Growth Experiments
Find broad markets with valuable problems to solve.
Distil, Document, Demonstrate, Duplicate to Improve and Scale.
Focus
Focus on solving the hardest problems that you don't know how to solve yet. These often have the biggest impact on your business growth.
Business Model
Select the best business models to solve core problems in taking prime opportunities.
Build Trust
Build trust by offering your product or service for free. This helps you gather testimonials, refine your offering, and build a customer base.
Pricing
Raise your prices regularly. Higher prices often lead to more revenue, even with fewer customers. Aim for at least 3-6% annual increases to keep up with inflation.
Ownership
Unify sales and advertising as responsibilities of one problem owner. This eliminates conflicts of interest and aligns customer acquisition efforts.
Look Back Window
Implement the "look back window" strategy by extending billing cycles. Longer billing periods (e.g., annual instead of monthly) can reduce churn and increase customer lifetime value.
Customer Journey
Map your customer's progress journey to solve business problems. Customer feedback is crucial for improving your product, marketing, and overall business strategy.
Prioritize Proof
Prioritize getting proof over making promises in your marketing. Collect and showcase customer testimonials, especially those that highlight the customer's initial pain point.
Recruitment
When hiring, ensure new team members raise the average bar of performance. Look for candidates who teach you something during the interview process.
Identify Quantity and Quality of metrics they track and interrogate best practices the follow to influence those metrics positively. Do the Distil, Document,
Ecosystem
Look for ecosystem opportunities to create additional revenue streams from existing resources or by-products.
Structure
Structure your business team around three key functional leaders:
- Customer Acquisition Leader
- Product/Delivery Leader
- Internal Operations Leader
Performance Reviews
Use the 5 reasons framework when addressing performance issues with team members:
- They didn't know
- Didn't know how
- Didn't know when
- Weren't motivated
- Were blocked
Growth Vectors
Create a scorecard for exploring opportunities to grow profitability by leveraging technology.
| Opportunity | Idea | Reality |
|---|---|---|
| Data Insights | ||
| Positioning | ||
| Pricing Power | ||
| Increase Value per Sale | ||
| Cross-sell and Upsell | ||
| Improve Customer Retention | ||
| Expand your Customer Base | ||
| Add Products or Services | ||
| Increase Sales Frequency | ||
| Improve Sales Processes | ||
| Increase Diversification | ||
| Subscriptions | ||
| Collaboration Incentives |
Data Insights:
- Use historical data to gain in-depth understanding to provide customized solutions that offer greater value.
- Audience needs trust and capability to understand a more complex value proposition.
Production to Distribution: Minimize time and energy to create a change of state of maximum benefit and with minimum waste.
- Understand what drives people to act as the do
- Monitor tech innovation's impact on market forces
- Imagine scenarios for potential opportunities and threats
- Model probabilities of potential outcomes
- Leverage tech to optimise operating models
- Create a strategy to deliver a strong point of difference (identity)
- Underline commitment with appropriately sized bets
Improve Sales Processes: Improving sales processes can increase efficiency and reduce the time it takes to close a sale. This can be achieved through training, automation, and process improvements.
Positioning:
- Optimize your sales process: Identify and eliminate bottlenecks in your sales funnel to improve conversion rates.
- Provide excellent customer service: Building strong relationships with customers encourages repeat business and positive word-of-mouth promotion.
- Track and analyze your data: Use data analytics to understand customer behavior, identify trends, and optimize your marketing and sales strategies.
- Stay informed about industry trends: Keep up with the latest developments in your industry to identify new opportunities for growth and innovation.
Pricing Power: Increasing prices is a straightforward way to increase revenue per sale. However, it's important to ensure that the price increase is reasonable and justifiable to customers. Review checklist:
- Threat of AI Agents
- Bargaining power of buyers
- Bargaining power of suppliers
- Threat of new substitutes
- Competitive rivalry
Increase Value per Sale
- Premium Products/Services: Offer higher-tier options with additional features, benefits, or personalized service. This can be through tiered pricing models, exclusive bundles, or VIP memberships.
- Value-Added Services: Offer additional services that enhance the core product or address specific customer needs. This could include installation, maintenance, customization, or consulting.
- Dynamic Pricing: Implement dynamic pricing strategies to adjust prices based on factors like demand, market conditions, or individual customer data. This can maximize revenue while maintaining competitive pricing.
- Package Deals: Create attractive bundle deals that combine multiple products or services at a discounted price. This can entice customers to spend more and increase the average order value.
- Loss Leaders: Use strategically priced products as loss leaders to attract customers and encourage them to purchase additional items with higher profit margins.
- Personalized Pricing: Offer custom pricing based on individual customer needs or negotiation. This can be particularly effective for high-value products or services.
Cross-sell and Upsell
- Upselling: Train your sales team to suggest complementary products or upgrades during the sales process. This can be based on the customer's initial purchase or needs.
- Cross-selling: Promote related products or services that customers might be interested in based on their existing purchases. This can be done through targeted marketing campaigns or product recommendations.
Improve Customer Retention
Repeat customers are more profitable than new customers. Improving customer retention can be achieved through excellent customer service, loyalty programs, and personalized marketing.
Expand your Customer Base
Increasing the number of customers can increase revenue. This can be achieved through targeted marketing campaigns, referral programs, and expanding into new markets.
Add Products or Services
Offering new products or services can attract new customers and increase revenue.
Increase Sales Frequency
Encouraging customers to make purchases more frequently can increase revenue. This can be achieved through targeted marketing campaigns, loyalty programs, and personalized marketing.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Implement a CRM system to track customer interactions, preferences, and purchase history. This allows for targeted marketing campaigns, personalized offers, and improved customer service, leading to increased loyalty and repeat business.
- Loyalty Programs: Reward repeat customers with points, discounts, or exclusive benefits to incentivize them to purchase more frequently.
- Email Marketing: Engage with your customers through targeted email campaigns promoting new products, special offers, and exclusive content. Personalize your emails to increase engagement and conversion rates.
- Social Media Marketing: Utilize social media platforms to connect with your target audience, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your website or store. Run targeted ads, offer exclusive deals, and engage in meaningful conversations to cultivate customer loyalty.
- Content Marketing: Create valuable and informative content (blog posts, articles, videos) that educate and engage your audience. This builds trust, establishes your expertise, and attracts potential customers.
- Referrals and Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Encourage happy customers to recommend your business to friends and family. Offer referral incentives to further incentivize this organic marketing.
- Retargeting Campaigns: Use cookies and ad tracking technology to target website visitors with ads for products or services they showed interest in. This can remind them of your offerings and increase the likelihood of conversion.
- Limited-Time Offers and Promotions: Create a sense of urgency and excitement with limited-time deals, discounts, or flash sales. This can motivate customers to purchase more quickly and frequently.
- Subscription Boxes: Offer subscription boxes that deliver curated products or services to customers on a regular basis. This creates a recurring revenue stream and encourages ongoing engagement.
- Partnerships and Collaborations: Partner with other businesses that share your target audience to cross-promote each other's products or services. This can expand your reach and attract new customers.
Increase Diversification
Diversifying revenue streams can reduce risk and increase revenue. This can be achieved through offering complementary products or services, expanding into new markets, and exploring new business models.
Subscriptions
Create recurring revenue streams through subscriptions for ongoing access to products, services, or exclusive content. This can be a great option for businesses with predictable costs and ongoing value delivery.
Collaboration Incentives
Collaborating with other businesses can increase exposure and revenue. This can be achieved through partnerships, joint marketing campaigns, and cross-promotion.