Profitable Growth is a Four Letter Word

Are you trying to grow your business using a formula that dates back to ancient times?

This past Friday, we had an excellent turn out for my breakfast event “Growth Beyond Borders.” Our discussions centered around business growth outside of North America, and my special guest shared several strategies that he has employed to reach new and emerging markets.

During the brief presentation I discussed how the specific ingredients of business growth have evolved along with shifting behaviors of consumers. In essence what may have constituted successful practices for business growth only five or ten short years ago is today no longer relevant or prosperous.

The key distinction is in how we capitalize on customer value.

Historically, the most common approach to growing a business is built on three basic elements, namely:

1. Market Need – identify a need and then fulfill the need with a product or service
2. Target Audience – identify and market to a specific target audience
3. Profit Margin – keep costs low and maximize margin opportunity

As need, audience and margin increase so to does profitability. The problem, however, is that:

• customer needs are changing and becoming more difficult to predict
• target audiences are becoming more difficult to identify
• with increasing competition globally, margins are eroding

In order to build business in existing markets while capitalizing on new markets we need to shift our thinking from “needs” and “targets” to customer value. More specifically, what our customers value today is changing rapidly, and identifying and capitalizing on these changing perceptions of value provides the formula for Profitable Growth.

A more successful model for business growth that my clients pursue consists of very different elements, namely:

1. Customer Value – understanding the value customers seek tomorrow.
2. Optimum Vehicles – instituting the optimum means or methods to deliver value.
3. Perpetual Escalation – identifying, creating and offering value on a continuum.

Focusing on these three new value principles creates distinction in the marketplace, and it’s through distinction that we can maximize profit which in turn leads to business growth.

It’s no longer acceptable to make growth an ambition, it’s a MUST if you intend to have a sustainable business.

Question: How are you positioning your business today in order to capitalize on the value your customers desire tomorrow?

© Shawn Casemore 2015. All rights reserved.