P E R FORMAN CE REVIE W / /
CEO Coaching International
Best Practice
Five Simple Tools for Breakthrough Growth CHRIS LARKINS
Senior Partner and Chief Growth Officer, CEO Coaching International
W
orking one-on-one with over 400 CEOs across the middle market, CEO Coaching International has learned one simple truth: Most companies are underperforming somehow, even if they’re growing. We know this because companies that work with CEO Coaching International have broken through to grow revenue at 2x and EBITDA at 4x the U.S. average, as indexed by NYU Stern. Our clients have several things in common. One is a set of healthy business rhythms to manage strategy and execution, as featured in our recent book, “Making Big Happen,” a Top 5 Wall Street Journal bestseller. They also use a successful former CEO as their coach and “personal trainer,” who helps the company maintain accountability and focus. These clients also followed five simple tools to design and execute their growth strategy. Those five simple tools for breakthrough growth are the following:
1. Revenue Bridge
A revenue bridge outlines your multiyear growth trajectory to a defined future goal. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there. This tool also helps you understand the key inflection points in your future growth: when your growth rate needs to increase the most and when it might need to be boosted with strategic acquisitions.
2. Two-Factor Sensitivity Analysis
This incredibly powerful tool identifies the most important drivers in your business, and how modest improvement in
Content Provided by ACG Partners and Featured Firms
both at the same time can have a massive impact on revenue and profit. This allows your sales team to focus most of its energy on the activities that will foster exponential growth.
3. Road Map
The road map defines all of the assumptions related to how you will grow. How much of your growth will come from new customers versus increasing your average transaction value to existing customers? If your plan is to grow by 20%, do you really need to grow by 25% to make up for expected customer churn? And do you have a plan to reduce that churn? Many of these simple questions often go unasked, leading to one-sided and less effective sales strategies.
4. Plan
The plan consists of all the specifics that define the assumptions in your roadmap. For example, if you need to acquire 50 new customers, what do those customers look like (size, profile)? Where will you hunt for them? What products will you lead with? Specificity matters.
5. Playbook
This consists of the specific funnel of trackable, leading activities that fulfill your road map and plan. Crucially, it also offers a process to cultivate an effective “Challenger Sale” talk track that your salespeople can use to deliver the most productive and consistent sales pitch for that funnel.
Conclusion
These tools are straightforward, but as they say, “simple, not easy.” The power of asking the right questions, digging for the best answers and acting upon them deliberately and with accountability sets “breakthrough growth companies” apart from the middle of the pack. CEO Coaching International would be happy to walk you through these tools, with two complimentary coaching calls for any ACG member or referred company. Visit https://ceocoachinginternational.com/acg-special-offer/ for this exclusive offer. //
MIDDLE MARKET EXECUTIVE // Spring 2022 55
