“We’ve run out of space!”
That’s a challenge that many entrepreneurs face as they grow and Chris Cunliffe and Christine Lambino-Cunliffe, the founders of Bobo Strategy, were no different. Over the last decade they had grown their e-commerce book selling business into $1 million in yearly revenue and using their home as their shipping and receiving hub was no longer a feasible option. To find a solution they engaged with one of our CSUF Consulting teams.
Among the reasons for working with our CSUF Consulting program, Chris and Christine cited:
- Fresh perspective
- Practical solutions
- No bias
- Positive reviews from clients of the program
In particular, Chris said:
Clients can state the problems they have and the students can not only answer those problems but also think creatively about related things they can address. It wouldn’t be surprising if that added more value than the core problem that the client came with.
Chris Cunliffe, Bobo Strategy
CSUF Consulting Process
Beginning in 1991, the CSUF Consulting program has helped thousands of businesses develop comprehensive strategies for achieving specific business goals. Since its inception, this program has won dozens of awards (see below!) from the national Small Business Institute for the services it has provided to businesses in many industries and of all sizes.
At the beginning of the Spring, Summer, and Fall semesters, CSUF Consulting teams form up to work on dozens of consulting projects for businesses looking to improve themselves. Each team is augmented by a professor and all undergraduate and some MBA teams have mentors with relevant industry experience.
The first task for these teams is to meet with their client to discuss the client’s goals for their report. This initial meeting is where the scope of work is determined and from there the teams get to work. Each project has a specific focus and they include one or more of the following:
- Marketing
- Overall Strategy
- Finance
- Accounting
- Operations
- Startup
- Human Resources
- Leadership
During the semester, teams will have at least half a dozen interviews with their client and will conduct primary and/or secondary research for their projects. Since our team members are current graduating seniors or MBA students at Cal State Fullerton, they are being immersed in the latest research and knowledge in the particular fields they are doing consulting projects in and they are applying this knowledge, with the guidance of a professor and mentor, to their client’s project.
By the end of the semester the projects will have been completed taking anywhere from 100 to 500 or more hours for each project and resulting in reports of usually 100 or more pages. But quantity isn’t the point; these projects are full of creative thinking and solutions for clients. And in addition to the written reports, clients receive a presentation on their team’s findings and discuss the team’s recommendations.
CSUF Consulting Solution for Bobo Strategy
Bobo Strategy hired the CSUF Consulting team to develop a solution for economically adding space for their growing business. Throughout this engagement, Chris and Christine were impressed by the professionalism and curiosity of their team. Their CSUF Consulting team members were always asking them questions and brainstorming solutions with Chris and Christine. Additionally, the team not only addressed the problem that Chris and Christine came to them with but found additional ways to add value for them.
Both Chris and Christine come from professional consulting backgrounds and they were impressed by the professional nature of the team saying that their team exceeded their expectations and were more professional than other consultants who do this professionally.
By the end of the semester, the students had created a comprehensive consulting report for Chris and Christine that outlined not only their recommendations on their core issue of how to economically add space for their business but also on other opportunities that the team had identified during the course of their project, especially in light of the changes necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.
CSUF Consulting Covid-19 Recommendations
When the project started in February of this year, no one knew how drastically life would change but Chris and Christine’s team plucked opportunity out of the pandemic. Shortly after work from home orders were given the students realized that Chris and Christine had an opportunity to focus their business more on college students who would now be purchasing more books online than at the campus bookstore or another brick and mortar bookstore. Among their recommendations, the students made a recommendation to leverage Bobo’s existing social media accounts, which immediately has led to more sales.
Chris was impressed by their team’s ability to think outside of the box and recognize opportunities that they hadn’t brought up to the students. “Clients can state the problems they have and the students can not only answer those problems but also think creatively about related things they can address. It wouldn’t be surprising if that added more value than the core problem that the client came with.”
CSUF Entrepreneurship
We are dedicated to helping the next generation of entrepreneurs develop the skills that they need to compete locally and globally. The CSUF Entrepreneurship program does many things,