Seize the day

Is your business growing fast? Let me be more precise. On a like-for-like basis, excluding sales from acquired businesses, has it grown consistently faster than your competitors? Or do your sales bob up in the good years and down in the bad, depending on the state of the economy?

It's an important question. Every business is different, but growth itself is directly linked to business survival and a long and healthy corporate life. Isn't it OK to stay the size we are, you may protest, and let others fight themselves to a standstill? Yes. But business is like travelling on the down escalator. It's hard to stay in the same place. The minute you stop climbing, you slip back. When you think you're standing still, you're sliding down.

Unless you take share from your competitors, your business can only grow as fast as the mix of markets you supply. If they grow slowly or shrink, your business will struggle to do better. Every business needs new blood, healthy growth markets to make good the sales gap, and attract new customers to replace those who retire or fail.

Yet merchants have let several large growth markets slip through their fingers. Wood windows and doors lost out to PVC in the replacement, public sector and new build markets. Conservatories, and PVC-UE Roofline too, are growing fast and largely bypassing merchants. Both are making inroads into new build.

This multi-billion pound gift to other distribution channels has longer-term implications. Associated products are lost too. Rainwater sells alongside roofline, attracting traditional builders who are active in the market, and they take other business with them. A generation of small to medium sized, profitable tradesmen are getting used to buying elsewhere. These growth markets boost the sales of competitors such as the Sheds, and encourage new distribution to set up and flourish. In time this new distribution expands its range to compete more directly with builders' merchants.

Hard landscaping is the new frontier. It's large, fast growing and profitable. Are merchants moving fast and taking it seriously enough to secure it? Builders' merchants cannot afford to let this one get away.

If you want to grow, go where the growth is. No one can turn the clock back, but strong, decisive commitment to growth markets can turn the tide.

Agree? Disagree? Want more information? Email Mike Rigby at mike@521621.com