Blue Skies Ahead

^{Reprinted from: St. Louis Small Business Monthly Dec-08}

When you turn on the news lately, you can't escape the economic horror stories. With businesses struggling to stay afloat and unemployment rates growing, fear is building in the business community. It seems we could all use a dose of good news.

Take heart -- some local businesses are still thriving. St. Louis-based Beyond Storage continues to grow, and owner David Gast says he sees nothing but blue skies ahead.

In 1985 Gast's father started Beyond Storage as a franchise of a national closet and storage brand. Gast joined the company shortly after graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"By 1987 I had worked in the shop as an installer and had personally designed hundreds of custom closet and storage systems," he says. "We expanded the business to Kansas City, which I managed until 1998."

Then the family sold the Kansas City store, and Gast bought the business from his dad and moved back to St. Louis. By 2005 it had grown to be much more than a closet company.

"Remaining a part of a franchise was inhibiting our ability to focus on the unique needs of the St. Louis market, so we gave up our franchise rights and renamed our business Beyond Storage -- a space improvement company, reflecting the expanded scope of the business," says Gast. "We have continued to grow in each year since becoming an independent local business."

Today Gast's business serves both home and office markets. "Popular systems for homeowners include custom closets, garages, home offices, media centers and kitchen pantries, while in the commercial office market we may build entire work spaces, mail bins, break area storage, conference room cabinets or office supply closets," says Gast.

Over the years the company has had steady revenue growth. "In the early years the industry was so new, growth came with relative ease, but as the industry has matured, we now have several competitors in the marketplace, so maintaining our growth has been more challenging," says Gast.

Beating out the competition meant evolving with new finish colors, styles and accessories to offer clients while expanding the company's manufacturing shop to improve quality and manage costs.

"We added a new salesperson about a year ago, and she is developing a healthy book of business," says Gast, who has grown the company from five to 20 employees.

"Our business continues to thrive because we've built a solid foundation over 23 years of improving St. Louis space," he says. "People are still spending money -- only fewer of them, which intensifies competition for the smaller pie. The vast majority of our business results from repeat customers and referrals, so we don't need a 'hard sell' to convince them of the advantage of doing business with us. We've always kept our pricing in line, but since we no longer pay franchise fees, we pass the savings to our customers. So we're a good value, and in today's tough economy, that's exactly what our customers are looking for."

Gast says there are three keys to Beyond Storage's continued success in today's economy:

1. Maintaining consistency
   "We'll stay true to what's made our business successful: superior product and service at a competitive price," says Gast. "We'll be consistent in the way we build and promote our brand and work hard every day to protect our greatest asset: our reputation."
2. Staying ahead of the curve
   "We were the first to bring a custom closet franchise to St. Louis, and since our inception we've been at the forefront of the industry," says Gast. "Our customers know we'll offer cutting-edge designs and the latest accessories, colors and hardware the market has to offer. From an operational standpoint, we've invested in new equipment and processes to afford superior efficiency, accuracy and expansion of capabilities."
3. Investing in client relationships
   "In good times or bad, our greatest source of leads has always been repeat and referral business," says Gast. "A portion of our marketing will always be directed towards nurturing client relationships as we seek to build new relationships."

Despite the failing economy, Gast sticks to business fundamentals to continue to grow his business and avoid the trap of fear-based decision making. "I can certainly relate to the pressures of small-business ownership and survival, but we try to keep focused on the long term and make decisions to assure our stability," he says.

"Businesses that resort to severe cost-cutting measures, such as layoffs or spending cuts in areas like marketing, usually suffer more in the long run. They'll lose customers because of poor service, suffer erosion of brand equity and eventually bear the cost of retraining new employees once conditions improve."

Gast suggests that all business owners evaluate their companies, inside and out, to begin growing their businesses.

"Know your customers and how to keep them happy," he says. "Know your target audience, how to reach them and the messages that will persuade them to do business with you. Honestly assess your strengths and weaknesses and then take action to correct your weaknesses and maximize your strengths. Maintain a positive attitude within your team -- a happier team leads to happier customers who will bring you more repeat and referral business."