Ben from Cable Systems has been in business for a while. 28 years to be exact. He’d describe his time as “25 years of slow, steady growth with a huge surge in the last three years.”
Since switching to Fergus three years ago, Ben’s business has grown from a small business (3 staff) to a medium-sized one. He has brought on a partner, expanded into a new location, diversified the business and seen an increase in profit.
“Fergus has been a big part of our success without a doubt” Ben says, “It has made us more confident to take some risks in our business.”
The key for Ben has been the overview that Fergus gave him into his business, and a new sense of control.
"I'm seeing the whole company in ways I have never seen it before"
“We can now see what’s coming up, whether we will be short on staff, and whether we need to move people around etc. But more importantly we have the ability to look at the profit per job rather than just on a monthly or yearly basis.”
One of the biggest discoveries they made early on was that they were under quoting their hours on many jobs by approximately 30%.
“It has allowed us to go “We hardly made any money out of this job. Why was that?” and then we could go and find the reasons why and we were able to change our behaviour because of it.”
"We have a running joke that we are like a real company now. We have a system and we never had one before."
The future is looking pretty bright for Cable Systems. They plan to keep growing nationally, setting up a third location next year, and to keep on diversifying.
“I used to think it was cliché to say ‘Work on your business, not in it,’ but that is really what I am able to do now. Fergus takes care of the details and you can be confident that everything is all right because Fergus will let you know if it isn’t.”
Ben's growth tips
Just because you are growing doesn’t mean you can stop looking at all your expenses. Every little thing adds up so keep tight control of these.
It can get harder to communicate the culture of your business to your team members as you grow. Don’t be afraid to put on the tools and get out there and work with the guys from time to time. Lead by example.
Get super open and honest in your team meetings. If someone makes a mistake on the job, we all talk about it in our team meeting. No shame but to see what lessons we can all take away from each person’s mistakes.
Dan
