For The Pert Group, growth can’t be attributed to a single factor.
In its more-than 30-year history, the business consulting firm has grown by acquisition, as a result of high levels of satisfaction among its clients and with an impressive record of employee retention.
Last year, The Pert Group hired 35 new employees and grew its revenue nearly 30 percent. So far this year, the company has hired another 15 employees and recently opened its new offices at The Exchange in Farmington.
And, if you need to be reminded, the firm has done this in the midst of a recession that was simply too much to bear for some consulting firms.
“Because we’re privately held, we’re able to decide when we’d like to take a risk or when we want to change direction,” said Dale Lersch, the firm’s CEO and principal. “We don’t have an overlord telling us whether we can do such a thing.”
So, in 2009, the company known until then as PERT Survey Research acquired Pulsar Research & Consulting and Market Directions. It renamed the new, larger firm The Pert Group and opened an office in Kansas City.
This year, the company has not only moved into custom renovated space in Farmington, it has also opened an office in London.
The acquisitions have given the group access to sectors in which it never really did that much business, including health care, insurance, finance and manufacturing.
Companies that achieve this kind of growth in market conditions that make other firms weak in the knees can’t do it while leaving a path of destruction across the globe.
“The reason this company is growing is leadership and vision,” said Chris Barnes, senior vice president for client development. “The key to building this business is longstanding client relationships. A lot of times in this business, what happens is the smart consultant comes in, drops his idea of the month on the table and leaves.”
Firms like that found themselves “retreating” when the going got tough a couple of years ago, Barnes said. “It was extraordinary to see (The Pert Group) double down, growing and expanding in new areas.”
The company couldn’t make such bold moves or sustain the kind of growth it has committed itself to without a loyal and high-achieving workforce.
“People come and work here, and they stay here. Very few people leave here,” said Doug Guion, senior vice president of operations and client services. “We avoid the ‘jack of all trades and master of nothing syndrome,’” he said.
And the hiring spree the company has been on isn’t just an effort to bring in bodies; it’s a clearly planned strategy for strengthening the group’s workforce.
“We had a lot of very senior-level executives with 20 or 30 years of experience and a lot of people of three to eight years of experience, and we weren’t giving them the time and attention and mentoring they were really crying out for,” said Lersch.
The firm set about bringing in mid-level executives with more than 10 years experience, but perhaps less than a career’s worth.
And in that, the recession was a big help.
“We were getting people who were getting let go by companies, or were coming from companies where the culture had become so that people wanted to leave,” Lersch said.
Through smart planning, the company was ready to hire.
“This company wasn’t spending money on private jets,” Guion said. “This company was run sensibly, and it allowed it to make these moves in the downturn.”
Lersch added, “And we’re going to be a good company, as well, not a sweatshop. If somebody has a family issue, that comes first. The work will get done.”
Barnes said that attitude extends to client relationships, too. “It’s not just about getting another client, it’s about doing something. We want to help them grow,” he said.
