Cox London scale up company
Scale up company Cox London design, manufacture and retail made-to-order lighting and furniture. Selling their art-forward pieces to luxury markets in the UK and across the world. After graduating from art school, husband-and-wife founders began manufacturing in 2000. Their personal aspirations saw them build a foundry in their garden shed to keep up with demand.
Sculptors and designers Chris and Nicola Cox are extremely passionate about their creations. They had founded an ambitious business. Yet felt they lacked the business acumen to take the company to the next level. When Gil Devlin started working with them, they knew they wanted to ramp up production. And achieve further business expansion.
“Before working with Gil, we did not have a strong vision for the structure and the future of our business. Gil has provided amazing support and constant motivation. For how we look at both our personal goals and our objectives of business for Cox London. The business has dramatically. Before we were not united in our thinking. Our systems and processes have significantly improved. And we have been able to grow as a result.”
Strategy for growing business
Evolving into a high-performing SME required a shift in how Chris and Nicola saw their roles. Like many leaders of a growing SME, Chris and Nicola were busy in the day-to-day operations. Designing and making products. And winning sales to keep the business solvent and pay their team. They felt they had no time to develop a plan to achieve sustainable growth.
Gil helped them to define their long-term ambitions. Including their key priorities, personal goals and objectives of business. And defining a shared vision for how they wanted Cox London to evolve. To become a scale up company, they converted their business goals into written plans. Key deliverables were to expand production capacity within their team and workshops. This has involved ongoing refinement of the team’s organisational structure. Reflecting the growth and change of the company over 10 years of working with Gil.
During sessions with Gil, they created week-by-week action plans every 90 days. Breaking down their long-term business strategy into tactical moves. This strategic framework gave them the ability to move from firefighting. And to proactively shape the business in line with their vision.
“Gil has introduced us to many different aspects of business that we had no knowledge of before. And when we come up against a hurdle she is always on hand with a suggestion or an alternative view.
It’s all too easy for us to ignore the truth behind running our own company. We are more aware than ever that knowing your numbers is central to knowing our business. As well as decision-making and forecasting
By setting systems and processes in place, we have freed up time to achieve our objectives.”
Knowing your numbers
Increasing manufacturing output is a hollow victory. Unless it’s sustained by the profit and the cashflow required to fund that growth. With Gil’s support, Cox London implemented financial forecasting and monitoring. Including the ongoing profitability analysis of all sales channels, products and orders. Key performance indicators now support all company goals and strategic priorities. This has resulted in a logical, rather than emotional, approach to decision-making. Helping this ambitious firm make smarter choices that align with their long-term vision. Demonstrating that financial acumen and performance tracking is critical to scale up manufacturing.
How to increase efficiency
The ability to scale up manufacturing requires a company’s revenue to grow at a faster rate than its costs. Cox London achieved this by first reviewing their existing workflows, systems and processes. They then identified ways of improving workflow. They implemented new technology to improve operational effectiveness. With better financial literacy, Cox London were able to buy and equip new workspaces. Enabling them to handle the higher demand generated by the growing sales team.
Chris and Nicola realised that optimising performance meant more than just working harder. That maximising output required a better production team structure. Ultimately, this led to the recruitment of separate production and design directors. This new infrastructure was the key to boosting productivity across the entire workshop.
Motivation for sales team
Before working with Gil, Chris and Nicola were Cox London’s only salespeople. They became motivated to create a sales team to expand the business. And ensured each new recruit was in strategic alignment with the organisational vision. Now they have a sales team of more than ten.
“Having a shared vision to inspire the team became crucial for business growth. Through working with Gil we have found that knowing where you are going is integral to success. And sharing the same vision with our team was critical for growth.”
Gil and her team also supported the expanding organisation’s sales team. This sales training focussed on better sales techniques. Together, they created a sales process. Aimed at maximising the conversion of leads into sales to achieve target outcomes. This improved conversion ratios, leading to higher average order values and revenue acceleration. The increased sales team engagement resulted in better motivation for sales team.
They implemented standardised procedures for tracking and analysing marketing. And can identify which sales and marketing activities generate a return on investment.
They assess if orders are on time, in full and on spec. Focussing the entire team on first-class customer service. This ability to deliver underpins customer relationships and retention. And as such, became an integral part of their mission statement. A key breakthrough was defining customer profiles. Which enabled them to market the right products at the right price to the right customers.
Ready to become a scale up company?
You’ve read how team alignment to a shared vision supports growth. Yet, becoming a scale up company also requires a foundation of clear personal goals. And well-defined objectives of business. As an experienced business coach, Gil helps you clarify these. Then supports you in developing the business acumen you need to lead with confidence.
Together, we’ll focus on you knowing your numbers. We’ll identify exactly how to increase efficiency. And give you the clarity required for sound decision-making. Gil will support you in implementing a robust operational framework and efficient processes. Building your repeatable blueprint for achieving growth.
Focussing the director’s strategic development. And personal fulfilment rather than firefighting. By converting goals into plans, you create the capacity to scale up manufacturing. Or expand a business in your industry. Moving you away from day-to-day pressure. And towards a more rewarding professional and personal life.
Your first step in becoming a high-growth business is for us to have a conversation. We’ll talk about your personal aims and your vision for your business. Together we’ll look at my structured methodologies. And transforming your big ideas into the concrete, actionable steps for long-term expansion.