External relationships
Monson says all businesses are relationship businesses, and that
proved true within six months when MV landed its first out-of-state contract in Portland, Ore., through a customer Monson had
known from his previous firm. Through other contacts, in early
2000, it also picked up contracts in the Midwest, which eventually
led the way for East Coast expansion.
Creating those external relationships and reputations is crucial
to growing. MV’s founders travel throughout the year talking to
customers to find ways to improve. But you can’t focus just on
people already with you; you have to prove yourself to potential
and new customers as well.
Two years ago, MV won a huge contract in Washington D.C., but
as part of the transaction, the client wanted Monson to personally
do the start-up. While many executives would say they don’t have
time to do such things themselves, Monson spent six months in the
nation’s capital developing strong relationships with the new customer and making sure things got done the way it wanted.
“That loyalty and that commitment will last for a long time,” he
says. “There’s a certain amount of loyalty that you have to people
that you do business with in a service industry, and it’s hard to buy
that — you have to earn it.”
As MV continued growing, Monson and the founders realized it
was time to also build relationships with advisers.
“It used to be at our board meetings, ‘Well, we already know all of
this stuff, so what good is it doing at this point?’” he says.
To become productive, three years ago they added another
board member, and then expanded to seven members a year later
to help MV prepare for the future.
“Look at balance and different perspectives, and have people
that add value to the company,” Monson says.
One addition was a politician, who advised the company on how
to better work with its customers — governments. Another headed an insurance company — crucial for MV because of its risks.
One was experienced in financials and the other in organic
growth.
“They’ve really helped us focus on how we would be viewed if
we were a public company,” he says. “Because we’re privately
held, we don’t have the same scrutiny that a public company does,
so we’re becoming more public-like in our management as we
grow, and that’s a good thing. If we do decide to do an IPO someday, we’ll be ready, and we won’t have as much of a trauma as we
would otherwise in entering that arena.”