COMPANY NAME: RAZOR CONSULTING SOLUTIONS, INC.
COMPANY LOCATION: Fargo, ND
FOUNDED: 2010
INTERISE PROGRAM: 2016 EMERGING LEADERS FARGO
“You can provide a tremendous amount of value to your clients simply by fixing your own internal issues with employee satisfaction.”
BUSINESS OVERVIEW Razor Consulting Solutions, Inc. was founded in 2010 by two Fortune 50 Technology employees. Today its fast-growing 50-person team provides a variety of financial, marketing, project, and customer support, as well as independent product development for clients. Due to a close connection to the large technology presence in Fargo, business from the technology sector currently makes up about 80 percent of Razor’s revenues. Additionally, the firm has helped other large juggernauts like Subaru and Verizon. Razor Consulting plans to leverage future growth to diversify and engage more with the local, small business community. Between 2013 and 2016, Razor grew about 850 percent in revenue and was named last year by Inc 5000 as one of the fastest growing private businesses in the country. In 2017, the SBA honored Razor Consulting leadership with the Small Business Person of the Year Award for North Dakota. MANAGING GROWTH Before joining Razor, Business Development Director Jake Hancock managed nearly 300 employees in a previous role. One of the biggest problems he faced there was talent retention and attraction. He recalls how $200,000 had to be spent every year just to replace talent. In his role at Razor, however, Jake found turnover is not only low but, if positions ever do open up, as many as 50 people can be expected to apply right away and without a single dollar spent on recruitment: “To this day, I’m still baffled by how many people proactively apply to our positions!” For Jake, retaining employees begins with a mindset: “You have to satisfy your employees first before you can evolve into correctly serving and solving problems for your clients.” The company uses annual satisfaction surveys and sets up committees to address concerns. When new employees are onboarded, they sit down with founder Eric Mauch and discuss their professional and personal goals. “It’s good to see people come in where we get to help build them up and nurture them, giving them the skills to pursue their interests.” With high employee satisfaction scores, Razor’s employees are its recruiters. “We have such a good reputation with our employees that they become evangelists for us.”