Growth in business comes in a variety of ways. You might increase sales and marketplace exposure. You could develop more robust product offerings or disruptive technology. However your Middle Market company chooses to focus on growth, your thought processes and planning may need an update.
Traditional methods of growing revenue or brand visibility are vital, but there are other alternatives to consider.
Acquisition
Obviously, acquisitions and mergers aren’t new to business. However, a transformative look at M&A is to think beyond what you immediately gain.
For instance, instead of buying the competition in your market, consider a bit farther out. What could you gain by looking at another channel, niche or industry? Don’t focus solely on what you could gain from their processes, products, and customers. What if you thought about what you could create by merging into something completely new?
Thinking outside the box and creating something totally unknown in your industry would be disruptive and transformative to both of your organizations. By taking what both companies excel at, combining and reconfiguring them, you could build the benchmark for an entirely new industry.
Look for synergies that others might miss and put your R&D teams to use scouting for similar yet different companies and products that are ripe for acquisition.
Change The Game
Sometimes no matter what you change or how you improve, you’ll only be gaining millimeters instead of miles. When competition is not only cut-throat but extremely deep and diverse, making changes and improvements is likely not enough.
What you truly need in these instances is to transform your entire business and change the game, completely. Sometimes known as creating a “blue ocean” this strategy basically means leaving behind what you know and what everyone thinks about your business and completely reinventing the wheel.
Instead of continuing to compete for the same limited market share and in the same oversaturated space, your Middle Market firm is going to reinvent your business and create a new pond to play in.
Using your existing assets, you’ll need your leadership and teams to think strategically on an unthought of level. You’ll need to ask yourselves to step into disruptor territory and create not just a new product but entirely new ways of thinking. Instead of settling for incremental gains, your Middle Market firm is looking for unprecedented growth.
How To Go About It
Obviously, either transformative path is going to require a lot of time, thinking and input. You probably want to start by building a great team of strategists and by focusing on authenticity as a main priority. You’ll want to solicit feedback from a variety of customers, partners, vendors, and employees. You may need to invest in some outside consultation.
Start by defining what it is you hope to accomplish and what your Middle Market firm is willing to risk to achieve it. Make sure you fully understand what your competition is doing and what disruptors in your industry have already done. Find out what the biggest problems for your customers are and how they are solving some of their issues already.
Lastly, stop thinking like you’ve always thought. It might be time to completely turn things upside down – ask for input from departments that have nothing to do with each other or where your desired innovation comes from.
For your Middle Market firm to truly transform your growth and innovation, you’ll have to step out of your comfort zone and consider all the alternatives.
So what’s in the Mighty Middle Market for me? — get it right now at www.Go4ROI.com.