Ashley Deknes-Razevich launches Sunshine Consulting to boost customer retention

Ashley Deknes-Razevich is using 17 years in manufacturing, customer service and operations to help companies improve internal processes that shape the customer experience. Through Sunshine Consulting, the Lenexa, Kansas-based leader is targeting the communication gaps and misalignment that can quietly erode retention.

Why it matters: - Ashley Deknes-Razevich is betting that customer retention starts inside the business, not at the customer-facing front line. - Her focus on process, communication and accountability targets a common failure point for manufacturers and other organizations: internal misalignment that shows up as a bad customer experience. - Better retention can protect revenue, reduce churn and improve trust when problems happen.

What happened: - Ashley Deknes-Razevich, a manufacturing leader in Lenexa, Kansas, launched Sunshine Consulting. - The consulting business is designed to help manufacturing and other organizations strengthen customer retention by improving internal operations. - Deknes-Razevich has 17 years of experience across customer service, operations and manufacturing. - Her career has included work at the intersection of customers, sales, operations, finance and manufacturing. - She currently works in a management role at SOR Controls Group, where she leads a team of eight to 10 professionals and coordinates with executive leadership and multiple departments. - Influential Women published a profile featuring Deknes-Razevich and her work. - More information is available through her Influential Women profile.

The details: - Sunshine Consulting aims to identify internal problems that can weaken customer relationships. - Deknes-Razevich says customer retention depends on how a company communicates, handles problems and keeps its promises after winning business. - The consulting work focuses on uncovering gaps in handoffs, responsibilities, tools and communication. - The goal is to help businesses understand why problems are happening, where the customer experience is affected and what practical fixes employees can actually use. - Deknes-Razevich’s approach is to ask questions, understand multiple perspectives, identify disconnects and build solutions that work in practice. - She says manufacturing companies face growing pressure from customers who expect speed, clear communication and real-time problem solving. - She says old processes and communication structures often were not built for those expectations. - She describes customer retention as an operational strategy, not just a sales or marketing initiative. - She says strong retention requires clear accountability, employee role clarity, consistent processes and leadership willing to examine internal operations honestly. - The Sunshine Consulting name reflects her view that difficult customer moments can become opportunities to rebuild trust. - Deknes-Razevich says the real test of a customer relationship is what a company does when something goes wrong.

Between the lines: - Deknes-Razevich’s pitch reflects a broader shift in customer experience thinking: the customer rarely sees internal breakdowns directly, but they feel the consequences quickly. - Her background in manufacturing gives her a practical lens on how sales, service, finance and operations affect one another. - The consulting model suggests many customer-retention problems are fixable without new products, if companies tighten internal execution. - Her emphasis on women entering manufacturing also signals an interest in mentorship and expanding leadership pathways in a male-dominated field.

What's next: - Sunshine Consulting will likely center on helping companies diagnose internal friction and turn that into clearer workflows and stronger customer relationships. - Deknes-Razevich says her goal is to help organizations not just recognize retention problems, but change the conditions that create them. - She plans to keep building a framework that connects operational excellence with customer experience.

The bottom line: - Deknes-Razevich is turning nearly two decades of manufacturing and operations experience into a consulting business built on a simple idea: customers stay when the company inside the walls works well too.