A £40 million revenue company, ByBox, is one of the fastest growing companies in the UK and Europe. Indeed they are in the “one percent” of companies that we have been talking about in previous articles. A great example of a growth company.
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 to become a growth company
They only trade where they have an unfair advantage. You see the boxes communicate electronically. So, as well as getting stock out to their people, ByBox also give their customers a way to get unused stock back far more quickly. That saves them an absolute fortune. Also, if an engineer elsewhere needs the same part, ByBox sends it direct. If it is faulty, they send it straight to the repair centre.
This unfair advantage leaves ByBox’s competitors standing.
Stuart explains that, when market demand drops, it is “lazy thinking” to focus simply on reacting to whatever sales appear or to assume there is not still a major opportunity for growth somewhere. He says you need to understand the market and your customers enough to “spot where strategic new opportunities lie.” This is what gives you the unfair advantage.
Customers at the heart of the business
At ByBox they have an “absolute fascination with how to resolve customers’ problems – in a way that will benefit them enormously.” This clearly underpins their impressive growth. In fact, the challenge Stuart is resolving now is how to get the balance right, so that both the customer AND ByBox gain. His intention is to find ways to develop solutions once and sell them many times over.
Rag Tag Bunch of Pirates
This is the affectionate description Stuart uses for his team. The strength of the relationship they have may well be THE most powerful growth driver in the business. He “creates a framework that harnesses their power”, then giving them an unusual amount of freedom to work the way they want to. He loves nothing more than to see his people, many of whom have had challenging pasts, prove that they can do anything they set their hearts on.
How closely does ByBox match the other one percent companies?
As you will remember one percent companies do things differently in four main ways.
How does ByBox compare?
ByBox is like the others because:
- They are totally customer centric
- They have created an environment in which their people shine
Areas ByBox are developing:
- While their vision does align the Leadership team, this is an area Stuart wants to strengthen still further
- They are developing a far stronger marketing engine to ramp up awareness and drive revenue even more
How does your business compare? Do let me know by click here to email me.
