Everyone involved in running a business from the smallest start-up to a major corporate dreams about how to achieve sustained profitable growth. I'm a great believer that business is simple - it's only us human beings that make it complex. If you simplify business, and that is best done in my experience by "getting up in the helicopter" and looking at the big picture, it is remarkable how much you can see!

I recently researched CEOs and I asked them one question:

"What is the biggest challenge to achieving sustained profitable growth in your business"?

37% responded that their single biggest challenge was people - the recruitment, retention and motivation of people.

Why did that not surprise me? Well I often find that we are so myopic and stuck with our traditions that we lose sight of the big picture - and the need to keep it simple.

In recruitment for example I still find a many companies, small and large, that rely on an interview, or maybe a couple of interviews, to select new employees. It is generally recognised that by using this method we get it right just two out of five times. Would we live with that success rate in any other part of our business? ? NO of course we wouldn't! To improve that success rate you must firstly ensure that the person you are selecting can do the job.

Obvious? Of course it is ? but everything is from the helicopter! However ask yourself, if, for example, you are recruiting a Salesperson do you put them in a real selling situation and see how they measure up? - If it's a Finance person do you provide them with a set of real figures to analyse for you?

The second most important need from my research is for sales growth. Here again there is the need to look at the big picture. I find that whenever people set out plans for sales growth they always start by putting together plans to seek out and win new customers - and they may even develop sophisticated, and expensive, programmes for getting those new customers.

Why?

Why do we start there? Surely the easiest place to start is with our existing customers, ask yourself:

? Do all our existing customers actually know about our full product range and all the services we offer? Often they don't.

? Have we looked at ways by which we can increase the revenue we achieve from each of our existing customers? Often we haven't.

I guarantee that the more you think about the initiatives you can take with your existing customers the more ideas you will come up with.

I've only touched on one or two aspects of people recruitment and sales growth here but the reality is that if you really can "get up in the helicopter" and look at each part of your business with a view to keeping it as simple as possible you will find that the achievement of that profitable growth you seek really is easy!

Roger Harrop is an International Speaker who inspires and entertains his audiences with his acclaimed Staying in the Helicopter ? series. Over 1000 CEOs and others have achieved massive growth in profits and sales through his thought provoking and entertaining talks laced with real-life stories, anecdotes and humour. He is a former CEO of a highly successful high tech multi-national publicly quoted company, author, consultant, mentor and leadership tutor. To receive his FREE E BOOK 'Everything you always wanted to know about Profitable Growth but didn't know whom to ask' go to http://www.rogerharrop.com