How did we take an early stage internet company to A BILLION IN ANNUAL SALES?
Was there one “silver bullet” that explained the phenomenal growth we achieved?
NO!
The BILLION was the result of doing many things that resonated with people in the organization and encouraged them to join our growth journey.
Here’s my Pithy Seven.
#1. Have a plan made to EXECUTE! — My Strategic Game Plan method allowed us to create our strategy FAST! and get on with execution, learning and adjusting it “on the run”.
#2. Be the ONLY one who does what you do. — We rejected the traditional CLAPTRAP claims like “We’re the best…” or “We’re number 1…” and created “The ONLY Statement”, a granular claim that distinguishes one business from another in a way that customers CARE about.
”Lawn and Garden Co. is the ONLY service partner who delivers tailored Property Development solutions for stratas. We only serve Strata Corporations.”
#3. “Cleanse the Inside” of your business. — We cleansed our organization of the CRAP, GRUNGE and STUPID POLICIES that created friction in the value delivery system.
#4. Be a “Line of Sight” leader. — To prevent organizational dysfunction we translated what our strategy meant to each and every employee on our team in terms of what additional things they needed to do and what they had to STOP doing.
#5. Hire for “goosebumps”. — If a prospective employee gave me goosebumps in telling me their story showing how much they “loved” human beings I HIRED them.
#6. Market to what people “CRAVE”, not what they need. — We morphed our marketing machine to discover what our customers desired, lusted for, coveted and craved, spaces where competitors were virtually nonexistent and premium prices could be applied without objection.
#7. Deliver “gasp-worthy” service experiences. — Our Customer Serving Strategy was more than delivering promised value, it was all about taking the customer’s breath away when they engaged with us.