To sustain growth, build a High Performance Growth Machine (HPGM) by aligning and optimizing the nine elements of your business that work together to create, convey, and capture value. Let’s take a minute to review what an HPGM looks like.
For starters, three elements that together create value in a High Performance Growth Machine are a compelling vision, a healthy firm, and valuable offers.
Element #1: Vision
Your vision is working for you when it is clear, compelling, and speaks directly to your firm’s “why” — the resounding force that drives you and your business forward. A high performance vision is more than a statement. It is a detailed picture of what success looks like, with an audacious goal, success milestones, and performance targets that illustrate your firm moving towards its success. When a business’s growth machine is strong, its vision is active, driving business strategy and guiding decisions on a daily basis.
Element #2: Firm
HPGM firms know how they will succeed and are organized to achieve success in ways that are fundamentally healthy. What is “healthy?” In a “healthy” company, the right people are doing the right things at the right time in the right way. Healthy firms have a business model and core growth strategy that work, and core functions (operations, marketing, sales, etc) that are effective and continuously improving.
Element #3: Offers
HPGM firms offer products and services that the market really wants! They have figured out their unique value proposition, and how to deliver that value proposition in ways that customers appreciate because it meets their needs and helps them succeed.
As value is created, HPGM firms are effective at conveying value by focusing on their best markets, going after the right targets, and attracting the interests of ideal buyers through effective strategic positioning.
Element #4: Markets
When it comes to markets, HPGM firms know which markets are best for them – and focus on those. They size up the demand, analyze the segments and sub-segments, and zero in on those markets that are best-suited for their business. They plan out, execute, and improve their go-to-market strategy and action plan. In the markets they choose, they know how to win, leveraging their competitive advantages and addressing the critical success factors needed to become market leaders.
Element #5: Targets
Within their best markets, HPGM firms identify and prioritize who they will target. Their selected targets match the psychographics (needs, pains, triggers), demographics (size, geography, industry) and buying patterns (who, how, when) of the firm's ideal customer. HPGM firms adapt as time goes on: they know that the actual “right” target is highly specific to where the firm is in the present, but will change as their firm grows and evolves.
Element #6: Position
Focusing on their best markets, HPGM firms get their message out effectively because they have put themselves in a great position in the minds of their priority targets. Prospects resonate with the firm’s branding, are attracted by its unique selling proposition, and are eager to learn more about the firm’s combination of benefits and price. HPGM firms position their offerings strategically and highlight why customers value them.
Once value is created and conveyed, the growth machine systematically captures it! Capturing value begins with a productive lead generation routine that converts prospects into leads. Then a strong sales element closes leads, making them customers, and the final high-percentage upsell element transforms the customer relationship from one-off vendor to on-going partner.
Element #7: Lead Generation
Lead generation is the way businesses connect with prospects, moving them from interest to engagement, from thinking about it to doing something about it. Lead generation generates high quality leads when it gets the right message in front of prospects that value it most. Productive lead generation integrates effective marketing communications (advertising, promotions, website, social media, etc.) with goal-driven campaigns, all aimed to deliver warm leads for the sales team to cultivate and close.
Element #8: Sales
At HPGM firms, the sales team focuses on engaging, cultivating and converting warm leads into new buyers. Effective sales teams think through their sales strategies, employ best practices, and leverage research. They consistently use sales metrics, analysis and coaching to refine their tactics and exceed their goals.
Element #9: Partner
Partnership is about increasing customer “stickiness” and maximizing life-time customer value. How? HPGM firms effectively become long term partners for their customers through meaningful relationship building, account management and delivery of new forms of value year after year.
Ready to build your High Performance Growth Machine? Get specific suggestions to optimize systems and boost sales with our free growth audit.
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