When you think about the growth of your company, 99% of the time, you think about how to increase revenue for your core business. That is, how do you sell more of the kinds of products & services you’re already selling to more of the kinds of clients you’re already selling to? And you should think like it… that is your business, after all.
But before you set in stone your growth plans for next year, you need to consider two other ways to grow your business.
Look to the left…
Since you’re already having success selling your core products & services to your core clients, what other products & services – that are a fit with your core business* – could you sell to them?
That is, your clients already know you, like you and trust you… and they’re already spending money with you… so what other needs do they have that you can help address?
I’ll use our firm as an example: our target clients already buy various marketing services from us that include content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing and others. Maybe they would also buy video production services from us for marketing videos. It’s certainly worth considering… and certainly worth talking to our core client base about to see if there’s an opportunity.
Now think about your clients and what you sell to them… what else should you be considering?
* Being a fit with your core business is important. For example, suppose you sell research services to hospitals. Should you also sell them janitorial services? It’s doubtful, even though they have a need for it. Stay in your wheelhouse as you start thinking about this kind of expansion.
Now look to the right…
The flip side of this equation is who you’re selling to. Since you’re already good at delivering your core products & services to your core audience, who else – besides them – might also be interested in what you do? Who else might have a need for your core products & services?
For this exercise, think about new vertical industries, different types or sizes of companies, different geographies, new horizontal markets or market segments (e.g. Hispanics, employees of large companies, millennials, nurses, etc.).
We’re entering December. Have you started planning yet for how you’ll grow your core business in 2019? And when you do start developing the strategies & tactics for your core business growth… remember to spend some time thinking about new markets to go after and new products & services to begin offering. The fact is, you may decide to say ‘no’ to some or all of these new opportunities… and that’s OK. But, at the very least, block off a little time to talk about and discuss them.
After all, the path to revenue growth isn’t always straight ahead… sometimes it’s to the left or to the right!