David Fisher doesn’t mind if companies act a bit like pigs. Healthy growth can be good.
But there’s a fine line between a robust appetite and the route to the slaughterhouse. Before Fisher became the CEO of optionsXpress Inc., he heard the analogy all the time from his previous boss, the CEO of Potbelly Sandwich Works.
“Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered,” Fisher says. “It means it’s OK to want things and to want to go bigger and to want to succeed and to fight for your position, but there’s a limit. You should always understand that limit and not try to be too greedy.”
Fisher considers new market opportunities while remaining mindful of where the limit is — beyond the core focus of optionsXpress, a Chicago-based online stockbroker for retail investors. He weighs every opportunity against its focus on the retail customer base, which has driven the company’s success.
“What I keep on coming back to is how we got to where we are today,” says Fisher, who has more than 400 employees. “What was the basis of our success? It’s always been the focus on the retail investor. That’s where we’ve really been able to differentiate, where we’ve really been able to excel.”
The company’s customer assets increased to $7 billion in 2009, up 43 percent from the prior year and 20 percent from the firm’s record high, which came before the financial crisis. Its number of accounts continues to increase steadily, as it had more than 360,000 customers in May.
If you ask Fisher, it’s all because the company stays glued to its core. Here’s how he maintains focus to drive growth.