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People & Team
Article
We stopped trying to crowbar people into a role needing filled
Rattan Direct had been guilty of shoehorning someone into an in-house role they don’t really want or settling for a new hire who lacked the right skills.
Recruit to succeed
Planning
Article
We took a risk and changed business direction
To succeed in a new market, Natterbox needed to create fresh goals and ensure staff were invested enough to buy into them across the different departments.
Ensure employees buy in to targets
Sales & Growth
Article
We lost sight of how important managing customers proactively is
Ongoing issues at Arthur Online were slipping under the radar causing existing customers to leave. Managing customers more proactively helped solve this.
Manage customers proactively
Sales & Growth
Article
We had to hire local talent to expand successfully
When Vuealta started global growth planning the amount of information available was overwhelming. It's solution was to invest in local support and talent.
Prepare for expansion
Leadership & Strategy
Article
We used our company’s “why” to steady ourselves during rapid growth
Mojo Mortgages realised growth was making it hard for employees to “buy in” to management decisions being made without communicating across the business.
Structure your approach
Planning
Article
We chose stories over advice to get the most out of our business mentors
HR firm CharlieHR recognised it would need outside help to continue growing the business, in particular growth strategy insight from business mentors.
Develop external contacts
People & Team
Article
We beat the competition by tackling our industry’s diversity problem
When it came to hiring a team demonstrating diversity Claromentis found it difficult to attract women for certain roles, giving it a restricted perspective.
Determine what talent is needed
Digital Readiness
Article
Using a spreadsheet to manage stock was not working anymore
Cheeky Chompers relied on Excel to manage stock, manufacturing and customer orders. This made for a complex supply chain and was hard to keep on top of.
Digitise your supply chain
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Suppliers provided the magic to develop the impossible ice cream
Corte Diletto took an innovative approach to product development – using external help to develop the idea after manufacturers thought it wasn't possible.
Develop external contacts with the aim of developing new products / services
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Beating a divisive culture helped us improve as leaders
Pork scratchings brand Snaffling Pig faced the challenge of reconciling a divisive culture among staff – one solved through uniting on the same vision.
Improve your own leadership capabilities
People & Team
Article
Measuring staff performance kept us consistent through change
Putting a structure in place to measure staff performance and give consistent performance reviews to its growing number of employees was key for mmadigital.
Measure staff performance using a defined process
Planning
Article
The senior team had to learn to do less to build a growth strategy
Beezee Bodies had a problem – ensure senior team members had the capacity to focus on business growth, without compromising on quality or staff experience.
Change your mindset around future planning
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Our company values meant something different to everyone
Fordway learned that its company values meant something different to each employee. Here's how they got staff involved in updating and designing new ones.
Create meaningful vision and values
People & Team
Article
Our appraisal process left us struggling to compare employee performance
Preston-based firm Suresite realised that its staff review process was too vague to provide any real insights on company-wide performance.
Define 'good' performance using clear performance metrics
Planning
Article
To take on a British giant we focused on solving customer problems
Hometree realised early on that it would need a key point of differentiation to tackle competitor British Gas – truly addressing customer problems.
Create a distinct offering
People & Team
Article
We built a training culture to survive rapid change
Shopblocks staff needed more time to explore new development areas, but it was hard to find capacity for a training culture without damaging existing work.
Create a training culture
Sales & Growth
Article
We identified a target audience and found a global market to tackle seasonality
Cocofina found it challenging to maintain consistent sales throughout the year because of its issues with seasonality – sales suffered in the winter.
Identify target markets
Sales & Growth
Article
We invested in after sales support to create a sustainable business
Car repair marketplace whocanfixmycar.com faced the challenge of building a sustainable business in an industry with a high customer churn rate.
Maximise effectiveness of your salesforce
Digital Readiness
Article
We couldn’t build any further without developing our business data
Users of the ShopAppy website were dropping off as changes were based on one or two opinions, rather than prioritising based on user business data.
Develop the use of business data
Article
We had to build machine learning capabilities without sector expertise
Streetbees believed machine learning could unlock the value of the market research it was doing for clients, but didn’t have the sector expertise needed.
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Our business is global, but managing a team working remotely is tough
As Formula Botanica has grown it has struggled to find people who won’t “wither” working remotely across England, Belgium, Slovakia and Brazil.
Support your employees
Leadership & Strategy
Article
We rolled out a profit share scheme to reward staff commitment
MI Supplies wanted to find a way to reward staff commitment and help them place long-term relaionships over short-term profit. It settled on a profit share.
Reward commitment to vision and values
Digital Readiness
Article
Digital apathy stopped our business moving forward
HR firm Jaluch found it challenging to increase digital skills into the business. Digital apathy meant efforts were efforts were greeted with groans.
Build digital skills
Planning
Article
My technology failed because I didn’t think big enough
When Formula Botanica realised early on that its technology wasn’t keeping pace with growth it put in place a plan that would provide peace of mind.
Invest in new technology