Feature article
Keys to success: Canada's 200 fastest-growing companies
Canada's fastest-growing companies represent a broad spectrum of businesses, from software to staffing, and from children's toys to military equipment. They're located in home offices in small towns and in corporate buildings in our big cities. But despite their differences, the 200 businesses identified by PROFIT Magazine as Canada's fastest growing have a number of traits in common. And with an average five-year sales growth of 1,464 per cent, adopting some of their tips for growth could help boost your bottom line, too.
1. Look abroad – but stay focused
One of the best ways to grow is to seek out bigger markets abroad. Case in point: From 2005 to 2010, exports at the companies listed in the PROFIT 200 grew more than twice as fast as their domestic revenue. To reap the rewards of global expansion, while minimizing the risks, consider staying focused on a single country. This focused approach will help avoid the common error of trying to expand everywhere all at once.
A “grow as you go” strategy – financing global expansion only through incoming global revenue – is also a critical step to ensuring that hard costs for people, locations and equipment don't have a negative impact on domestic revenue if expansion targets take longer than anticipated to achieve.
When considering expansion through global channels, another consideration to keep in mind is that in many markets, growing your company will require a significant investment in time away from home to meet clients, hire the right staff, find the right facilities and monitor performance. The chief executive of Canada's fastest-growing company – Mood Media Corp., which supplies in-store background music, messaging and signage – is a proponent of that strategy and has logged over one million flight miles.
2. Invest in staff
Your business can't grow if your most effective employees aren't on board – or if you can't attract the best available talent in the first place. To ensure you continue to attract and retain the very best staff be sure to give your employees the tools they need to be their very best. Broadview Networks Inc., No. 162 on the PROFIT list seems to have solved the attraction/retention/motivation challenge by making professional development a critical element of their corporate DNA. Broadview's commitment to “personal development road maps” has now become an integral part of each employee's career plan. The road maps have become so ingrained, in fact, that they are reviewed every quarter to ensure employees are making measurable progress towards their targeted career ambitions – whatever those ambitions happen to be. The result? In the company's nine-year history, only one employee has been lost to another company.
3. Be fast, flexible and willing to adapt
Growing businesses need to be able to react to unexpected situations and adjust accordingly. A downturn in one segment might lead to an opportunity in another. And if a certain sales strategy isn't working, taking a different tact could lead to more revenue. The trick is being able to adapt quickly to newly identified opportunities and having the courage to make changes.
Bob Crane of N2 Ingredients Inc., No. 170 on the PROFIT list has gone so far as to integrate continuous adaptation into his business module. “Our business isn't organic” stated Crane, “it's being the first to see new trends in the food business.” By identifying growth opportunities before anyone else gets there, N2 Ingredients is able to grow aggressively into new categories with almost no competition. By the time competitors start to move in on N2's turf, Crane and his team have found the next big trend and are growing aggressively in a completely different direction.
4. Prepare to be successful
A funny thing will happen as you're busy getting your business off the ground. One day you'll turn around and you'll have a roster of clients, a storage room full of inventory and a handful of employees. To keep everyone and everything running smoothly you'll need standard practices and systems in place – managing by the seat of your pants won't cut it anymore. If you implement reporting systems right from the beginning you'll be less likely to face administrative problems as your company grows.
But regardless of the size of your business, and in spite of a volatile global economy, taking the time to incorporate some of these helpful tips can put you on the road to success – and growing at an exponential rate!
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