Why are so many UK companies just giving up hope of growth? Giving up on their chance for business success now?
Why do CEOs believe their companies cannot grow if the UK economy is not good?
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 are self fulfilling. They seal their fate. What a waste! Other companies are determined to build good business success. So they will simply steal all the growth the others 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
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 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 businesses block their growth sign up on our home page – or to ensure you are set up for business success call us on +44 (0)207 0604 006 today
