When I get new clients sharing their growth strategies with me, I’m surprised. Do you expect that your $25MM business is going to grow to $200MM in revenue in five years when your growth rate has been at best, tepid? My usual advice is that if they want to grow fast, slow down. Think smaller, not bigger.
My experience has been that like life in general; we make gains through small, incremental steps forward. Thumping your chest to declare your goals is helpful to give yourself confidence, but as a practical matter, it is often slow and steady that wins the race. It is better to keep winning and being successful in small, achievable chunks of time – say 100 days.
My approach is to break down progress into smaller units of success. Instead of creating a forecast for 5-years, why don’t you develop a plan for the next 100 days? Since you are going to try new things and change how you have worked in the past, take a smaller unit of time – say three months, and see if you can reach a goal that will demonstrate progress. That can help an organization believe a long-range growth strategy is possible.
One Rung at a Time
I have observed companies deploying rapid results programs for sales or operations teams, where they set out to achieve some goals that, if completed, would help them learn how to rethink their approach to selective activities. By taking a limited time frame, they focus on achieving a limited number of events that will help them leap forward. When the time frame is limited, and the goals are a bit of a stretch, the accomplishment can invigorate an organization. They prove that the organization is functioning and making progress.
You wouldn’t train to run a marathon by running 26.2 miles on day one. You would train slowly gaining a physical ability that builds gradually, not overnight.
Marketing Tips for Thinking Small
What can you achieve in 100 days? Assemble a small team from sales and marketing, and ask them to find a goal that has alluded them. For example, how can we add ten new distributors in 2 states where we have limited distribution of our new product? Then break the goal down into step by step actions.
For example:
- We need to call five distributors to close one new account. So, we need to connect with 50 distributors to gain 10 new distributors.
- How can we make 50 calls in 100 days? Who will make the calls? How many per day?
- What materials do we need to convince them to work with us? How do we market our value proposition? Who will write the script to guide the conversation?
- How do we gain awareness quickly, so they know who we are? Can we implement awareness of how our product solves many other similar customer’s problems?
- What are the milestones necessary to hit our goals? How will we track the results? What’s the cadence of our check-in with each other to make sure we stay on plan?
- How will we countermeasure roadblocks, unforeseen events, etc?
Smaller Steps
When you can break down something big, into small steps, the task feels achievable. The success from that first 100-day project will lead to a new belief that you can continue doing more than you expected when your goals were loftier, more significant and over more extended periods. Suddenly, a $200MM goal in 5 years is believable because look at what you achieved in the last 100 days.
Lofty sales goals can inspire an organization. But a reminder that a journey of a thousand miles begins beneath your feet, can provide leadership in how to get the job done.
Want to grow fast? Think small and slow down.
Do you need someone to help your sales and marketing team breakdown their long-range plans into 100-day actions? You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Try my new chat feature on my site if you have a quick question.
Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash
