When laying the foundations for profitable growth,short-term thinking can only get you so far. Capturing your most accessibleopportunities – the low-hanging fruit – may enable immediate growth, but it isoften not sustainable down the line. At Blue Canyon Partners, we believe a comprehensivegrowth strategy considers a spectrum of opportunities, from quick wins to broaderstrategic transformations. To do so, you must…
- Create value for customers, todeliver short-term growth
- Enter adjacent markets, to drive medium-termgrowth
- Define your future vision, to enablelong-term growth
In our work, we have discovered B2B businesses that simultaneously build and implement growth strategy at all three levels find the most success. One of our clients that supply the agriculture industry had suffered from the adverse effects of low commodity crops prices in recent years. With price fluctuations being difficult to predict, our client was seeking a strategy that would allow them to endure market volatility and drive sustainable, long-term growth. By exploring growth opportunities at all three levels, they were able to create a strategy with both near term and far-reaching impact.
Create Value
Companiescan make an immediate impact on their top line when they discover and implementnew ways of creating value for their customers. Taking advantage of new valuecreation levers doesn’t necessarily require major operational overhauls orsweeping business model changes; even modest changes can make a big impact. Ouragriculture client was struggling to differentiate their premium offering in amarket where low crop prices had driven down prices. Rather than making thesame arguments around product quality as their competitors, we recommended ourclient adopt a unique value proposition centered around increasing productivityfor their customers. By creating a message that resonated with their directcustomers’ greatest motivation, our client was able to quickly makeimprovements to their sales and marketing effectiveness. Creating value foryour customers – by helping them increase prices, grow share, or lower costs –represents the most immediately accessible path to deliver growth.
EnterAdjacent Markets
Alongsidevalue creation opportunities, B2B businesses should always be exploringadjacent markets. Adjacent markets can be forays into new products,applications, or customers, and represent opportunities to drive medium termgrowth by expanding the business opportunity. While adjacencies exist outsideone’s core business, businesses can leverage their current capabilities andstrengths to enter attractive markets that are a good strategic fit. Afterresearching adjacent markets on behalf of our agriculture client, we discoveredstrong opportunities in geographies outside of the Midwest – their core market.These new geographies, while requiring significant investment in newgo-to-market strategies, planning, and resources, represent markets that will enhancethe company’s revenue streams.
FutureVision
B2Bbusiness leaders should not lose sight of the long-term while looking foropportunities to create value or enter adjacent markets. A vision for thefuture describes a company’s ideal state 3 to 5 years down the road; aprojection which considers changes in the market that could transform how youdo business. Having a clear vision for the future allows your company to takethe initial steps on the pathway towards realization, which is key in avoidingharmful disruption and capitalizing on future trends. Having debated a few,different future visions with our agriculture client, they eventually alignedon a future vision that was aspirational, attainable, and enabled by majormarket trends. Our client’s future vision, which involves becoming the industryleader in sustainability, is certain to grow more and more pertinent givenincreasing focus on agriculture’s environmental impact. Just as importantly,our client was able to disseminate a clear future vision across theorganization and focus on initiatives to achieve it.
It’simperative that B2B businesses have a comprehensive strategy that considersgrowth at all three levels: the short term, medium term, and long term. Theupfront planning done now will save you and your team exponential time in the future.Instead of scrambling to come up with ideas when it’s already too late, yourcompany will be aligned, equipped, and moving in concert toward a common goal.By simultaneously creating value, entering adjacent markets, and defining yourfuture vision, your business will be building the foundation for lastingprofitable growth.
