If a company wants to expand, it needs to
first make sure it has the staff to handle
the accompanying increased workload, says Bob Strickland.

“We never, ever pursue work and then
look to expand our staff to take advantage
of that increased business opportunity,”
says Strickland, president of Project and
Construction Services Inc., which recently
doubled the size of its Cleveland headquarters from 6,200 square feet to more than
12,000 square feet. The company currently
has about 40 employees.

A smart company always has an adequate
number of trained and experienced employees in place to service any opportunities that may arise, Strickland says.

“We make sure we are always trying to
recruit and train staff to stay ahead of the
curve,” he says.

And Strickland says proper planning is
essential to maintaining both profitability
and the quality and consistency of your
work as the company grows.

“Make sure, absolutely, that you have
good metrics in place so that you can
contemporaneously measure and gauge
whether you’re maintaining profitability,
so you’re not just looking at quarterly or
semiannual statements and end up being
disappointed with a diminishment of your
profitability,” Strickland says.

And while there is a certain level of risk in
trying to take your company to the next level,
the alternative — remaining stagnant — is an
even riskier proposition, Strickland says.

“If you’re not satisfied that there are sufficient opportunities there, I feel it’s much
more risky to continue to exclusively concentrate on one area as opposed to venturing out and trying to explore and exploit
areas that are obviously in a much more
expansive mode,” Strickland says. “I think
it’s more risky to stay put because you’re
not taking advantage of trying to expand
the diversification of the markets you’re
trying to serve.”

He says it is a leader’s responsibility to
take risks and strive for growth for the benefit of his or her employees and for the families of those employees.

“We always have to look for those opportunities that are consistent with fulfilling
that mission to make sure the people” have
continued job opportunities at the company, Strickland says.

Along with that responsibility should
come a willingness to discuss growth with
employees and to be open about the benefits and the potential drawbacks each
opportunity presents.

“In most industries, people certainly
embrace a challenge,” Strickland says.
“What they don’t embrace is uncertainty.
Communicate your vision and represent
that. That vision just will expand the opportunities for growth and fulfillment with your
existing staff and provide them with opportunities to move up in the organization.”

Communication at PCS occurs through
regular staff meetings and an open-door
policy that Strickland constantly reinforces
to employees.

And when growth leads to the hiring of new
employees, Strickland says it’s important to
make them feel like part of the team. He helps
facilitate that process by having new employees fill out a questionnaire to help existing
employees learn more about their new colleagues’ interests outside of work.

“Not only what they have done in the past
or where they came from, but their interests
or hobbies, number of kids, those specific
areas that are of interest to the employee,”
Strickland says. “That is broadcast through
the intranet to our employees. Each of our
existing employees are encouraged to get
around and meet the new employee.”

HOW TO REACH: Project and Construction Services Inc., (216)
619-1700 or www.pcscmservices.com

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid

One of the biggest hindrances to corporate growth is a lack of understanding
between a company and its customers
as to what the business is selling and
what the customers are buying, says
Andy Birol.

“What a company says it sells and
what their customers say they buy is
almost always somewhat different,”
Birol says. “Reconciling that creates the
biggest and best possible opportunity.”

Birol is president of Birol Growth
Consulting Inc. in Solon, which acts as a
consultant to business owners on the
issues of growth. He is also author of
“The 5 Catalysts of 7-Figure Growth.”

Birol says many companies get insulated as to what is really happening with
their business.

“They start to drink their own Kool-Aid,” Birol says. “Specifically, what you
find is the buying processes of customers switch. They move, and often the
company itself misses the shift because
it’s very likely to perpetuate its status
quo.”

The key to avoiding this problem is
being willing to redefine what your company does best based on your target
market and its changing buying
processes.

Birol also recommends finding a third-party growth consultant or market
researcher to ensure that a company
and its customers are on the same page.

“It comes from being able to engage a
customer in a dialogue, build trust, and
ask follow-up and probing questions to
get behind the obvious,” Birol says. “Too
many companies go out and ask their
customers themselves how they are
doing. All you get back is the usual platitudes.”

HOW TO REACH: Birol Growth Consulting Inc.,
(440) 349-1970 or www.andybirol.com