“What could be better in business than changing people’s lives?”

Hi Mike! How did you first get involved with Stiltz?

I’ve worked in the mobility sector for most of my career, starting as a systems analyst at Sunrise Medical, which made products such as scooters and powered wheelchairs. I was then part of a management buyout of stairlift company Minivator, became chief executive, and we grew it from $6 million turnover to $60 million. When the business was sold on, I started investing in various project; some of which don’t exist today … and some of which do!

I decided overall I was best at being a CEO, and an opportunity arose when Lachlan Faulkner, who at the time had recently founded Stiltz [he is now the company’s Chief Commercial Officer] with three fellow Australians, got in touch. I was very, very sceptical about homelifts because all the products I had seen were agricultural, clunky and inelegant. But Lachlan showed me the lifts at an Earl’s Court expo, and I just thought, “Wow. How did you do that?” They were stylish and aspirational. I knew instantly that this was a product the market was missing. At that early point, however, they were only selling one or two a month

‍How did you develop the company?‍

We’ve worked hard to create great sales and marketing teams and strategies. We show people how we can make their lives easier, giving them their homes back, by having a very simple floor-to-floor, freestanding, shaftless, domestic elevator. But unlike stairlifts, which are functional and really only for people who have a pressing physical need, our homelifts look so great anyone could consider one for their home. They aren’t just for those with mobility issues. There’s a luxury element to them, a modern supplement to staircases, and they can be invaluable for carrying anything from tea trays to small children upstairs.

We tend to focus on product’s flexibility, explaining to people they can have them fitted pretty much wherever they want around the house. A corridor, in the corner of a room or dead space in a staircase void, for instance.

Being as innovative as possible with our product design and making technology a central feature has also been key. We’ve brought fantastic engineers in-house and are continually evolving our product, always on the edge of another leap forward in the market, just as everybody else is trying to catch us up.

When I joined the company, our turnover was about $500,000. This year, it’s set to be $100 million.

What sort of marketing and sales channels do you use?‍

We’ve used pretty much every way of reaching potential customers you can think of. The most efficient and effective methods currently include digital marketing using tools such as PPC, Google AdWords, SEO, and Facebook. However, awareness also comes from traditional methods like press adverts, TV advertising, and direct mail. Finding the right combination of these methods is key – you can blow a lot of money if you get it wrong.

Once we have leads, we will speak to customers on the phone or during a home visit. Our sales staff are incredibly good at taking them on a journey to show them how a homelift could be the right solution for them.

‍How have you maintained a strong position in the sector?

‍It’s more than 14 years since the business was founded, but we’ve only recently had competitors entering the homelift marketplace properly. A lot of them have sat on the sidelines saying, “That won't work. That's a silly idea. We can do better with the products we already have. We know better than you do because we've been around for longer.”

They are now trying to follow our lead, but I think we’re more innovative and fleeter of foot than they are. We can bring out new products and service our customers very quickly. We made the strategic decision to keep tight control on stock levels which means we always have products ready to install for customers rather than having to make them order.

Have there been times at Stiltz where you wish you’d done things differently?

I’ve had the benefit of growing another business, so I’d learnt where most of the bear traps are. When you have a lot of growth taking place, things can sometimes feel a bit topsy-turvy – too few people in one part of the business, perhaps, with too many resources channelled into another. What we’ve tried to do at Stiltz is predict and recruit the new managers and employees at the point of – and sometimes in advance of - reaching certain milestones, rather than hastily filling gaps in retrospect.

A few years ago, I would describe the business as a teenager. We were just learning what we were about. We had tantrums sometimes, and things didn't always go according to plan. Now, we’re getting towards our prime of life – we’re 30-somethings. We've had a lot of experience. We now know our customers. We know ourselves. It’s a great base to become a calm, efficient, mature 40-year-old over the next four or five years!‍

What appeals to you about working in the homelift sector?

I love the fact that it's very niche, so you can have a bigger impact on the market than you might in other industries. Most importantly, it’s a real buzz, because what could be better in business than changing people’s lives? We have come across people who literally have not been upstairs in their house for years. A lot of customers are in tears as they use the lift for the first time because they’ve been prisoners on the ground floor for so long.

‍What’s the biggest challenge as a company leader?‍

You have to develop a never-give-up attitude. No matter what life throws at you, you must find a way of getting things done and seeing plans through.

You must remember that your role is to work on the business, not in the business, a lot of the time. Focusing on what future goals should be and how to get there rather than just dealing with day-to-day operations. Always making sure that products, processes and employee skills all continue to improve year-on-year.

‍What do you have planned next for the company?‍

Expanding our operations in the US. It’s our single biggest market, which is fantastic, but it’s only double the UK right now, so there’s plenty of scope to grow. This will partly involve increasing the number of dealers that we have and rolling out a franchise model.

We’re making our homelifts smart. They’ll be able to tell us remotely when they have a problem, and internal machine-learning functions will be able to predict when maintenance might be needed.

Overall, we are hoping to have a turnover of more than $160 million dollars by 2030.

Mike Lord is Chairman and CEO of Stiltz, the UK’s leading homelift provider. The company manufactures, supplies, and installs a range of models in different sizes and for different needs. For more information, visit www.stiltz.co.uk/home-lifts/

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