Inspiring business growth

When you're running a small to medium-sized enterprise you can feel like you're on a treadmill. Day to day issues and client demands occupy all your time and it's hard to plan for the future. Even worse, your only opportunity to learn comes from making your own mistakes. Although it may feel like an indulgence you can ill afford, taking time out of the office to network with likeminded individuals and hear from industry experts can be extremely valuable.

Sureya Landini, managing director of Cambridgeshire-based Blue Donkey, one of the region's most successful telemarketing companies, found this out just in time.

She had become concerned about public loss of confidence in telemarketing services, following the actions of a number of rogue companies who had brought the industry into disrepute. She knew Blue Donkey would have to change its business model if it was to carry on being successful in a climate of tough new legislation and public distrust.

When she heard about EEDA's Destination Growth event she was inspired: "We knew that Blue Donkey excelled in terms of quality and capability, but we weren't sure how best to exploit this. That's why I was so excited by the high calibre of speakers at the event, some of whom had been respected names on my bookshelf for years."

Sureya's instincts paid off and she found the answers she was looking for. "The responsibility of being in a business that employs people is sizeable and often unforgiving, which is probably why so many people describe the job as lonely. Having the chance to learn from some of the most revered business brains, and to share experiences with people in a similar position to you is wonderfully empowering."

"One thing all the speakers said was that being good is no longer enough - your business has to have the edge [when it comes to people's] overall experience." After attending the conference Sureya realised that the key to Blue Donkey's future success was to be completely transparent about their quality systems.

This led to the company seeking and gaining International Standards Organisation (ISO) and Investors in People (IIP) accreditation. They have also worked to ensure all communication with clients is open and transparent, investing in IT systems and appointing a quality assurance manager to make this happen.

"Our growth between 2006 and 2007 has been 24 per cent," says Sureya, "and we attribute this directly to the changes implemented as a result of ideas taken away from Destination Growth. This success is in contrast to a recent industry report highlighting the telemarketing industry as a whole, which states that in the top 100 companies in our sector 23 businesses are facing failure."

Blue Donkey continues to grow and in January 2008 won three prestigious awards at the fifth annual Newmarket Business Awards.

Visit the Destination Growth website for information on the next event.