunionsports.com (Liam Smith) — Wed, 26 May 2021 15:19:00 GMT

Value Drivers: Strength of Customer Base, Brand and Value offering

The strength of your customer base and brand can help drive the value of your business up.

Recurring revenue stream, customer retention and value offering in project-related businesses are core components for predictable sales and positive top-line growth. When it comes to customer retention, a well-defined brand and value strategy is essential to growing your base of loyal customers, while also attracting new ones.

For example, CHV Group recently worked with a project-based company in the field of capital equipment installation. This particular company had inconsistency in revenue, due to an insufficient pipeline of customers.

Integrating a business development team with a long term strategy made the company much more consistent, allowing the performance and brand to remain focused on thinking 2-3 years ahead with systems in place to both retain and attract customers.

In a separate case study, we worked with a business that had excellent customer growth. However, the product mix was heavily influenced by the gross margin of individual products and, thus, diluted the overall bottom line.

Another thing to consider is the quality of growth. When in doubt, always opt for profit growth, rather than sales.

Want to talk more about potential ways to improve your Recurring Revenue Streams? Contact our team today at CHV Group!

Coach Tony - Plan for Timeouts!

Liam@studentunionsports.com (Liam Smith) — Wed, 12 May 2021 15:04:00 GMT

Coach Tony - Plan for Timeouts!

Running a business can be stressful, so plan breaks from work and add time for reflection. This can be a useful break for reflection. Consider if you run the business or the business runs you!

Sometimes, business owners can get caught up in new projects or the day-to-day grind and get stuck completing tasks that should be delegated to other employees. The best way to avoid this is observing and planning to create an environment that rewards teamwork. Further implementing a leadership development program could also bring out qualities in employees that were previously unseen.

Organizing your operation in this way will allow you to sit back and oversee the business while also allowing timeouts away from the business. A business that succeeds without daily input from the owner will work cohesively and be valued higher.

Coach Tony – How does your Team Work Under Stress?

Wed, 12 May 2021 14:29:00 GMT

Coach Tony – How does your Team Work Under Stress?

How does your Team perform and handle stress when working in critical situations?

Does your team possess the diversified expertise and composure to both communicate and execute on their ideas in an efficient fashion? Are they able to collaborate on ideas in order to find the optimal solution for any given problem that they may face each day?

Have you ever measured your team's performance in critical situations? This is the first step to providing appropriate support guidance to your employees. If you don’t know where to start with measuring your team’s efficiency, or feel that there is room for improvement… Contact CHV Group today if you would like to take a deeper dive into the efficiency of your team’s process.

Business Value Drivers # 1 – Data storage and Management

Thu, 06 May 2021 17:29:00 GMT

Business Value Drivers: Data storage & Management

Does your company utilize Enterprise Resource Planning Systems to optimize the management and decision making associated with your operation? In today's competitive marketplace, ERP Systems are applicable to nearly any form of industry. With that in mind, it is evident that companies should invest time/capital into a system that keeps your data in one place, allowing you to sift through data necessary for making important decisions both quickly and efficiently.

CHV Group is currently working with a small family business that has produced a great product with potential to be sold nationwide through either retail or digital marketplaces.

After taking a closer look at the Company, two factors stood out

A) Why are the profits lower than Industry standard?

B) Where can our customers be found, especially online?

After checking in on the hourly workload of specific employees, it showed that there was one highly skilled worker doing analysis, while also having to input and sort his data. This can be a very time consuming process!

After researching the Market for an adequate ERP system, the company's owner opted to purchase and implement an ERP system immediately. This new system provided the ability to immediately input and organize vital information in order to track and better understand Key Performance Indicators (KPI) revolving around their sales and finances. On top of this they were instantly able to track/sort their Sales to ZIP code in order to measure the success of geo-specific marketing campaigns, as well as the cost per shipment.

In effect, this system optimized the flow of vital data analysis surrounding the company's operation. This has not only led to a more efficient process, but also has lowered the stress and costs associated with the manual input of data.

How is your ERP System working? Contact CHV Group if you need any guidance with evaluating the current systems your operation has in place.

CHV Group Monthly Newsletters

Liam@studentunionsports.com (Liam Smith) — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 05:00:00 GMT