_________________________________________________________________________________________ Richmond Furniture
Jim then outlines the company’ s bold ambitions for the next five years:“ We will exit this year with a £ 24 million turnover. Within the next five years we are looking to double that, so we want to be a £ 50 million business by 2030. I have been very lucky in my career or is it simply‘ the harder I work the luckier I become’; each business that I have been involved with has doubled its growth in the first five years of taking up my position. I believe everyone knows how to increase sales. When it fails it tends to be the timing of the investment to support the growth and far too many companies fail here.
“ It’ s great to deliver customer excellence, it’ s a privilege to be involved with this great business. We know what we need to do to continue our path of growth. We know for example that our existing sales force can take us to £ 28 million and that another three will get us to £ 50 million. We will continue growing the service department and infrastructure to support the business as it
grows. As complex as some aspects of the business may appear, the bottom line is really very simple. In the five sectors we operate in, we get judged on results. If we do a good job, we get the next project; if we don’ t perform, we won’ t get the next project.
“ There’ s a lot of complexity behind making sure that we do a good job, and a lot of effort to ensure you get that next project, but ultimately, it’ s about a few simple things,” Jim concludes.“ The main one is investing a little bit in front of expansion. In my experience most business operators tend to invest once they are experiencing growth. That’ s too late. Those companies tend to run into service issues, unable to support the business that they have secured. If you just continually invest a little in front of your growth, then you will continue to deliver excellent service and you will therefore continue to grow.” ■
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