Category: Business Growth

Overcoming 9 Common Lacks for Success

Lack of… 

1. Information

2. Skill

3. Belief

4. Motivation

5. Wellbeing

6. Time

7. Money

8. People

9. Fear

9 simple ways to mitigate these ‘Lacks’…

1. Information: Ask an expert.

2. Skills: Get a coach to train you.

3. Belief: Speak to customers and colleagues and get their testimonials.

4. Motivation: Define and Live your ‘Why’ every day. 

5. Wellbeing: Sleep, Sweat, Breathe, Laugh, Love, Eat Clean.

6. Time: Schedule everything and go to bed early to make time.

7. Money: Budget, make, spend, save (+raise).

8. People: Hire the best people through referrals.

9. Fear: Do a ‘Fear setting’ exercise and surround yourself with people that love and believe in you.

Understanding Blitzscaling in Business Growth

Here are my summary points, 336 pages in 303 words 😃 A book worth reading. 

Blitz = German for Lightening, successful WW2 strategy ‘Blitzkrieg’ (Lightening war) 

Scaling = Growing proportionately to each part of the company so growth is sustainable. 

Blitzscaling = Rapid, Proportionate and Sustainable business growth. 

Amazon

  • 1996: 151 employees, $5.1M revenue
  • 1999: 7,600 employees, $1.6B revenue
  • Amazon grew 50x in employees and 322x in revenue in just three years.

Mastering Growth: The 4 D’s for Business Success

How to Scale Up: The 4 D’s

1. Drivers: Managers are Coaches.

2. Demands: Leaders balance stakeholders with profitable processes.

3. Discipline: #1 Priority each Quarter and Year

Regular meetings and communication. 

4. Decisions: Focus on the biggest issues first.

Growth Problems ‘Growth Paradox’: People, Strategy, Execution, Cashflow 

1. Switch from Managing to Coaching. 

2. Strong Strategic Vision for Strong Scaling.

3. Company Strengths to Improve Revenue. 

4. One Page Strategic Plan (OPSP).

5. Execution Plan – Regular meetings and reviews.

6. Cashflow: Have 3-10x more cash than competitors.

CCC = Cash Conversion Cycle. 

How many days does $1 invested come back as turnover?

Reduce CCC by focusing on 4 areas:

  1. Sales 
  2. Delivery 
  3. Billing and Payments 
  4. Production inventory 

Summary:

  1. Growth is Complex, with the right Tools, companies can scale.
  2. Track existing processes and examine Cashflow and tweak to improve it. 
  3. Have succinct long term goals, plans & clear vision. 
  4. Have managers that coach, communicate and keep teams accountable to the scale plan.

Top Traits of Successful BD and Sales Professionals

The Best BD, Growth and Sales Performers (n = 350+)

1. Empathetic (Able to listen, ask the right question and can feel their customers’ frustration or pain).

2. Belief (conviction, optimistic, passionate, confident).

3. Hard working (disciplined, methodical, relentless).

4. Competitive (The higher the level of competition the better)

5. Excellence (Curious and life-time learners that want to improve and grow themselves).