Case study · Fire alarm monitoring · Grow

AFAM: growing on purpose, not by accident

Twenty years of reputation and organic growth, with no repeatable way to do it again. We put structure underneath it.

The situation

AFAM had more than 20 years in the market and a strong reputation to show for it. Growth had come, but it had come organically - through relationships, referrals and being good at the work.

That is a real achievement. It is also hard to repeat on purpose, and impossible to forecast. When growth arrives by accident, you cannot plan around it, resource for it, or defend it when a bigger competitor turns up.

What we did

  • Chose target sectors on data rather than on which enquiries happened to arrive
  • Built a repeatable sales approach the team could run without heroics
  • Put structure under the pipeline so they could see what was coming
  • Built the confidence to compete directly with a larger competitor

The result

AFAM came away able to run that growth engine themselves. Same effort, more consistent results - and, critically, an understanding of which activity was actually producing the outcome.

They went on to win work in sectors they had not competed in before, including large properties, airports and stadiums, and to take business from a competitor several times their size.

That last part is what changes decision-making. Once you know what drives the result, you can back your own judgement rather than guessing.

At a glance

AFAM

Sector
Automatic fire alarm monitoring

Stage
Grow

Market
New Zealand - large properties, airports, stadiums

Headline result
A repeatable growth engine they run themselves

“Now we understand what drives results and have the confidence to back our decisions.”

Kieron Telford, Managing Director, AFAM

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Growing by accident?

The scorecard will show you which part of the engine is doing the work, and which part is luck.