5 Clues You’re Not Ready To Grow
So you’re excited about your business, your ideas, products and services… and you’re
ready to grow faster. You might be a startup, a consultant or a Fortune 100 brand.
And you know that lead generation is the #1 lever that drives revenue growth, and can
create hypergrowth. You’ve been trying to grow your leads, and thus sales… but it’s
been harder than you expected. Maybe a lot harder.
Are you sure you’re ready to grow faster?
When it feels like you’re swimming upstream every day to generate leads, or to sign new customers from the ones you do get, you usually have a bigger problem. All that time, energy and money invested in growing new leads and closing sales can be poured into a black hole – if you haven’t Nailed A Niche.
You can be a Fortune 100 company, the greatest expert at organization design, or have a killer SaaS (Software As A Service) subscription model app for managing employees. But, if you can’t go out and predictably generate leads and opportunities where you’re needed, win them, and do it profitably, you’re gonna struggle.
It’s frustrating. But there’s no shortcut here, whether you’re a business or an individual. Struggles often mean there’s a niche problem, either at the company, marketing department or salesperson level.
Clues You Aren’t Ready To Grow
(Regardless Of What The CEO or Board Expects)
1. You’ve grown mostly through referrals, word-of-mouth and up/cross-sales.
Inbound or outbound lead generation has been disappointing. Or abysmal.
2. You realize, looking back, that you’re dependent on pre-existing relationships or a recognized brand to get in the door. Even if your product or service is amazing.
3. You’re good at too many things, and struggle focusing on the one best opportunity to sell and deliver over and over again.
4. Even when you get quality appointments, too few people buy.
Most Frequently Seen When
● You hit a plateau between $1 and $10 million in revenue, and you start trying new kinds of leadgen programs.
● When you launch a new product/service, or enter a new market.
● In getting your first 1050 customers, getting to Product/Market Fit or a Minimum Sellable Product.
● You’re in consulting or professional services.
● Your company offers a portfolio of products and services (portfolio ADD).
Everyone Hates To Admit They’re Not Ready To Grow
Swallowing the “we’re not ready to grow yet” pill is bitter. Especially when you have a board or CEO breathing down your neck, a payroll to meet, or big family bills. No one likes admitting they’re a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than a ‘need-to-have’. Or that the elevator pitch the CEO came up with is totally off-base and confuses prospects. Or that you can’t yet measure or document other customers’ results.
Companies with a large portfolio of products face the same problem. Do your salespeople or customers get confused by all the product options? They don’t know what to buy or sell first, and so they struggle along trying to buy or sell a little bit of everything. Confusion stunts growth. A lack of focus distracts you from being “insanely great” at just one thing.
Download a free chapter of From Impossible To Inevitable.