Smart50 rank: 20
Revenue: $3,906,967
Growth: 82.55%
Founders: Alexander (Sandy) Dunn, 50
Based: Western Australia
Employees: 18
Industry: Property and business services
Website: www.assetivity.com.au
Alexander Dunn started management consultancy firm Assetivity in 2000, focusing on asset management for buildings and equipment.
The company focused on the resources industry to gain momentum, but Dunn says the industry's massive growth made it hard to keep the business under control.
"Up until six months ago, our greatest challenge was dealing with extremely rapid growth, driven by the resources boom. We more than doubled turnover, and staff numbers, in a 12 month period. During a period of extreme skills shortage, finding good quality people who we could rely on to deliver high quality services to clients was a significant challenge."
"Indeed, on more than one occasion we turned down consulting opportunities that had been presented to us, simply because we were not convinced that we had the capacity and capability to deliver results that met our quality standards and the expectations of our clients."
But the company, which recorded 82% average growth over the past three years, and $3.9 million in revenue during 2008-09, has been forced to increase its efforts for the same amount of work.
"We are now much more proactive in the market place in order to achieve our target levels of growth. Previously, we were not proactively marketing, as the major challenge for us was not finding work, but finding good quality people to do the work, while ensuring that we continued to deliver high quality results during a period of rapid growth."
While Dunn says the company's revenue dropped 5% during the first half of 2009 compared to the previous six months, he says this is a better-than-expected result and the company is set to grow. For now, he says Assetivity is focusing on building up its existing employee base to prepare for recovery.
"First, treat all of your people well, and as though they are volunteers (which, essentially, they are). They will reward you with loyalty, and your business will be stronger for it. Second, never take your clients for granted. In a business-to-business environment such as ours, we need to be constantly focused on providing true business value for our clients. Achieve this, and they will treat you with loyalty also."
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