In fact, due to changing market conditions, making strategic decisions based on someone else’s successes would be foolish. The best ones will usually stick around if you need to cut back their compensation during a slow period.ĭeveloping a growth strategy isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. Be cheap with office furniture, marketing budgets and holiday parties. Your employees have direct contact with your customers, so you need to hire people who are motivated and inspired by your company’s value proposition. Reorient the playing field to suit your strengths, and build upon them to grow your business. Sometimes, focusing on your strengths - rather than trying to improve your weaknesses - can help you establish growth strategies. Are they wrong? Or are your businesses positioned differently? The assumption that you’re smarter is rarely correct. Ask yourself why your competitors have made alternate choices. Look toward similar businesses that are growing in new, unique ways to inform your growth strategy. No matter your industry, your competition is likely excelling at something that your company is struggling with. Related: 5 Mistakes Successful Entrepreneurs Don't Make Twice 5. Be careful to isolate and understand the difference. Some great ideas or cool products don’t necessarily have revenue streams attached. What are your current revenue streams? What revenue streams could you add to make your business more profitable? Once you identify the potential for new revenue streams, ask yourself if they’re sustainable in the long run. Also, A/B test properly - making changes over time and comparing historical and current results isn’t valid.
Identify which key indicators affect the growth of your business, then dedicate time and money to those areas. If you’re unable to measure a change, you have no way of knowing whether it’s effective. Define your key indicators.Ĭhanges must be measurable.
Who is that audience? Is that audience your ideal customer? If not, who are you serving? Nail down your ideal customer, and revert back to this audience as you adjust business to stimulate growth. You got into business to solve a problem for a certain audience.
If you stray from this proposition, you’ll only run the risk of devaluing your business. Figure out what special benefit only you can provide, and forget everything else. Others, such as Walmart, compete on price. For example, some companies compete on “authority” - Whole Foods Market is the definitive place to buy healthy, organic foods.