Still Growing Strong

By Mark Brousseau

How can your company continue to grow steadily, even in a tough market? Run your business like there is always an economic downturn. That’s according to Tom Haley, CEO of Agilaire, a printing and packaging solutions company which has grown 84 percent since 2005 and attracted clients such as Sony, eBay, Informed, SAP and The Gap. Here are some additional pieces of the growth equation offered by Agilaire:

• Own It – If there is a business problem, regardless of who created it, it is yours and you own it, not your client. "There is no better way to build client and employee loyalty than taking ownership of difficult problem," Agilaire says.

• Add Some Antifreeze – Don’t freeze through business downturns. Stay visible and show your clients and employees that you care about them. "Our clients, employees and suppliers are family. So this holiday season we are giving them a gift of safety, a 72 hour emergency Agilaire CARE Preparedness Kit that we put together with top specialists from Lockheed Martin," Agilaire says.

• Hire Slowly and Fire Quickly – It is difficult to hold back the urge to hire during rapid growth cycles. "However, it is during this time that you test the limits of your star employees and weed out the nonperformers," explains Agilaire.

• Find Your Secret Sauce – What makes your company unique? It’s there; you just have to dig deep. "Agilaire was founded to be the client’s advocate and level the playing field. That is our secret sauce," the company CEO says.

• Walk the Walk – Don’t recommend products or programs that you yourself would not use. "We save our clients money through outsourcing to the best of the best. So, we walk the walk and outsource too! Montpac in Hawaii does our accounting and our IT department is Endsight in Emeryville. This has reduced overhead by 30 percent, vastly improving our margins," Agilaire says.

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