Six Behaviours of The Fastest-Growth Software Companies

Being sick and tired of seeing "Fast Growth" research provided by bean counters (who lost themselves in their spreadsheet numbers), we decided eight years ago to look beyond the numbers…to the behaviours of these fast-growth software companies. High-level questions such as:

• What did they do to make all that money?
• How did they behave??
• What made them stand out???

From this ongoing research, we uncovered 24 behavioural factors whilst concluding that six core commonalities drove their success.

In this newsletter, I will share those six findings with you so you can hopefully use our results in your own business to power your growth. The majority of software companies do not know this information or if they do, do not have the wisdom to apply it.

Our Research Methodology

Firstly, we identified over 400 of the fastest-growing companies across all sectors. You will find a list of some of the companies we identified at the bottom of this newsletter.?

Initially, we focussed on the giant unicorn fast-growth companies but then expanded our research to medium-sized enterprises that were growing extraordinarily fast.?

The 400-plus companies were the fastest-growing software vendors, a group that accounted for far less than 1% of the total we examined.

We then examined the <1% software companies to identify any observable traits they may have that led them to success.

NOTE: No spreadsheets were harmed in making the "BamBoo Report" - this was not purely a bean counter exercise. The name we gave to this fast-growth research - Bamboo, is the fastest-growing plant on Earth.

Here are just six findings of an identified 24 common denominators, which we regard as positive behaviours for the fastest-growth software companies:

1. Communicate Clearly and as "Simply as Possible"

This will seem obvious to you, but keep communication crystal clear. The overwhelming majority, and most likely, this means your business as well, will fail to get this right.?

Many companies assume their audience knows more about their product or service than they do. They overload their audience with too much information too soon. It is easy to overwhelm your audience and bury the essential information beneath the less important detail.

The better approach would be to explain your product/service's unique benefits in an easily understandable and conversational style. Avoid jargon and keep acronyms to a minimum. Then focus on the outcomes you deliver that can't be obtained elsewhere.?

Understanding what key messages your competitors communicate is vital to your positioning in the market. Being a watered-down, smaller version of a dominant competitor will not give you competitive space.

To position, your business correctly requires that you have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the sector in which you operate. And you need to know exactly how your prospects think, and their minds work. It might sound simple, but ignore it at your peril.

2) Focus Your Communication on What Your Target Market is Interested

Don't interrupt your prospects from what they're interested in, be what they are interested in.?

Focus on what your audience is interested in and not solely on what you're selling. Communicate to your prospects on their critical areas of interest. That focus will drive your sales revenue higher and faster than you ever thought possible if you pitch it correctly.

Flatlining businesses can be transformed, and growing companies can be moved into the elite sector of the <1% fast growth. This is a crucial component of the success of these fast-growth software companies. Focus on the benefits you provide and the problems you solve, not the solution you deliver, especially at the beginning of your dialogue. We have demonstrated the importance of this focus with our clients time after time.?

3) Your Customer Experience (CX) MUST be Optimised.

Whenever we buy something, we go through five psychological stages. You need to understand these stages to align them with your sales process. And so you can lead your customer through them and NOT let them take control as they attempt to fill the gaps. Show them an easy, well-trodden safe pathway that you have designed.

You want your customer experience to be engaging, simple, and easy to follow.

And during this journey, it's crucial to quickly qualify out people who will not be a good fit. And it's best to do that as early as possible.

Here's what an improved CX can deliver:

• Exceptional CX gives people the desire to want to shout about your company.?
• Excellent CX gives people reasons to talk about your brand.?
• Good CX builds loyal brand advocates who recommend you to all their friends/colleagues.

When asked if price or CX matters most when buying, 80% of B2B customers said CX was more important.?

An improved CX can lead to better customer retention, higher conversion rates, and an improved customer lifetime value. Strengthening your customer's loyalty with great CX will lead to higher recurring spending.

4) Your User Experience (UX) could be the key to brand loyalty

User Experience (UX) would encompass set-up, FAQs, customer support, customer development requests, complaint handling, and reviews.

A meaningful user experience with your software product is the process of enhancing user satisfaction with a product by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided during interaction with the product and with your company

A well-designed and attractive UX is good because it makes people love using your product.?

The most successful software companies have put more effort into creating the best UX than the "average" software development companies.

How well you've designed your user experience could dictate the speed of your company's growth.

5) Too Many Communication Channels can Create Problems.

In the past, the channels or means of communication were fewer; hence, attaining customers was much more straightforward. Direct mail, radio, and television ads were perhaps all you needed to attract customers. Nowadays, with our digital world, we have many, many more channels where our prospects can be found.

This rapid technological change has transformed the nature of communication around the globe. And now, many companies are overwhelmed and have spread themselves too thin.

In the process, creativity has been lost, with software companies now seemingly focusing more on maths & data analytics. But, throughout our extensive research, we found that the fastest-growth software companies use creativity in abundance to grab their prospect's attention and satisfy their needs.

Remember, more touchpoints mean more potential points for failure in your business. That's why a multi-channel approach mustn't merely aim to get the word about your business via the maximum number of channels possible. Implementing a single - effective - strategy and consistent messaging across multiple channels will drive your success.

In our study, we observed that many of these companies generated most of their leads through one principal channel, so they didn't dilute their focus. Every platform has a learning curve, so trying to grow on all of them simultaneously will make your job harder.

6) Your Communication Must be Consistent

If your business uses a multi-channel approach for your communication, it'll be more challenging to maintain consistent messaging across all the platforms.

And if your prospect feels there's a lack of consistency in what you're saying, it'll lead to confusion and them having doubts about buying from you.

Often before a prospect buys, they will have been browsing your website, LinkedIn profile, and blog articles for many months. Almost like a stalker!! That's why you need your communication to be congruent on all platforms.

The reason this is so important? Well, imagine you meet someone at a party who seems friendly & outgoing. But, when you meet them a month later, they suddenly become insulting and aggressive. You would wonder how genuine your initial encounter was with them.

And message consistency is also essential because repetition is the easiest way to help a prospect understand your offer.

Consistency is something most software companies are poor at. They overload their audience with multiple taglines, different sales messages, unrelated visuals, and out-of-date info, which results in a tangled mess. Prospects become confused and ultimately decide not to buy.

Those are just six key findings from 24 common findings following our 4-year long research!?

While we can't always guarantee you'll be one of the <1% fastest-growth software companies in the world, we can promise that if you adopt these principles, your business will undoubtedly grow faster.

The point in this article is only one tiny part of the Competitive Space? experience of how we strategically position software companies.

If you’d like to see the complete pathway about how we turn our client’s companies into market leaders, then message me here.

Limited to 20 people per week.

Best regards,

Here is a list of some of the companies we identified:?

Actifio, Afiniti, Anaplan, AppDynamics, Apttus, Apus Group, Automattic, Avast, C3 IoT, CloudFlare, Clickfunnels, Pinterest, Quora, Shazam, Spotify, Celonics, Symphony Communication Services Holdings, Vice Media, Vox Media, Zhihu, Zoom Communications, CrowdStrike, Docker, Garena Online, Global Switch, Hootsuite, Infor, InsideSales.com, ironSource, Katerra, Kik Interactive, Lookout, MarkLogic, Medallia, Mogujie, MongoDB, Mu Sigma, MuleSoft, NetEase Cloud Music, Nextdoor, OVH, Palantir Technologies, Procore Technologies, Qualtrics, Wiah, Rubrik, Slack Technologies, SMS Assist, Sprinklr, TangoMe, Tanium, Toutiao, Udacity, UIPath, Unity Technologies, Uptake Technologies, Xuanyixia, Yello Mobile, Zeta Interactive, Zomato Media.?