How this ANZ business leader plans to quadruple his business' growth
- Written by Bevan Guest
Last calendar year, the business I lead, Novated Lease Australia, went from a modest 10-person team to a thriving workforce of 60. Across the same period, we saw a massive 344% increase in revenue half-on-half.
Massive growth isn’t luck or even being in the right place at the right time – it’s a testament to the effectiveness of carefully planned strategies and a focus on execution.
In calendar year 2024, we plan to quadruple our growth yet again and continue to build on the strong momentum we achieved in 2023. This isn’t a pie-in-the-sky dream: it’s a realistic goal based on careful planning and strategies that any business can implement.
Here are five clear strategies I’m using to quadruple my business growth, and tips for how any business leader can implement them in their growth strategies.
Build a growth mindset
Whilst managing risks is important, a growth mindset is also essential. Designing for growth will allow you to find areas to attain market share gains or growth in new sectors for your product or service and means that opportunities for growth are not overlooked.
If you allow constant negative media to impact your belief in your business’s ability to grow, you will fail to see the possibilities in front of you: and your lack of growth will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Ask yourself: can you invest now for the future whilst your competitors are more focussed on cost controls? How can you position yourself now to allow for the best possible chance of growing in the future?
Employee experience delivers the best customer experience
Ensuring that your employees are equipped to deliver the best customer experience means giving them the technology and skills to be able to deliver. It also means ensuring the business is culturally aligned to delivering an exceptional employee and customer experience.
Even simple changes like making the UX of your internal tech platforms just as desirable as your customer’s external digital interfaces can make a huge difference. Consider automating mundane tasks wherever possible, so your employees can focus all their energy on helping the customer.
Finally, never underestimate the importance of giving your employees the autonomy to make decisions: a micromanaged employee is likely to echo that bad experience back onto the customer – even if they’re doing it subconsciously.
Ensuring your brand is aligned with your values
A strong brand is essential for business growth, because customers will only buy from brands they can trust. To build that trust, your brand must align with your values – and those values must be echoed across every facet of your customer experience.
In 2024, we launched our new simplified, clean redesign that echoes our belief in taking things back to basics. We aim to simplify terminology and language for the customer while achieving faster response times - some of the biggest issues we hear about within the novated lease industry.
Keeping things simple
If the customer doesn’t understand what you do, they’re not going to want to buy from you. That’s why keeping things simple is one of the key factors in incredible growth. Think of some of the world’s most successful brands: Apple, Uber, AirBnB and Amazon. One quality that ties them all together? Simplicity.
If your business involves complicated contracts or in-depth technical considerations - as novated leasing often can, for example - make sure your sales and customer support team are equipped with the knowledge and communication skills necessary to explain service contracts in everyday language.
Integrate AI technology now
If you’re not already embracing AI, you need to start immediately. Start looking for business use cases for AI and implement trials so that your business can learn and understand how it can be utilised for your business.
We have selected suppliers based on their technology roadmaps with a specific focus on AI and implemented this across customer service. At the same time, we’re also developing an AI-powered product that gives us our own AI capabilities and learnings. The growth opportunities are huge. The sooner you start learning, the better.
About Bevan Guest:
Bevan Guest is the CEO of Novated Lease Australia. With over two decades of experience in the automotive and financial services sector, he has led Novated Lease Australia to become a major market disruptor by providing innovative novated leasing and related services to people all over the country.
Bevan's expertise lies in driving strategic growth and fostering company-wide innovation and transformation. His previous roles as managing director and chief commercial officer at Eclipx Group showcased his ability to boost revenue, profitability, and market share while also prioritising customer experience and satisfaction.
With a passion for excellence and a dedication to providing simple and accessible novated leasing solutions, Bevan is uniquely qualified to create high-value solutions for customers and stakeholders alike through cutting-edge technology and industry-leading services.
