Marco has had a strong track record of profitable growth for over 10 years now. It’s one of the key reasons our company looked attractive to buyers. Marco’s compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) is 44 percent for the past five years and 37 percent for the past 10 years.
We’ve always been a growth company, but now that we have been acquired by Norwest Equity Partners, we’re committed to growing even faster. We need to grow $100 million in the next two years. So how are we going to do that?
Here are a few of the ways we’re planning for accelerated growth:
- Skip a year.
We just finished planning for 2016, and many of us in leadership are already focused on 2017. Because we’re good planners and even better executors, I’m confident we’ll meet or exceed our 2016 goals. To get a jumpstart on achieving our growth targets, we are in the process of purchasing two companies and have several in play that will position us well for 2017. Performance-driven companies always work a year ahead.
- Prepare your people.
The most critical component in achieving growth is having competent people in the right places. We have developed a talent management system to more effectively train and prepare new and emerging managers and supervisors to lead our company. They learn how to build and lead a highly effective team and get a better understanding of the numbers and the activities that drive performance at Marco. Making a commitment to developing leadership ahead of planned growth ensures a higher rate of success.
- Refine your processes.
We’ve done a pretty good job of having systems and processes in place to support our growth. It’s a good practice to validate that your operational systems and back office can take you to the next level. We have effectively used Lean as our continuous improvement system to identify and improve our operational efficiencies. Still, gaps remain and accelerated growth requires those systems and practices to be further refined. Using a discipline such as Lean, ISO 9000 or Six Sigma is a good way to commit to continuous improvement.
- Sell well.
Our growth has been achieved through acquiring companies and organically. To me, organic growth is still the most important way to achieve strong results. You can’t buy your way to success. This includes selling more to your current clients and obtaining new clients in existing markets. We set sales quotas each year for employees to drive those results. We also take into account if the market is mature like Minnesota or new for us like Nebraska. We know newer markets provide the biggest opportunities.
When you’re in the growth mode, you still need to be laser-focused on employee and client satisfaction. You can’t take your eye off that ball. You need to continue to attract and keep good people and good clients if you’re going to sustain growth long-term.
