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OtterBase, Inc. President Jeff Bennett intends to grow his company 50-75 percent over the next four years.
By Karen Gentry
MiBiz Network
GRAND RAPIDS — Large Michigan-based clients like Meijer Inc. and Alticor Inc. have led to out-of-state business for OtterBase, Inc.
The supplemental staffing company has experienced 30-40 percent sales growth each year since its founding in 1998, according to OtterBase President Jeff Bennett, who is partners in the company with his brother Bill. Today OtterBase has satellite offices in Detroit and Boston and 30 percent of its clients are located outside of Michigan. Bennett said the firm is seeing lots of action in Arizona, Tennessee and the Boston area.
"A lot of our big clients took us outside of Michigan. Once we got in those areas we were able to capitalize with new clients," Bennett told MiBiz.
OtterBase’s growth has been attracting attention as of late. Bennett was named Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award and OtterBase was recognized as one of the 50 Companies to Watch at the Michigan Celebrates Small Business event in April.
Having just completed a strategic plan, Bennett said he aims to grow the company at an even faster clip — 50-75 percent over the next four years. With plans to open additional offices in St. Louis, Phoenix, Atlanta and San Francisco, OtterBase expects to add 10-15 employees a year to its current roster of 40.
Bennett attributes a lot of OtterBase's growth to the fast-paced, expanding supplemental staffing industry. All industries in which OtterBase is involved are growing at a fairly even pace, with no single sector dominating.
The popularity of supplemental staffing is the result of organizations realizing the flexibility and benefits of temporary staff, according to Bennett. The expense of hiring full-time employees can be overwhelming for employers today and supplemental staffing offers a "great fiscal benefit" to most businesses, especially those that are cyclical.
OtterBase covers every staffing arena including support staff, technical, IT, engineering, light industrial and clinical/health care. In May OtterBase placed its 1,000th employee. It has workers placed in far-ranging positions such as bio-statistician, nurse practitioner, electrical engineer, data entry clerk, project manager and staff analyst.
Although 9/11 was disastrous for most industries, Bennett said his company made the decision to hire and spend the time penetrating different markets as competitors downsized. The strategy helped position OtterBase for growth when the economy improved.
"During those few years we never took a hit," Bennett said.
A challenge OtterBase faces is competition from vendor managed systems. Bennett addressed that challenge in his submission for Entrepreneur of the Year.
"One challenge in growing a business in the supplemental staffing industry is the industry's natural inclination to commoditize our services,” he wrote. “Our ability to remain profitable while growing our market share has been due in large part to our success in differentiating the service we provide and focusing on that service as a large part of the added value we bring to the table. Overcoming the commodity challenge required a fresh and creative spin on our service and the relationships we maintain with our clients."
OtterBase founders focus a lot of their attention on company culture and attention to customers, with the goal of building a reputation as one of the best.
"Nothing replaces customer service — that's the bottom line," Bennett said.
Bennett plans to keep OtterBase headquarters in Grand Rapids and he appreciates the entrepreneurial spirit of West Michigan.
"There's no better place than West Michigan to have a business," he said.
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