There are only 3 ways to grow a business
29/07/2013 | Marketing
You can either increase the number of transactions with the customers you have today. Or you can increase the size of those transactions. Or you can increase the number of customers. Of course most businesses try a combination of all three but how often do they ask themselves why and which might be the best combination?
Many people I’m sure will be familiar with the Ansov Matrix and the assertion from it that new products/services sold to new customers is the riskiest form of business development and is commonly called ‘diversification.’
The reason we continually bang on about ensuring you plan and manage the right quantity, direction and quality of sales activity is that they directly affect the 3 ways mentioned above: Numbers of transactions (quantity and quality of sales activity), size of transactions (quality and direction) and numbers of customers (quantity, direction and quality). A properly thought through Sales Policy will take account of the significance and overall attractiveness of each of these 3 ways and set out the organisation’s chosen path to sustainable growth. Only then can the definition of ‘right’, as in right quantity etc., be clear. The alternative is usually somewhere between chaos and stagnation and tends to produce growth only in a buoyant market. If you aren’t lucky enough to be operating in one of those and/or want growth levels that exceed your current market, then you have to plan accordingly.
