Download pdf - Why You Can't Grow Your Company

Why You Can’t Grow Your Company

(As fast as you’d like)

Andrew Shedden

Broadfield Consulting

www.broadfieldconsulting.com

705-876-0634

broadfield C O N S U L T I N G

http://www.broadfieldconsulting.com/

Why You Can’t Grow Your Company 2

Broadfield Consulting | broadfieldconsulting.com | 705-876-0634

Why is your company not growing profitable revenues as fast as you’d like? The short (and unhelpful) answer is there are countless

reasons. While each marketing consulting engagement I undertake is unique, I find the following are the most common causes of

poor growth. So, from the general to the specific…



Ineffective marketing system

If your company isn’t growing as fast as you’d like, or grows in

fits and starts, the first place to look is your marketing system.

A poorly-structured marketing system is, hands down, the

single biggest cause of poor growth for two reasons.

First, if your marketing activities are uncoordinated and random

events, they can never be measured or improved.

Second, it’s impossible for you to get consistent growth without

all of your marketing activities being standardized, measured,

optimized, and systematized.

The key to predictable long-term revenue growth is structured

and disciplined marketing activities performed in an ongoing

and measurable process.

Optimize your marketing system to maximize your growth.



Unclear strategy

Many companies suffering from poor or inconsistent growth

lack a clear strategy to influence their internal decision-making.

The go down wrong and costly roads and often make decisions

that are at cross-purposes.

Strategy is the framework used for decision making and

shaping the culture within an organization. It is a clear

statement of what you seek to be.

Your strategy needs to be both clear and clearly understood

from the executive offices to the loading dock.

Structuring your business activities to reinforce your strategy

and provide superior value is the essence of your competitive

advantage.

Every aspect of your marketing system must align with

your strategy to accelerate growth.



Poor marketplace knowledge

Poor marketplace knowledge is another major cause of poor

growth.

If you think you understand your marketplace, you are wrong. If

you are fairly certain you have a pretty good handle on the

marketplace, you are in error. If you believe that your research

of five years ago means you have sufficient marketplace

knowledge today, you are incorrect.

Customer knowledge trumps product knowledge—always.

If you want to grow your company you must do your research.

No exceptions. Done properly, market research gives you an

inside view of exactly what motivates your prospects to buy.

Create the components of your marketing system around

marketplace knowledge and watch your revenue soar.



No ideal customer profile

Many companies tie up their resources with unfocused

marketing. They have a belief that any business they

can get is good business.

This leads to poor growth and is no way to deploy your

salespeople for maximum results.

If you take the time to look at your current customer

base you will discover that 80% of your revenue

comes from 20% of your customers.

These are your ideal customers. Go get them.

For rapid growth your marketing system must

identify, attract, and sell your ideal customers.



Product-focused marketing

If your marketing is strictly focused on your products you are

strangling your growth.

In today’s complex buying environment your prospects need

help in making wise purchasing decisions. They want facts, not

product-focused sales messages. Prospects want to be

educated.

Education-based marketing brings value to your prospects at

the earliest stages of their buying process.

It differentiates you from your competitors, takes your prospects

out of the market early, and reduces competitive pressure.

It also minimizes the time wasted on price-driven (and margin

crushing) RFP/RFQ contests.

Your marketing system needs to revolve around

education-based marketing to create predictable and

profitable growth.



Poor lead generation

If you’re struggling to grow your company you may also

want to zero in on your inbound and outbound lead

generation practices.

First, you may not be generating enough leads. As you

know if nothing is coming in at the top of the sales

funnel (raw sales leads), then nothing is coming out of

the bottom (new customers).

Second, You may not be generating the right kind of

leads. This causes your salespeople to waste all kinds

of time with the wrong people.

Plenty of qualified leads from inbound and outbound are

what ultimately fuels growth.

Your marketing system must generate a predictable

number of qualified sales leads in order to create

profitable growth.

The Typical Way to Poor Growth

Few Leads Few Qualified Opportunities

Few Sales



Waiting for the phone to ring

Another reason you may find it difficult to grow your company is

an over-reliance on inbound marketing.

While blogging, online video, podcasts, and social media are

great ways to generate sales leads they are all forms of reactive

marketing. Additionally, inbound marketing tends to generate less

qualified and smaller opportunities.

If you are waiting for inbound marketing to make the phone ring

with ideal customers you will be waiting a long time. If you want

to generate rapid growth in your company you need to be

proactive. Pick your ideal prospects (based on your ideal

customer profile) and go get them.

Your marketing system needs a highly-optimized outbound

component to create rapid growth.



No specialized sales roles

If your highly-paid salespeople are spending their time

prospecting you are seriously limiting your growth in two ways.

First, most salespeople don’t like to prospect and avoid it at all

costs. This kills your lead generation and leads to empty sales

funnels. Second, when salespeople are prospecting they are

not selling. This leads to wildly fluctuating revenues and

inaccurate sales forecasts.

To rapidly grow your company your marketing system must

incorporate specialized sales roles. Sales development

representatives (SDRs) generate qualified opportunities and

hand them over to salespeople (Closers).

Let your SDRs prospect and qualify, and let your Closers sell

and build your revenues.

Your marketing system needs specialized sales roles to

rapidly increase growth.



Grow your company faster and more profitably with a marketing and selling system that works…

If you are a manufacturing or industrial (B2B) company CEO/business owner or senior marketing executive who wants a customized

marketing and selling system that produces long-term profitable growth, then we should talk. To see if we might be a fit request a 15

minute Strategy Session telephone call or online meeting with me at: www.broadfieldconsulting.com/contact-us/

http://www.broadfieldconsulting.com/contact-us/