Back to the floor: A small business in action

A Dell executive recently ditched the corporate life and spent the day as a tailor for a small online suit retailer. Dan Martin reports from the 'back to floor to the floor' experience.

Of all the business reality television shows, 'Back To The Floor' was my favourite. First broadcast in 1997, the programme featured the chief executives of large companies spending time on the shop floor with their employees. For many it was a real eye opener into what really goes into growing a successful business.

With that in mind the chance to be involved in a mini version of the show was one I didn't want to miss so I jumped at the chance to witness an executive from corporate giant Dell being put to work as a style advisor for a small online suit retailer.

Aongus Hegarty was the man in question. Usually the vice president of small and medium business for the EMEA region at Dell, his suit jacket came off and the measuring tape was put round his neck as he fitted me up for a tailored shirt at one of the offices of A Suit That Fits. As the video below shows, Hegarty did pretty well!

Another reason for me being at the event was to go behind the scenes at a successful small business.

Despite being less than four years old, A Suit That Fits, which was co-founded by friends David Hathiramani and Warren Bennett, turned over £2m last year and has been the recipient of several awards including being named the 2009 global winner of Dell's Small Business Excellence Award.

With its suits made in family-run workshops in Kathmandu, the company now employs 30 people. It is unique in the fact that a customer can order a suit without ever leaving their computer as the whole process can be done online using technical wizardry to select everything from the type of pocket you want to the colour of your buttons. You do of course have to measure yourself if you chose not to visit one of the company's fitting offices!

Recession; what recession?

After Hegarty's efforts at tailoring we headed back to the A Suit That Fits HQ to get the inside track on the company's success. Sat round a boardroom table in south east London's Jam Factory, a former warehouse where Jammy Dodgers used to be made, the two young entrepreneurs filled me in on their story.

The question of the impact of the recession came up immediately. "We were up against it from the start," Bennett says. "We were creating a market out of nothing so the state of the economy didn't matter.

"What the recession has meant though is that people are searching for more value. We have benefited because of the way we use technology meaning we can offer better value and more efficiency than our competitors."

An indicator of A Suit That Fits' success is the arrival on the scene of at least 10 new start-ups trying to copy its business model. But that doesn't worry Hathiramani who comments: "All it means is that we have to continually innovate and we love doing that!"

Listening to employees

Something else the founders pride themselves in is staff engagement. As well as ensuring that suit makers in Nepal experience good working environments and are paid above the national average salary, in the UK the company holds weekly team meetings, has a dedicated area for employees to socialise and has created an 'ideas wall' on which anyone can post suggestions for new innovations. If an individual comes up with a good idea they are allowed to run with it and work with the company's product development team to put it into action.

Hathiramani does admit however that as the workforce has expanded the challenge of ensuring everyone remains engaged in the business has got greater. "When we had eight employees everyone was as happy as larry," he tells me, "but when we got to 11 staff things weren't quite right for some reason so we introduced the weekly team meetings."

Reaching 30 staff brings even more challenges, he admits. "When you're one out of 30 you don't necessarily want to put your hand up in a meeting so we have to think of something else to make sure we're listening." That's where the company's line managers come in, says Bennett. "Although the inspiration still comes from us at the top," he expains, "we have to make sure it goes through our line managers who can then inspire their staff."

Listening to customers 

But it's not just their employees who Bennett and Hathiramani want to ensure they listen to; they are also passionate about providing the best possible service to their customers. For this, they believe social media is vital.

A Suit That Fits has so far only dipped its toes into social networking. The company has a Twitter account, as does Hathiramani, but the founders are keen to make sure they get this part of their marketing exactly right.

"We don't have the capability to do it properly in house yet but we will soon be appointing a social media manager," Hathiramani explains. "We want to think strategically about how we use social media and develop a consistent tone of voice across all customer touchpoints." One issue the business is considering, for example, is should all style advisors automatically be given Twitter accounts.

The future 

With two entrepreneurs as passionate about business as Hathiramani and Bennett at the helm, the future looks distinctly rosey for A Suit That Fits. The company recently opened its first fitting office outside of London in Bristol and is looking to expand to Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds. Overseas expansion could also be on the cards but at the moment the entrepreneurs are sticking to the UK where Bennett says there is "still huge potential".

Leaving A Suit That Fits HQ, I felt very positive about the business sector with which I'm involved. It's great to see such dedication and passion towards from two entrepreneurs towards not only making money but also ensuring employees, no matter where they are in the world, have the same commitment to the cause. For this company, it's clear that it's not only suits but also success which fits.