COMPANY PROFILE Award winning Focus zoom
From humble beginnings Focus Group has grown into a comms industry household name on target to hit £23.5 million turnover this year. In May the company collected a Comms Dealer Sales award in recognition of its remarkable journey, which according to the firm’s founders is a long way from being over.
D
uring 2012 Focus Group’s turnover grew from £12.4 million to £17.3
million and net client numbers grew organically by over 750 with an annual churn rate of just 1.5 per cent. An internal leads programme saw over 5,000 sales leads passed between the company’s various divisions throughout the
Just a minute with Ralph Gilbert...
What talent do you wish you had? Golf! I’m a rubbish golfer for someone that plays so often
Name one thing you could not do without in your job: Two screens: How I operated with one I’ll never know
How would you like to be remembered? Fun time Ralph
What possession could you not live without? Socks. Can’t sleep without them
What do you fear the most? Not being able to sleep
year, and not surprisingly the company scooped the Reseller Sales Team of the Year accolade (£7.5 million plus turnover category) at this year’s Comms Dealer Sales Awards, staged at the Park Lane Hotel, London, on May 16th.
Having made its first telecoms acquisition in November last year Focus Group’s projected turnover for the year ending 2013 is £23.5 million, almost doubling the turnover of the company in just two years. Its client base now stands at over 5,500 billing customers with a profile that ranges from SoHos through to large enterprise. Recent growth has seen employee numbers soar with over 100 staff now operating from new offices in Southwick, West Sussex. Despite now having over 9,000 sq ft of office space, plans are already being made to accommodate further growth.
All this is a long way from its humble beginnings. The firm, formerly known as Focus 4 U, was established in 2003 in a home office
Focus Group scoops a coveted Comms Dealer Sales Award
by Managing Director Ralph Gilbert and Sales Director Chris Goodman. The company then operated as a vehicle to pass leads for mobile contracts and in 2004, joined by Paul Tolhurst in a finance capacity, the business became a full-time venture. Operating out of a storage area in a technology centre in Hove, East Sussex, with a core product of CPS and Wholesale Line Rental, this fledgling business began life in what was considered by many to be a saturated, declining sector of the telecoms market.
Bit in 2011 the company took the decision to re-brand. “We did so to highlight our broad and diverse product portfolio,” said Gilbert. “With six key divisions spanning telecoms, mobile, IT services, network services, digital media and energy, we have created a portfolio that allows us to operate with low levels of customer churn and high levels of cross-selling throughout the customer base. This structure, along with a strategy covering both direct sales and
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28 COMMS DEALER JULY 2013
reseller relationships allows us to offer these services nationwide, and is key to the sales success we have enjoyed in recent years.”
There are a number of experiences and decisions that influence how Focus Group does business. “Arguably, the most important of these is the lessons learnt while employed within the industry,” explained Goodman. “We made a conscious decision not to make the same mistakes that our previous employers had, both in terms of their attitude towards diversification, resellers and the working environment. This decision prompted us to build a team of resellers, search for complementary products to expand the portfolio, and to implement a commission structure for staff that rewarded hard work and loyalty.”
Engaging with staff is a high priority. “It is far easier when there are just ten of you, but nurturing the same level of dedication and passion is difficult as you grow,”
added Goodman. “We hold an annual Summer Party at one of the owner’s houses. This is a family day and we encourage staff to bring partners and children for what is always a highlight of the social calendar.”
Focus also encourages team building through charity work, this year organising a Three Peaks Challenge, a
Just a minute with Chris Goodman...
What talent do you wish you had? Fluent Italian
Name one thing you could not do without in your job: eMail
How would you like to be remembered? Ambitious, successful but also fair
What possession could you not live without? iPhone: Sign of the times!
What do you fear the most? Only doing it for the money!
Who was the last person to thank you and why? My wife, for being such a great husband, father and liar!
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