0 to $5.9 million in 4 years.

After 4 years, most new business owners are either starting to find their footing, or thinking about getting another job. This businessman managed to go from zero to 38 employees over 2 states and revenue of $5.9 million.

Curious to find out how?

SmartCompany posted an interview with Saunders where he reveals his not-so-tricky methods in growing the business and expanding customer base.

The key for him was establishing a professional appearance from the start, which made his business appear bigger than it was. Without ever telling a lie, Brett won customers with a few clever presentation tricks and impeccable promotional material.

This approach is relevant to businesses across the board. Regardless of the service or product you offer, no customer wants to be a guinea pig client. Therefore, by looking and acting like “one of the big guys” potential customers feel confident that they are dealing with a professional company. The benefit of being a smaller company behind the scenes is you can win new business by offering competitive rates.

Brett says it’s simple, “What do people look at when it comes to a business? They go to the website. If I’ve got my website looking like a big organisation, they are going to assume that we are a lot bigger.”

Brett Saunders has nailed this approach with his air-conditioning and mechanicals business Hiflow. We’ve seen similar success with our client in Geelong and regional Victoria who established a professional appearance to win clients in the Melbourne and metropolitan markets. It works, just think about how you research and assess potential business partnerships? Appearance and credibility is key.