5 strategies that will help drive your company in the right direction

Before choosing one, start with the context, 5 strategies circumstances or events that make up the environment in which your business competes

One of the most important and complex challenges for those who run their companies is determining the best way to grow their businesses. Although there are always periods of high sales and low sales, a lasting stagnation or a slowdown in growth is usually a cause of great concern for both investors and clients.

The author stresses that finding ways to expand business and revenue can be tiring, especially for startups, small businesses, or even the new division of a large multinational. All businesses have room for improvement, but not all leaders know where to look for improvement or how to correct course and achieve change when times are tough.

With our superior change management courses, Applied Innovation is ready to help your organisation adapt to the inevitable changes it’ll be changing.

The biggest threat

For example, repeating a growth strategy that worked in the past is particularly damaging. Often times, companies rely on strategies that worked in their day, but could have expired and no longer have the desired impact on the market, depending on their conditions and context. Companies that rummage through the bag of old tricks without carefully assessing changing market dynamics risk being trapped in a vicious cycle, repeating the same actions, and over time, getting poorer and poorer results. While it is true that many companies find it difficult to keep up with the pace of change brought about by technological advances and new business models, these are not the only reasons why companies have difficulty finding and sustaining growth and sources of growth. income. Sometimes the biggest threat to a company is its own success or worse, complacency.

Look at the context

With the new complexity of the business world due to the rise of e-commerce, SaaS and other innovations in technologies and business models – and as consumers understand more – they must be applied from a more modern perspective. Choosing a suitable new growth strategy is not enough. You must fully understand the current market context before making any move; Otherwise, even the right decision or growth path can depress you at the most inopportune moment. To be clear: when choosing the appropriate growth path for your company, you should always start with the context, circumstances or events that make up the environment in which your business competes.

In his view, the fact that companies make growth decisions by intelligently weighing the product, the market and the consumer context – as well as the threats and opportunities posed by those contexts and the combination and sequence needed to supporting chosen growth pathways – can make the difference between success and failure.

1. Customer experience

It will help you drive additional purchases and a good reputation. The customer experience is the sum of all contacts: both online and offline, both through human and technological agents (robots, artificial intelligence devices, etc.). For a company to use the customer experience pathway to channel growth, it must become the epicenter of all business units, all functions, decisions and employees. Each worker must understand her role in providing the product or providing the customer service. From the accountant to the cleaning crew, everyone has a role. All the world.

2. Penetration of the customer base

Sell more products to existing customers. To do this, you will need to have a thorough knowledge of the market and the actions of the competition. It’s not about acquiring customers once, but about making sure your brand is the first one they think of to buy again. You should speak regularly with your current clients, but also with those of the competition. Big data analysis can help you sharpen the finer details of your customers’ attitude, behavior, and interest. At best, you will know more about your customers and their relationship with your products than they do. So, you can not only change your pricing and marketing strategies almost on the spot, but anticipate what your customers will want next and welcome them when they show up.

3. Market acceleration

Expand into new markets with products you already have. This strategy is carried out right after the previous one. It is quite likely that you will have to cut products to conform to the needs of the local market or the market that you have just targeted. This route is a little more dangerous than the previous one because it can be difficult to grasp the context of a new market, its hidden complexities, changes in customer demands and its geographical limitations when it comes to finishing what combination and sequence are needed to perfect the execution and application of this route. However, the potential reward from this strategy outweighs the increased risk. Before, it took decades to accelerate the rate at which a new product was adopted and its number of users, but with changes in the market context (Internet, social networks, mobile phones), decades have turned into days.

4. Product expansion

Sell new products to existing markets. In a strategy of growth or expansion of products, the key is not to confuse your current customers with a totally new product, which, a priori, does not fully fit with those that are usually associated with your company. Try to keep your essence and choose elements adjacent to your existing base. New and growing value is what brings customers back in and fuels businesses. If the value offered is not increasing, or if a product stagnates, the company risks losing ground in the market while competitors, or even newcomers, increase its value and leave it behind.

5. Diversification of clients and products

Sell new products to new customers. This strategy carries considerable risk, largely because it can lead you into areas in which you have little experience. Some of these risks appear because that diversification requires acquiring new skills that at the moment you do not have, including new distribution channels, different relationships with another series of stores and delivering products for which you do not yet have the necessary repair processes. If you opt for this strategy, you better be sure of having employees receptive to so much change, that is, a culture of innovation. If you are not convinced of your ability to launch new products – and all that goes with it – while acquiring a totally new type of customer, it may be better to start with product expansion and market acceleration to put your capabilities to the test. Only then can you redouble your efforts to drive new products, markets and customers.

Bear in mind that here at Applied Innovation we have a team of professionals with a unique combination of leadership and experience to prepare your people to adapt to change.