Recession-Proof Your Business With This Transformational Strategy
Frank Niekamp
President SalesStar AEC | Partnering with CEO's to build strategic sales systems that deliver measurable, predictable, and reliable growth
Recession-Proof Your Business With This Transformational Strategy
Most of the CEO's and business owners we work with have 2-3 the market sectors or product categories that represent the majority of their revenue.? Market diversification as a strategy can be a useful hedge against the cyclical nature of certain industries. Professional services which include Architecture firms is one of my practices 3 core markets.
While diversification can be an effective strategy to have with your client portfolio, the biggest opportunity to maximize the profitability of your business is often to get more focused on who your ideal clients are. Defining what makes them "so ideal" is absolutely critical to the success of your business.
When is the last time you analyzed the profitability of your clients or projects and identified which produce the most revenue and margin?? Conversely, when have you last looked at those that have contributed the least margin to your bottom line and why this is so painfully true?
If this is an exercise you and the financial team have previously done, how has this analysis translated into the behavior of your revenue generating team? If it has not, and they're still guilty of chasing "shiny objects" what impact has it had on your revenue and profit?
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Our work helping clients successfully execute this strategy is often the #1 Thing that increases the revenue growth and profitability of your business. Clients also consistently find the amount of creative energy and human input required to perform and execute customer success also decreases. They begin to realize additional benefits such as less stress on you and your staff, more rapid on-boarding of teammates, higher conversion rates with proposals and the list goes on...
A recent Architectural client that works in multiple sectors including restaurant design found that when they focused only on restaurant clients that had 10 or more projects per year their revenue per employee increased from $153/employee to over $225 - a spectacular increase in both productivity and profitability. They discovered it's actually possible to work less and make more money. Ironically, they discovered it can sometimes be the things we stop doing that have the greatest impact to our success both personally and professionally.
Insights here comes from intentionally collecting these data points and many other valuable insights and including in your Strategic Sales Plan.? This 1-Page plan helps you gain clarity with your target markets that is shared by the entire revenue producing team. When properly executed and your team gains the confidence and skills required is when Transformation begins.
SalesStar clients consistently optimize the financial performance of their business by doubling growth rates and achieving record profitability within 12 months of partnering with us. For more information about SalesStar and to collect a free copy of the exact plan our clients use, please visit us at www.salesstar.com
Sales Director ★ Strategic Growth Partner
2 年Great insights, Frank Niekamp. The discipline and effort required to determine your ideal target market will most certainly yield high results. Targeting the prospects that fit that profile allows your team to be more agile and to focus their sales activity for the best ROI. Thanks for your thoughts in this! Make today Great!
Blue Chip CRO | Fixing revenue problems for CEOs | Rethinking Revenue Podcast Host | Investor | Polo Shirt Wearer
2 年The question every business needs to ask is whether they go wide or deep. Wide spreads industries, which can help to recession proof, but also requires a fundamental shift in how they do business. Ultimately there's different buyers, different personas, often different paint points and problems that those buyers face so it's more than just selling to another industry. It's a great way to hedge a bet for sure. Like your example with the architecture firm and restaurants. If they were to just pursue restaurants and ignore or deprioritize other segments, the risk they incur is the growth of online ordering and delivery. If that takes off, less restaurants need less space, therefore a threat to continuing in that market.
?? Mentoring leaders to enhance performance with their teams ?? | Founder of the Sales Leaders Roundtable | Modernizing recruiting practices | Former CEO, COO, CRO | ?? TV and Podcast Host | Private Equity Experienced
2 年Frank Niekamp great insight in this article. We look forward to your featured content during the August Cohorts of the Sales Leader Roundtable.
Business Growth Specialist ★ Sales Effectiveness Expert ★ High-Performance Sales Coach ★ Sales Growth Specialist ★ Sales Mindset Specialist
2 年Some great insights in your post Frank. Understanding your target market is key to successfully building a business. Too often salespeople and businesses adopt a scatter gun approach to their sales activity. When you understand your target market, it is easier to qualify out opportunities which are potentially tyre kickers. Trying to be everything to everyone just doesn’t work and wastes lots of energy and time. Being recognised for being experts in a particular field for your business works well.
President SalesStar AEC | Partnering with CEO's to build strategic sales systems that deliver measurable, predictable, and reliable growth
2 年I'm curious what these growth experts think? Ed Porter Kendley Davenport, MBA Mr. Biz??, aka Ken Wentworth Pete Evans Katharina Davey Dave Kurlan