Thinking Bigger

Speciality Bites with

Paul Hargreaves

Chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

• Becoming a B Corp
• Top trend predictions for Christmas 2021
• Self-sacrifice: The importance of building a leadership legacy centred on others
• Undercover Boss
• Can/should bosses really be close friends with their staff?

I have just returned from a week away in Devon, which was a good chance to spend time with my children and re-charge the batteries

2010 has been an exciting year so far, but it has certainly involved some long hours, so it was good to virtually forget about work for a week. As is my custom when away, I read a business autobiography. This time it was the turn of Theo Paphitis of Dragon’s Den fame. It was a very readable – perfect for the beach – and as usual when reading books like this, it challenged me to think bigger.

I remember being challenged in the same way when visiting China last year. Many of us, myself included, run our businesses within our comfort zones. This is fine, but if we really want to ‘hit the heights’ then we need to take more risks. Theo would say he is not a risk taker because he weighs up the pros and cons before making any business decision.

This means he is going into the danger zone pretty much knowing that he will come out winning. But in our eyes he is a risk-taker, well beyond any of us mere mortals! Maybe living on the edge isn’t for everyone, but I challenge you –  as I am challenging myself –  to take more calculated risks and think bigger.

So far in 2010, I have deliberated increasing the wage bill of Cotswold Fayre by around 35% in anticipation of growth of that magnitude this year. We are only at the beginning of month three, so it’s still early days, but the very fact that the turnover has to be considerably more just to pay the wages certainly drives me forward into focusing more on our sales and marketing.

In a retail situation, this is similar to something called ‘pressure of stock’, which is deliberately getting a load of a particular product in. The very fact that there is a big pile to shift focuses us and our staff to sell it hard. Now clearly this is only to be recommended with certain products, but the buzz that can come from visibly selling a mountain of stock creates a knock-on effect on the whole business. Why don’t you try it? And I am sure most suppliers will help you with a discount in order to sell it out with some kind of promotion.

Finally, we seem to be entering the awards season. My company is up for two awards within the next two weeks: The Grocer Gold Awards and the Oxfordshire Business Awards. Of course, I am hoping we win, but even if we don’t the publicity received will be well worth the night out. I will let you know. I am having a reward today from our largest supplier and being taken to Queen’s to enjoy the tennis – nothing wrong with a bit of networking!