Leaders who want to drive growth for their organization have an almost limitless number of strategies and tactics at their disposal.
This virtually unlimited choice can be overwhelming for many. Reaching the point of paralysis for some.
Fortunately, I have found that a few “macro” strategies consistently rise to the top. These proven approaches have nearly universal applicability. Regardless of your industry, size, or growth challenge, deploying these strategies will create a solid foundation for growth. When you get them right, they become success enablers for more specific tactics and strategies to follow.
I call them the six business growth superpowers.
Here they are:
#1 – Have a Plan
This will sound crazy, but to get started on your growth journey it is important to first define the growth you want to achieve for your organization and have a basic idea of how you might try to accomplish it.
Such simple advice, yet very few follow it. Most people just dive right in, and start firing away. This “ready, fire, aim” approach often results in failure, wasted time and resources.
A better approach is to spend a little time to develop a basic plan of attack. This includes a quick survey of your strengths and weaknesses, and an assessment of the market(s) where you compete.
This important groundwork will provide direction and focus for you, and your team.
It does not have to be perfect. In fact, I can promise you it probably never will be. That is okay, because you will quickly learn and refine your approach based on real-world feedback from your market.
As part of your plan, you should also set a target. This definition of what you want to achieve will become your guiding “North Star” as you move forward in developing a more comprehensive growth strategy and plan, and will help you to measure progress along the way.
The great news is you do not need all the answers to get started. Pick a direction. Any direction, even if proven wrong, is better than no direction at all. You will quickly learn what works, and pivot away from what does not.
Ultimately, the power of having a plan for growth is it helps to prevent tactical and reactive thinking. Instead of “shooting from the hip” at every real or perceived opportunity that comes into your field of vision, you can selectively focus on those that are in alignment with what you are trying to achieve and likely to deliver positive results.
Considering if something brings you closer to your growth goal, allows you to be proactive instead of reactive.
#2 – Know Your Value
Many company leaders who are seeking growth do not understand what makes their organization special or unique in the marketplace.
This absolute cardinal sin will effectively prevent any effective marketing or sales from taking place.
If you cannot clearly articulate what makes your product(s) and/or service(s) different or demonstrably better than your competition, then how can you expect to be successful?
It is important to remember that your prospects always have many options, including the dreaded “no decision”. To grow you must always be connecting the dots between your unique solution, and your buyer’s pain, problem, or potential opportunity.
This is where sales happen, and client loyalty is born.
#3 – Understand Your Buyer
Once you understand and can clearly articulate your value proposition, you need to answer an important question: For whom?
By definition, in order to grow you are going to need to sell something. There are only 4 basic approaches to increase sales.
Regardless of which one, or combination of these strategies you choose, you will need to know who your buyer is.
The best way to define this is to think about what your Ideal Client Profile (ICP) looks like. For B2B sales, this means what industries, sizes of companies, and geographies are the perfect match for what you are selling? Also, within each of these organizations, who are you selling to? Create a profile (persona) that defines each individual.
The final step in understanding your future client is to create a model of your buyer’s journey. What triggers their need? How do they search for you? Decide to buy? How can you help them?
A great way to really understand your buyer is to think about their “job to be done” – What are they responsible for? What keeps them up at night? How can you help them to be successful?
The answers to these important questions will help you to tailor your value proposition message and close more deals.
Most go-to-market organizations focus only on making a sale. Unfortunately, too few organizations have a focus on client success. To drive growth, keep your eye on your buyer. Help to make them successful from the time they are a prospect to the time they are a client. You will sell more, and grow quicker.
#4 – Make It Easy
The “secret sauce” of high growth companies is a relentless focus on their clients.
The smart ones also think deeply about their process to gain new clients. They focus on optimizing the marketing and sales process, and making the buyer experience easier and more attractive for prospects.
This go-to-market mindset requires you to ask questions and translate the answers into a better understanding of the typical buyer’s journey and making every step as easy and frictionless as possible.
How can you make it easy for customers to buy from you? A few proven suggestions:
- Educate them on how to buy your product or service. What are the key elements they should consider? Where have others failed?
- Provide them with insights that help them to do their jobs better.
- Walk them through a typical buying process, what should they expect moving forward?
Many growth leaders forget that sales is a two-way dance. Yes, you need to focus on making it easy for your buyer. However, what about the seller? Smart GTM organizations also try to make it easy on their sales team. Some ideas:
- Revisit your sales process. Can you economize any steps? Are there selling tools (case studies, calculators, etc) that can help your sales team to be more effective?
- Review your pricing and contracting process. Can you make it easier for your sales team to generate quotes?
- Can you standardize as much of your contracting and approvals process as possible. Not only will your sales team appreciate the reduction in “thrash”, so will your prospects!
When you get it right, the go-to-market process becomes a virtuous cycle:
- GTM Strategy enables effective marketing.
- Marketing enables sales.
- Sales enables client success.
- Client success enables retention, expansion, referrals, and new growth!
#5 – Embrace VUCA
If the year 2020 has taught us anything it is that we live in stressful and rapidly changing world.
There is simply no escape from the many powerful VUCA forces in every industry and market across the globe. We must all get comfortable with VUCA, and learn how to quickly make decisions with less than perfect information.
Since we know they exist, and are not going away anytime soon, there is no excuse for not understanding and embracing these forces so that you can effectively counter them. There are many proven approaches for dealing with VUCA. Understanding your market, and developing a deep situational awareness is an important first step.
Perhaps the best strategy for dealing with the change and uncertainty in your market is to embrace it. Instead of allowing the market to dictate change, be proactive and lead the market. Be a catalyst for change. Adaptability is the antidote. Without it you are dead.
#6 – Take Action
Along with unpredictable VUCA forces, almost every organization is experiencing a faster pace of play in their market.
Everything from product lifecycles, to time to market, to delivery expectations, to innovations are accelerating. These trends are driven by technology, globalization, and aggressive competitors…all things out of our direct control. However, that does not mean we cannot manage them.
Organizations must learn how to accommodate this new faster pace. As referenced above, removing friction is certainly part of the answer. So is focusing on agility. Constantly pushing for doing things quicker, and better, at a lower cost.
What should growth leaders do? For starters, get out of the building, and into the market. They must also encourage their teams to embrace the ethos of MFGSD. By taking action and pushing through more cycles, you will gain the benefit of more learning opportunities!
To Infinity, and Beyond!
Any business growth problem or opportunity often has many different possible solutions to consider. Evaluating this vast “toolbox” of options is certainly part of the challenge (and for practitioners, part of the fun!) in developing and executing growth strategy.
There are many risks to avoid. Perhaps the most glaring is diving in without any direction or plan.
Knowing where you are today, and where you want to go tomorrow, is very powerful.
Developing a growth strategy and a resulting plan forces you to think deeply about your business, your operating environment, and the opportunities in front of you. With clarity around your value and your buyers, you can focus on selling more and leading the market instead of being a victim to external forces.
Take action today. Growth will be your reward.
-Onward