Many of you have probably read Jim Collins’s enduring book, Built to Last, (if you haven’t, I recommend you do) but I wonder how many of you remember its subtitle? Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.
For me, this sums up what I want to share with you about scaling revenue growth. Successful, and more importantly sustainable, companies aren’t built on sales alone. What revenue growth comes down to, in fact, is the creation of a visionary company that lives, breathes, and strives to be greater than simply the sum of all its parts.
So, forget looking at sales, marketing, data, culture, people and finances in isolation. What you must focus on to scale revenue growth, is creating a visionary company.
Sales alone don’t build secure, sustainable, and scaleable companies.
Don’t worry, I’m not planning on rehashing, Jim Collins’s entire book, but the purpose of mentioning his book, was to help shift your mindset. I want to help you move your thinking away from sales and focus on revenue growth because they are two quite different things.
I hear it a lot, ‘We need more sales’ and I get that. For your business to still be here next year you’re going to need a consistent flow of sales. We all need sales! Sales keep the wolf from the door, pay your people and help you stay afloat BUT sales alone will not help you build a secure, sustainable, and scalable business.
I should know, I made this mistake once.
Once upon a time, I led my team to win a huge account. It was a major coup for our company, and it felt like we were playing in the big leagues. We did everything our clients wanted to help them achieve more sales, happier customers and a seamless service. I was ready for our pat on the back.
But our meeting with the client didn’t go how I had pictured it. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Instead of securing our future with this big win and the commitment of future work, I left with a sickening feeling and a lump in my throat. I WAS STUNNED.
They wanted more. More excitement, more innovation, more vision.
We had been too focused on operational performance to drive more sales for them. We had lost sight of the bigger picture. And with the prospect of us both losing out came clearly into focus, we panicked.
I panicked.
Thankfully, I had a great team. We regrouped, we rallied, and we learned.
I learned.
Failing focuses the mind. And today, I want to share with you the lessons I have learnt on my journey to understand what it really takes to scale revenue growth.
Here are the five lessons I want to share with you.
1. Innovation Aligned to Clients’ Strategic Intentions and Vision
If we had continued to focus on how to improve the KPIs for this account, we would not have retained the client. When we only consider the clients’ here-and-now problems, we are limiting our capabilities to serve them in the short term. We’re not taking a macro view, to think about their vision and their longer-term strategic intentions.
This is where creative thinking and innovation is critical to shift our status with clients from transaction to transformational. To do this we must first understand where the client is heading, what matters to them, and the potential roadblocks to their success.
2. Trust and Collaboration
Most importantly I learnt that scaling a business is ultimately about trust and collaboration with others. Even if you must make difficult decisions, you’re focused on doing what it takes to create a better future for all involved.
When I approached a potential new client, Magnet with a sensitive issue about their service levels, I knew they would need to trust me before they would accept what we had to say. So, we built a case. We collaborated with their teams on the ground and gathered data and insights before we met with the CEO and leadership team. We had done our homework.
This helped them understand we were proposing quite radical plans not just for the sake of it, but because it would help them increase trust with their customers too and win more business in the long-term. Magnet trusted us and understood we had their best interests at heart.
3. Team Resilience
Know the strengths of your team and understanding the skills gaps and committing to developing them is critical. It creates a resilient team who deliver more for clients.
With 1,000 employees in my logistics company, we quickly realised that we would need to invest heavily in developing their interpersonal skills if we wanted to match and exceed our competitor’s and client’s expectations.
As the company grew, we needed to attract new talent to lead different functions. We looked for those whose strengths could be developed and whose attitude aligned with our ethics, customer promise, and culture.
As a result of our diligent hiring and aligning our values with our recruitment strategy, our staff turnover was much lower than the industry average. This was a significant competitive advantage. We’d showcase this in presentations where drivers would join us to talk about the company to potential clients.
4. Culture Matters
Ensure the role fits the people and the people fit the culture.
As the leader, you can define the culture of your company. But you’ll only attract great employees, great clients, and great associates if your culture resonates with others.
When we held our first team meetings, we invited our drivers along. We wanted their input because they played a key role in the business’s success. But, at the first meeting, only 5 drivers showed up. We knew we had to make changes to ensure they felt welcome, valued, and involved.
I learned that making culture a business priority is more than providing perks. We wanted to actively encourage our drivers to be involved in the decision-making process in areas that directly impacted them, such as which brand of truck to purchase. Ultimately when your team feels fulfilled and happy in their work it positively impacts the service you give to customers.
5. Vision
Create a vision that everyone can get on board with, contribute toward and help to bring alive. Once you have the right people, you can create the vision together. You’re the leader so you decide where to begin, but let your team help you map out the route and fill in the details. Brainstorm ways to truly grow and include everyone within the company across the boardroom to frontline workers. If you feel part of it you own it and that’s powerful.
And if you’re wondering, we did retain the ‘major coup’ client, who was, in fact, The Body Shop. It led to a long-term collaborative partnership that spanned more than fifteen years. As a result, I went on to develop a replicable methodology, which led to securing many other highly profitable multi-million-pound profitable contracts, with companies such as Magnet and Next to name just two.
Finally, achieving partnership status and securing them for many years, the business grew to £55 million in sales revenue.
So, if you want to scale your revenue growth, stop thinking about sales and focus on creating a secure, sustainable and scalable business.
NEXT STEPS
- Sign up to receive my V.I.T.A.L. insights newsletter for revenue growth
- Register for notification of future free live events about securing, sustaining, and scaling new business
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Read my article 7 red flags that need addressing for your revenue growth strategy
- Read Jim Collins’ book Built to Last
About the Author
Rebecca Jenkins has extensive leadership and revenue growth experience. This includes securing, retaining, and growing multiple profitable client accounts in her previous business.
Rebecca is a specialist consultant in B2B revenue growth and the author of Winning Big In Sales
Her award-winning V.I.T.A.L. method delivers results for businesses wanting a proven way to profitably increase revenue and secure long-term large client accounts. You can watch and read client case studies here on the RJEN website.
