Why do CEOs believe their companies cannot growth until the UK economy picks up?

The other day a very senior Manager in one of the UK’s largest banks told me. “There is no possibility the bank can increase revenue until the UK economy improves”. A CEO of a smaller company said: “With the way the UK economy stands, I cannot expect more than 1% increase in sales this year.”  Those conclusions simply ensure that they will not grow. They are sealing their fate. What a waste! Other companies that are hell bent on business success will simply steal all the growth they could have had.

Some companies are increasing revenue fast

Do you know there are companies increasing sales revenue by 100% or more- each year during the recession? For example:

Bybox- a company that delivers/ collects parts to sales teams and engineers. One of the fastest growing companies in Europe

Oxford Instruments- a firm that supply high technology tools and systems, grew by 24% last year

Photonstar lighting- They supply LED lights to supermarkets and hotels. They were tiny. Their growth is impressive.

There are also the big players:

• Apple, who we all know all breaking all the records for financial growth
• Caterpillar, growing so successfully that their stock is outperforming almost every other company on the Dow Jones
• Ford, which, as we all know went from being almost bankrupt to delivering incredible financial results
• Facebook, now with revenue at over $1bn and one of the biggest IPOs in US history

For 20 years, across 2 recessions, we have tracked companies growing at 15% or more per annum to understand what makes them so successful.

What we learnt about business success

• Fast growth companies grow fast because they do certain things very differently
• The different things they do are similar across all these fast growth companies
• In most instances they are not in a growth or easier industry. Even when they are, majority of their competitors are struggling to grow
• Their attitude is different. They think differently. They act differently. This different behaviour can we learned

Taking charge of our destiny

Our country used to be the British Empire. That did not happen by allowing ourselves to be controlled by outside influences. We decided what we wanted and we made it happen.

Surely we are not going to sit around until the economy picks up (estimated by economists to be 2015) before we decide to take charge of our destiny. Are we?

If just a few percent of businesses in the UK decided they were absolutely going to increase sales fast- starting this year, we would pull more money into Britain and would create more jobs. As a result, not only would they be surfing on the top of a wave, having a wonderful time, they would start to improve the UK economy and, in time, Great Britain would once again be a country that other countries wanted to follow.

To receive a free white paper on how successful companies think and act differently just add in your name and email address so we can send it to you.

I call them the “one percent”. There are businesses out there growing between 15% and 800% pa! We have studied them for the last 20 years. There are good reasons why they are so successful. They behave VERY differently from most companies

Which businesses are growing that fast?

Bybox, distributors of stock to sales staff and engineers, is one of the fastest growing companies in the UK and Europe.

PhotonStar, suppliers of little LED lights to supermarkets and hotels, is winning business off the major lighting suppliers.

Slingshot is in the incredibly competitive SEO market, yet grew by over 3000% in the past 3 years!

I could give you many more examples….. in addition to the big names you already know, such as Apple, Google and Facebook.

So what transforms failure into superb success?

These incredible businesses are ALL doing certain things in the same way.

A dream that unites

I have worked for some of the largest companies in the world. At leadership level, if one Director is pulling in the direction the company says it wants to be going, you are doing well. The others usually pull in different directions. No one seems to think it is a problem. It is ridiculous. Would you try to paddle down a river with people pulling in different directions? Of course not.

One thing one percent companies do differently is that, from the leadership team downwards, their people are all headed in the same direction

Slingshot started out with very little money, and a dream. The power of that dream was so strong that they always talked about “when” not “if”. What is more, it drove them to focus, to unite, moving from being a “jack of all trades” to a company that literally makes its clients successful. Like a lighthouse amongst the fog of SEO suppliers.

Think of fast growth companies you know. Under Steve Jobs Apple’s dream was “to make a dent in the universe”. They united to become an unstoppable army.

Are your people pulling in the same direction? When will your business become unstoppable?

Stuart Miller, their MD, told me what drives their success – and what is next.

ByBox has a network of storage boxes all around the UK and parts of Europe. These boxes make it really easy for engineers and sales people to receive the stock they need, saving them from having to drive miles to collect them. What is more, people like you and I will increasingly be using them as an easy option for receiving parcels from major brands.

Unfair Advantage

The One Percent Companies

For instance, a small Devon based firm that simply manufactures lights (PhotonStar) is seeing explosive growth. Another business (Bybox), which provides boxes for engineers and sales people to store supplies en route, is also growing fast.

There are also great large company examples. Apple’s business model is designed intelligently around its customers’ needs. See “Why Apple’s revenues grow nearly 3 times faster than its expenses.”1 As a result, while most shops charged their lowest ever prices this Christmas, Apple was on track to sell 1.26million IPADS- at £426 a time!

Then there is Ford. During the recession Alan Mulally turned the business around. Now it is being heralded as a superb example of business growth. Peter Newcomb’s article, “Businessperson of the Year – Rising from the recession”, states that Alan has taken “Ford from near bankruptcy to a global leadership position…(by) emphasising the critical ingredients that make a Ford a Ford.”

Having avidly watched these 1% businesses for the last 2 years, it is hard to believe that the economy is tough. They are so inspiring. So how do they do it?

3 Steps to Becoming a One Percent Company

I see a consistent message across the firms I work with and these equally impressive companies, it is this:

Their visionary focus inspires and aligns their people powerfully. They are different. They stand for something.

They are doggedly focused on discovering what their customers most need. For instance, PhotonStar allows supermarkets and hotels to reduce lighting bills by 89%… and to meet their CO² emission targets.

As a result, these firms turn their people into a powerhouse of enthusiasm, productivity and loyalty. No wonder they are unstoppable!

What will you do to turn your company into a “One Percent” business in 2011? Tell below.

Best wishes, Jane Tel: 0207 0604 006

1 By Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Goldman Sachs