Services
We know that at least a third of new companies don’t survive 2 years and that half or more of new products and services typically fail. Even two-thirds of fast growing companies on the Inc 5000 list shrink or disappear after 5 years.
But these poor results can be avoided by using proven ways to identify and unlock growth potential.
If your company is challenged by new products, rapidly changing markets or new competitors, we can help you find your growth path. For example, too many good ideas fail because they can’t be communicated and explained properly to customers and prospects. The two most common reasons are:
- “We know what our customers (prospects) want”
- “Our product (service, offer, solution) is better”
In the first case, the solution being offered has often not kept pace with changing customer expectations. It’s far too common for CEO’s and company executives to think they have what customers want when, in fact, they haven’t taken the time to dig into current and future customer expectations.
The second case is very common in technology firms and other companies led by engineers or operationally-focused executives. The product may in fact be better but if that can’t be communicated into customer language and benefits, the product will languish.
At B3B Consulting, we use a disciplined approach to solve these and other growth challenges.
Advise
Every engagement starts with a growth audit to identify the most important barriers to growth and to specify the steps needed to overcome the barriers. We often recommend an initial “big picture” audit to survey the entire growth landscape. If that audit identifies specific areas for improvement, additional assessment work is sometimes required.
In some cases, companies know that they have a specific area in need of improvement: e.g. product development. In that case, our audit is more in-depth in that area.
Unlike some firms, our objective is to get past the initial advice stage as quickly as possible. Our recommendations for next steps will always include an assessment of the resources required and whether those resources are available internally or not.
Implement
Most small and mid-size businesses have the vast majority of their resources focused on day-to-day delivery of their product/service. As a result, the resources to implement a major growth initiative may not exist. In that case, B3B Consulting offers temporary help to jump start the effort.
On the other hand, some companies have marketing, sales, technical and operational resources that can be assembled into a growth team. In this situation, B3B Consulting can serve as the project manager, if that is needed.
In all cases, B3B Consulting recommends that the CEO and senior executives meet as a Growth Council to oversee the work on a regular basis: at least monthly and usually more often.
Implementation can take many forms. In many cases, up front work to understand customer needs and trends is missing or incomplete. Similarly with a mapping of the companies strengths vs. its competitors.
In the case of a start-up, often a comprehensive business plan is incomplete or missing.
Many mid-size and virtually all small companies struggle with developing a new product, service or solution. This is an example where best practices yield results that are far superior to typical practice, even in large companies.
Coach
As a business gets its growth engine running properly, there are often times where the CEO or other senior executives would like a “second opinion” from an external expert. B3B Consulting provides growth-oriented executive experience for these situations and many more.
Coaching is also available for other members of the organization where external subject matter expertise can accelerate a project or help avoid expensive mistakes.