The Kansas City Business Journal released its 2011 list of the Top Area Women-Owned Businesses this month and The Pert Group made the top 10!
Owners Dale Lersch, Gigi Ryan, and Susan Spaulding have been the driving force behind the successful growth of our business. The Pert Group is in good company – 10.1 million US firms are owned by women, employing more than 13 million people and generating $1.9 trillion in sales in 2008.
The National Women’s Business Council in Washington, D.C. notes that the number of women-owned business continues to grow at twice the rate of all U.S. firms and that one in five firms with revenue of $1 million or more is women-owned. Despite the wide range of industries these companies belong to, the women who lead them have similar features in common:
- They are committed to high growth – creating a large company is their objective.
- They are not afraid of technology – women use technology innovatively to build scale into their business models.
- They inspire leaders – the ability to motivate employees is what they believe makes a successful entrepreneur.
- They are confident in what they know – more and more women are certain of their transferable skills that they’ve gained after years of working in business and use them to their advantage.
- They adapt to change – with challenges of the economy ever-present, women are driving their companies to enter new markets and are not afraid to modify their business strategies.
What does this mean for you and your company?
Your company could be any size, be located anywhere in the United States and have owners of either gender, but no matter your company’s identity you need to consider the growth of other women-owned businesses.
As Lersch notes, “It should be recognized that women-owned businesses are a worthwhile target population for all types of B2B services. They will be evaluating the suppliers’ orientation to see if there is an inclusion of women as strong business leader.” Additionally your business might now have some added competition. “It adds a dimension for those companies who have corporate diversity goals of working with minority-owned or women-owned companies,” Ryan believes.
Why does being a women-owned company in the market research industry make The Pert Group a stand out?
Spaulding explains that, “Our focus on growth and profitability equals or exceeds our male counterparts. The concentration we have in evaluating the rational and emotional factors that influence innovation, positioning and performance also comes from being women-owned. And, understanding how each individual impacts the success of a brand – whether a customer or an employee of the marketer- is something special we bring to the table.”
It is clear that women entrepreneurs are among the fastest growing groups of business owners.
Is your company women-owned? How do you think it makes your business unique? Or have you worked with women-owned companies? What was your experience like? We’d love to hear from you!
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