top 3 business growth strategies | rtown
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Top 3 Small BusinessGrowth Strategies
Luke Aulin @lukeaulinlukeaulin
• World Traveler (60+ countries)• Unfinished Author• Two-time failed entrepreneur• Intrapreneur:
$0-$4mm in 2 years$0 - $9mm in 4 years
• Entrepreneur:0 - 250 customers, 5 markets in BC in 3 years
• Purpose Driven Entrepreneur• CEO (aka “The Mayor”) of RTOWN
“Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death”
Elon Musk
Statistics Canada
Small Business Survival Rates in Canada
Statistics Canada
30,000,000 companies in North America
Business Success Formula=
Problem Solutionx x
Execution Teamx x Luck!
What About Vision?
“1% Vision, 99% Alignment” – Jim Collins
“1% Dream, 99% Execution” – Me
Vision Formula=
Purpose (why) Core Values ( how)+
x
Big Hairy Audacious Goal (where)=
Your stated desire for the future
Read: Mastering the Rockefeller Habits & Scaling Up
Top 3 Small BusinessGrowth Strategies
People.Execution.Cash.
Dawn of Social Business
People.
Read: Topgrading or Who
Your most important decisions are who decisions
Your most important decisions are not what decisions
Hire Slow, Fire Fast!
Think of everyone on your teamThen ask yourself…
Would I enthusiastically rehire this person?
Core ValuesNon-negotiable parameters for how you operate
Define & create your company’s culture
Whether you think you have them or not, you do
Clarifying them and codifying them will help you everywhere, particularly in hiring
Will be alive within your company and felt by your customers
RTOWN Core Values
Team over IndividualsRemarkable Customer & Team ExperienceUncover a Better WaySurplus for PurposeTrust
Family or Sports Team?
A players are values aligned and hit targetsB players values aligned, but miss some targetsC players values misaligned and/or consistently miss targetsA players attract A players
C players bring down average more than A players bring it upB players can become A players (again)
C player? = Free up their future!
Diversity of talent is good
Not living your values isn’t
Loyalty is good, but has limits
Patience for A players who temporarily become B players
Great companies temporarily hit rough patches
Execution.
Purpose
“People don’t buy what you sell; they buy why you sell it.” –
Simon Sinek, Author of Start With Why
Big Hairy Audacious Goal
If it matters, your team will connect to it
If it matters, outsiders will help
make it matter
(BHAG)
Make meaning
Jim Collins
BHAG & Purpose“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work
and give orders. Instead teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
– Antoine De Saint-Exupery, Author of The Little Prince
“1% Vision, 99% Alignment” – Jim Collins
“1% Dream, 99% Execution” – Me
Align your team so they can all push in the same direction
Encourage discussion debate makes your stronger
Foster accountabilityStarts with leadership. Create ownership mindset in everyone on your team.
Act on feedbackTwo ears, one mouth. Listen and act on feedback. Creates positive energy toward the future.
“If you want to exercise power and authority over people, join the
military or go into politics. Don’t be an entrepreneur.”
– Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote
Traditional Org ChartOut with the old
Functional Accountability ChartIn with the new
Fosters mutual accountability• Washes away boss/subordinate• Creates trust, circular accountability and improves
everything in how you execute – clarity on who owns what in which process
Cash.
Thoughts On Cash
Know your numbers
Measure what matters
Revenue is vanity; profit is sanity
Growth sucks cash
Cash conversion cycle – map your money on a timeline. Break down the steps.
Find excess to fund growth.
Raise or Bootstrap?
Bootstrapping = Cash comes from Customers
Step 1: Your Ideal Customer Profile
Step 2: Path to acquire them
Step 3: Strategy to deliver to them
Step 4: Define your “Keep” strategy
Your Ideal Customer Profile
Demographic and Psychographic Traits
Name them
Communicate this with your whole team
What do you do?
Why should I care?
How do I believe you?
Where do we begin?
Customer Acquisition Funnel
Social Media + Search
Website + Content
Testimonials + Case Studies
Store front or eCommerce
Customer Acquisition Funnel
% of Time Spent in Media vs. % of Advertising Spending, USA, 2015
Mary Meeker, KPCB 2016
Organic reach for business dropping to below 1%
Values:
Dawn of Social Business….your employees are an untapped resource to create awareness
Friends and family firstA platform for all ideasAuthentic communicationYou control your experienceConstant iteration
Mary Meeker, KPCB 2016
Values:Mobile responsiveness
Focus on the user and all else will follow
Length of time & relevanceKeywords, Blogs
Fresh content
It’s best to do one thing really, really wellYou can make money without doing evil
Online; your customer values:
Entertainment
Control
Authenticity
Emotions evoked
Education
Delivery
Better is how we get bigger
UPOD = under promise, over deliver
See people and execution
Team first, customers second, shareholders third
PricingPrice is the value your customer perceives
Cost plus
The closer you are to satisfying basehuman nature, the higher your margins
CompetitionYour ideal customer profile matters
It’s not who you know. It’s not what you know.
“It’s what you DO with whoand what you know!”
– Me
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