Recently I met with a client who has a multi-million-dollar company, regarding the future of their business. Over the past few years they have tripled their revenue and they have big plans to take their organization to the next level.
As we discussed their plans, the close interrelationship between a company’s Marketing and Sales area and its Production area became very clear. In our Business and Innovation consulting firm, Fountainhead Consulting Group, Inc. we refer to this relationship as “talking a good game, versus playing a good game”. Furthermore, it must be recognized and understood is that there is a chicken-and-egg syndrome between your Marketing and Sales area and your Production area.
Seizing Economic Opportunities
Currently there is a lot economic opportunity in the world and this is reflected in a high degree of optimism for growth in the minds of many business owners. To avail oneself of these potential rewards, it is wise to consider whether a company is ready go to the next level.
The Structure of Success™ methodology and diagram that we use in working with organizations shows that the Vision and Leadership area of your organization leads to your Marketing and Sales area, and that in turn leads to your Production area – how you produce your product or service. A foundational component of both your Marketing and Sales and Production areas is determining and fully developing the attractiveness of your product or service in light of the opportunity that is presented to you via your target Marketing and Sales market.
Marketing and Sales/Production Chicken-and-Egg Syndrome
The above chicken-and-egg syndrome comes into play because – how do you know what you can bring to the marketplace with regards to the attractiveness of your product or service, (talking a good game) without first working on your Production area to determine how you plan to follow through and actually play a good game?
In reality, it is your expertise in delivering your product or service that should drive your Marketing and Sales area. This requires an organization to figure out how it will meet its greater customer’s expectations before it engages in the effort to create these increased demands via its expanded Marketing and Sales efforts.
Taking Your Company to the Next Level
While it is easy to say “oh yeah, we can take our company to the next level”, a prudent business owner and their management team should do a thorough assessment as to whether they have the systems in place to handle the anticipated growth. Using a baseball metaphor, does the company have the systems and personnel in place to move from “A” ball, to “AA”, to “AAA” and maybe on to the Major League? Can you realistically compete with the other teams (your competition) in the new league in which you want to play?
An evaluation of your Production area involves reviewing your capabilities so you can figure out a go-forward game plan. There are five areas that should be evaluated, namely:
1. Your Product Cost/Price
Will scaling your business develop a production cost advantage that will enable you to sell your product or service at a lower price than your competition? If this part of your growth strategy, have you done customer surveys regarding pricing to determine whether it is a significant buying criteria?
2. Your Product Quality
In taking your company to the next level, can you maintain or develop a superior quality product? Or is there a risk that the quality of your product or service may degrade as a result of growing your company?
3. Your Delivery Time or Convenience
The third factor to consider is whether your growth plans will improve your delivery time (via a faster production cycle) or make you more convenient than your competition (more locations or closer to your customer)? Before embarking on a strategy to improve one or both of these areas, it is critical to have done customer surveys to determine whether getting your product or service more quickly or more conveniently is a significant buying criterion?
4.Your Customer Service
You need to assess how your customer service will be impacted by your growth plans. Do you have the systems in place to maintain your current level of customer service or could you provide even a higher level of customer service by improving your systems and personnel?
5. Your Product/Service Uniqueness
The final question to ask is whether your plans to scale you company can produce some unique feature of your product or service? This uniqueness could manifest itself in several ways. Through increased R & D, could you develop products that have patent or copyright protection? Or, could you develop a design feature that makes your product or service different from your competition?
To assure yourself that your organization is ready for and capable of your desired growth, Production systems must be put in place that will either maintain or improve the above five areas. Otherwise, the organization’s reputation will be undermined as a result of expanding its marketing and sales efforts (“talking a good game) without first putting the necessary ingredients in place to “play a good game”.
If you need assistance with getting your company ready to go to the next level, please contact us using the below information so we can show you how to create a strategic competitive advantage for your company as a result of properly evaluating the above five areas and then translating them to your Marketing and Sales efforts.
Fountainhead Consulting Group, Inc. is an Innovation and Business Planning firm. During the past 17 years we have shown over 1,200 companies how to achieve their goals by using our unique, comprehensive and systematic, innovation, business planning and growth Structure of Success™, Innovation Academy™ and FastTrak Innovation Program™ methodologies. Using the components in these methodologies, each month we examine an aspect of how to transform your business or organization into a true 21st Century operation.
Office phone: (770) 642-4220
www.FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
George.Horrigan@FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
Tags: Business Planning, entrepreneur, front end of innovation, innovation, invention, small business consulting, small business planning, start a business
