5 steps to accelerate corporate growth and strategies to attract new customers; A more targeted approach to strategic planning requires a focus on creativity and less of established linear processes. Here are five steps you can take to accelerate your company’s revenue growth, customer acquisition and productivity.
Make your customers evangelists for your brand
Arcus research indicates that customers are the top driver of credibility of companies. They reinforce customer perceptions and can dramatically increase the adoption rate of products and services. These referrals can expand your current customer base and build new new revenue streams. A friend referral campaign is often one of the ways companies leverage the opinions of satisfied customers. Adding a reward for recommendations may be an added incentive for referrals. ING Direct is one company that has focused on referrals. When customers open an account at ING Direct, they earn a $25 bonus immediately (accessible after 30 days) by using an ING Direct link. The need to open the account with an initial deposit of at least $250, and keep their money there for a month.
Delegation can make a business scalable
Companies that are experiencing rapid growth are more likely to succeed if they spread decision making responsibilities as quickly as possible across the organizations. Consolidation of decision making powers slows growth and results in demotivated teams. Empowering employees requires a seamless and rapid decision making process. Delegation s a powerful tool that successful companies implement really well. The approach allows managers to focus on strategic issues instead of lurching from crisis to crisis.
Invest in product development
A key driver of Apple’s explosive growth is their constant reinvention of their product offering every six months. The successful iPad product has already been trough an upgrade with the iPad2. Innovative companies know how to manage and excite customers. They learn to anticipate their needs and offer products with features that delight customers. They raise expectations to a point where customers begin to look forward to their new product introductions. The transition from “selling” to “telling” customers is one of the hallmarks of innovative companies. They let the product experience do the selling.
Explore new markets
Companies that innovate rapidly are constantly looking for new product segments that they can redefine and invent. The biggest revenue boosters are products that make existing categories redundant and force competitors to play catch up all the time. Expanding globally requires a significant focus on new strategies because of unique market requirements and selling channels. Companies that invest heavily in research and knowledge tend to have the capacity to change and reinvent they selves rapidly.
Leverage technology to increase productivity
The key to productivity is automating tasks that require lower levels of skills, knowledge and competence. Companies that focus on areas where the most value is created tend to innovate faster and raise the bar of customer satisfaction. They constantly look for the thin edge of innovation here others fear to tread. They can do so because they have a superior understanding of the value they deliver and how their offering intersects with customer expectations.
Contact Arcus for a Strategy Planning session
Arcus offers flexible and affordable strategy planning sessions that take a problem-solution approach to provide management teams with the tools required to develop, deploy and measure strategy plans. Our sessions are one to eight hours in length and start with a “problem statement”. The goal and outcome oriented sessions will lead to potential strategy scenarios that the team could develop further and incorporate into their strategy plans.
Contact Arcus for more information about our strategy planning services.