It’s always easy to cut expenses by cutting people or reorganizing and hoping that somehow you place the right people in the right roles to execute successfully. These approaches provide a temporary reprieve and may even drive a temporary bump in your stock price. However, without also implementing a well-planned and communicated growth strategy to refocus the company after the dust settles, in my experience, can lead to even more significant consequences, including:
- Employee morale and productivity issues
- Operational disruptions and slower growth
- Negative public perceptions and reputational damage among customers, investors, and the public
- Talent acquisition and retention issues
- Erosion of company culture and employee engagement
To be clear, there are times when reductions and reorganizations are necessary, but leadership shouldn’t be fooled that those actions alone will lead to growth.
Unfortunately, many companies today are ill-equipped to implement a growth strategy for a host of reasons. Here are 6 of the top reasons that companies today are struggling with growth.
- Many sales organizations spend the majority of their time “chasing RFPs.” There is a universal truth: We will lose if the RFP shows up, and we don’t know it is coming. No one issues an RFP without having a “winner” in mind (or at least a very strong preference) and having engaged with them before issuing it. In my experience, companies that chase RFPs typically have win rates in the single digits.
- Virtually everything today has been commoditized, and true competitive advantage comes from focusing on business outcomes and value, not the solution and how it works. Clients can access that information on their own, and when we focus only on what we sell, we must have the best solution or the best price. Otherwise, it’s a race to the bottom, putting pressure on margins.
- People buy, companies don’t. People buy from people they trust and want to invest time with, and the first sale that must be made is to build that trust. That’s not done with what you sell; it’s done with how you sell. Many salespeople today lack the skills required for creating and maintaining the right relationships, especially in a world that has gone mostly virtual. Salespeople need to be able to have different types of conversations with different functional decision-makers, which many are not prepared to do or are uncomfortable doing. Instead, they spend all their time in IT, Engineering, Operations, Finance, and Procurement focused on solutions and price, with the people who typically are not the ultimate decision-makers for strategic initiatives.
- The two biggest mistakes salespeople make are rushing to the solution and then rushing to the proposal, thereby commoditizing themselves and their company. They fail to collaborate with the client to create a unique solution with quantified business value that can become part of a business case.
- Selling today is a team sport. In a strategic sale, there are, on average, typically at least three people on the pursuit team involved, and sometimes as many as 6 or more. This requires aligning strategy and tactics, real-time knowledge sharing, clear roles and accountability for each team member, and carefully planned and coordinated execution of the sales plan. The ability of the pursuit team to execute flawlessly and with excellence at each stage of the sales process is another key factor in gaining a competitive advantage.
- Finally, and most importantly, leadership at all levels in many companies today don’t have the patience, discipline, skills, and mindset to manage and coach the behaviors required for growth. Many leaders today have adopted a reactive management style, running from fire to fire and spending their time playing “whack-a-mole.”
Implementing a revenue acceleration strategy requires a structured, repeatable process for demand generation in both new and existing clients. Sales tools and apps can bring science and insights to the selling process, and a disciplined approach to coaching reinforces the new selling behaviors required for growth. Lastly, a governance process driven by leadership at all levels measures leading and lagging metrics that underpin the strategy and provides the insights for course correction.
Rather than applying a temporary fix that could significantly impact the business’s future success, focus on installing an engine for profitable growth that will drive revenue long into the future.
With over 20 years of proven experience in accelerating revenue and growth for companies worldwide, Revenue Storm is a trusted partner. If you have any doubts about your team’s ability to boost revenue, we’re here to help. Let’s start a conversation! Wishing you a successful second half!
Personal Challenge: There are several key metrics that help indicate the health of a company’s ability to generate revenue that you should be constantly measuring and assessing:
- What is the win rate on your strategic “must win” deals?
- What percentage of your deals are being disqualified before you invest valuable time, resources, and money?
- What percentage of your pipeline did you actually create?
- How has your average deal size changed over the past two years?
- What percentage of time is devoted to deal coaching (vs. inspecting)?