Defining the essential elements for growth and success.

• Author: Ryckman, Lisa
• Position: ASSOCIATION FOR CORPORATE GROWTH SPECIAL SECTION

Ayuda Management Corp. has grown 7,000 percent since 2007. Ready Talk has more than 5,000 customers in 70 countries. Imperial Headwear, closing in on a century in business, cranks out 10,000 caps a day.

What's their secret?

Ask the leaders of Colorado's hottest companies for the five essential elements for growth and success, and you'll probably get six.

Or seven. Or four.

At Ayuda, they talk about the "four D's: desire to be the best; determination to succeed, even in the face of rejection; dedication to customers and employees; and daring to take risks to further our goals and dreams."

Clearly, that's been a winning formula for the 10-year-old company, a provider of services in general contracting/construction management, construction-defect repair, homeland defense consulting/security system design and installation, environmental consulting and staff augmentation.

Ask Ayuda co-owner Sonya Yungeberg, and she'll tell you she puts trust-building at the top of her list.

"Build trust with your clients through frequent and relevant communication," says Yungeberg, who serves as executive vice president and chief operating officer. "Be honest and do what you say you are going to do. Bend over backwards to finish what you started; the end of a project is as important as the start."

Providing quality services and focusing on existing clients are two other key elements,

Yungeberg says.

"Quality is defined by the client and their end goal. Listen to your clients and adapt your services to their needs. Boilerplate execution can lead to unhappy clients," she says. "Focus as much or more attention on servicing existing clients than selling new work. Repeat business and referrals are always easier to get than new clients through cold marketing."

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CEO Dan King of Ready Talk, an audio and Web conferencing provider ranked as one of the nation's fastest-growing technology companies for five years running, looks at his product through the customer's eyes.

"One essential element to our growth has been our consistent effort to gain clarity on how it is that we create value for our customers through our product and service offerings - what it is about our offerings that makes them unique and gives both customers and prospects a strong reason to spend their money with us?" he says.

Imperial CEO Doug Kelly agrees.

"You need to have a product or service that brings value and purpose to your consumer," he says. "It's a competitive environment...