STARTEK — Mansfield’s cavernous facility is running out of room, and that’s a good thing. Since late 2014 the company, which handles call center duties for many recognizable brands, has quadrupled its number of permanent corporate clients and created over 300 new jobs in the process.
Last week the company announced it’s currently hiring for more than 70 new positions on first and second shifts handling inbound calls for a new healthcare client.
Growing quickly is almost always desirable, but planning a way to manage growth is often something business owners defer until after the critical sale has been made.
“Just close that sale and we’ll figure it out later.”, is a business cliche for a reason.
STARTEK looks at their growth strategy differently.
Company Culture
The call-center industry is famously competitive and has often been caricatured as a dead-end job with high employee turnover. Curing the central issue of company culture was key to the company’s turnaround.
“The ‘value add’ we bring to the table versus our competitors is our employee culture.” explained Don Kaufman, Recruiting Manager for STARTEK. “We concentrate on strong leadership, excellent training, a passion for what we do, high expectations of ourselves, accountability, commitment, employee and leadership development.
“Once we got those things right, our team stabilized and we were able to get the most important piece of the puzzle in our industry just right; treating the customer better.”
A Plan for Growth
Once the culture is right and the team is in place, your business is ready to grow. It all starts with a plan, and Kaufman recommends asking yourself a few key questions.
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Who is my target customer?
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Why should they choose to work with my business?
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What makes me better that my competition?
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How do I communicate the differences?
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Can I quantify and back up my selling points with accurate data?
“Above all,” said Kaufman, “never over-promise on what you can truly deliver on. If you fail to deliver on your commitments, not only will your expansion fail, but you could find yourself farther behind than where you started.”
Resources to help you grow your company
Five essential principles for growing your small business (Fast Company)
Ideas for growing your business (Small Business Administration)
10 ways to grow your business (Entrepreneur)
