Randy Karr, Principal with the Spur Group, was employee No. 3 back in 2004 when the firm launched. At that point, it was Karr, Managing Principal Ray Rasmussen, and Senior Principal Chris McCall.
After humble beginnings and the economic collapse of 2009, the Spur Group was still trying to find its footing as a small firm with only about 15 employees.
During this time, the Redmond, Wash.-based firm prided itself on "bringing executives instant business momentum" in the form of writing speeches and creating content for executives mainly in the high tech, healthcare and insurance industries.
The firm was doing good work but not necessarily growing, says Karr, who also serves as the head of Human Resources.
Then, Microsoft asked The Spur Group to create training materials for the launch of Windows 8, and Karr needed to bring in junior-level people to help do the work. That influx of new talent was the kick-start the firm needed.
"Because we had hired a bunch of junior people, we came up with the recipe for how to get these folks involved every day as a extension of our senior people," he says. "That model helped us take off."
As a result, The Spur Group created what it calls its Associate Consultant program, a delivery model where younger people are hired, given a consulting and business training course, and are then mentored by the firm's senior leadership. "Associate Consultant is the entry-level position in the firm. We didn't have that when we were only 15 people," Karr says. "This model has been a fantastic success in the marketplace."
And a fantastic success for The Spur Group. In 2014, the firm grew revenue by 64 percent, doubled the number of employees, and continued to receive outstanding reviews from clients, Karr says. In 2015, the firm is predicting another 33 percent growth. Going forward, Karr says 20 percent growth is the plan, with the five-year goal of tripling the firm by 2020.
That plan includes adding at least one "platform client" every year. Currently, the firm's list of clients is a Who's Who: Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, Cisco, Dell, Novell, Philips, among others. "These are long-term relationships," Karr says. "Our model is clearly our differentiator. It's the people that we're selling. The quality of our people is the key to our success."
Those people come to Spur after a competitive hiring process. Last year, Karr says the firm started with 400 candidates, selected 60 to go through training and ended up hiring 20. New hires have a mentor who helps them understand what it means to be a consultant, a manager who helps them understand their career, and an engagement manager on any job they are working on. Here's how it works: A senior-level person will sell an engagement. That person will then meet with the client about once a week.
In addition, that senior-level person will also be meeting with Spur's Associate Consultants every morning and night as the project is executed. "That strategy—multiplied by six or seven leaders, and each of those leaders might have 10 Associates— and suddenly we've extended ourselves and given our clients fantastic value," Karr says. "And, our people develop incredibly quickly in this hands-on environment."
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