Delivering further growth while maintaining profitability at a claims management firm
How do you get an already growing business to grow more? Carefully, and with clarity. We had to get clarity on key sales drivers to deliver growth, then on operational drivers to deliver profitability. I decided on monthly reviews, which ensured we could constantly review targets and our ability to achieve them, and forged a strong relationship with company directors to ensure we were working as a team.
Initially, we discussed the owner’s ambitions, then worked backwards through their process to achieve these. Clarity on conversion and cancellation rates gave the sales teams clear targets to drive the required sales. Next, we worked through the claims management process to identify any issues which prolonged the lifecycle of the cases and impacted working capital. Monthly review meetings with focused KPI reporting meant we could highlight and address issues before they had a significant impact.
We achieved great results. The Sales Director and his team had clear goals to achieve the year end position; the Operations Director and Case Management team had visibility of what leads to expect, and the overall business was able to see targets and convert sales into profit and cash. We built an achievable bonus structure which dovetailed into the financial plan for the year, and ensured we were operating as efficiently as possible. The business has seen growth of 50% in the last financial year, and is on track for a further 50% growth this year.