revenue growth can be a challenge...

However, great strategy Creates a roadmap to success

For a variety of reasons, too many companies miss this opportunity.

The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative reports that 90% of organizations fail to execute their strategies successfully, often because they lack a clear, actionable strategic plan. This often severely limits revenue growth.

At MarketWise, our mission is to put each client on a well-planned and practical path that leads them to their growth objectives. We get meaningful results by applying decades of expertise, commercial process, and critical thought to every project, so that achieving the stated objectives is the logical outcome.

We are focused solely on growth. From finding new market opportunities, to developing new offerings, to competing more effectively, to expanding to new geographies and much more, MarketWise drives the strategies that work, based on many years of practical experience, in a variety of industries, selling to all types of customers.

We focus on the things that are proven to drive growth; and we do it with teams that are made up of commercialization experts, meaning those who have dedicated their careers to experimenting, learning and then applying those lessons to drive revenue growth. They're known as the MarketWise Network of Experts™.

But it needs to include all three pillars of growth

Market Research

Careful market research, if designed and executed well, leads to valuable insights that can be analyzed to determine interest levels, the priority of features, price sensitivity, messaging that resonates, the validity of assumptions, the size of the market and the factors that determine whether customers will actually purchase.

McKinsey states that companies using market research to guide decision-making are 3 times more likely to achieve above-average revenue growth by aligning their strategies with market needs, optimizing product offerings, and effectively targeting customers.

Strategic Planning

Strategy starts with the company's mission (its "purpose") and vision (its "journey"), followed by 3-5 year objectives, which should be based to a large extent on the organization's growth aspirations. From there, the annual strategic imperatives, the project/product/marketing plans and the operating plan can be built, in support of the company's objectives. Unbiased market research is used to test assumptions and validate the plan throughout the process. Additional components of the plan include a review of the previous strategic plan, a current situation analysis, a SWOT exercise, a view of the competitive landscape, a study of macro trends and an economic review.

Research from Bain & Company highlights that organizations with a rigorous strategic planning process are 70% more likely to be among the fastest-growing companies in their industry.

Commercial Execution

The best research and strategy don't matter unless execution as close to flawless as possible is put into place. To accomplish this, the objectives need to be clear and completely transparent to everyone expected to play a role. From there, an annual operating plan that can be broken into monthly objectives is critical. Each member of the team should have responsibility for their objectives and progress should be reviewed regularly (monthly), in a structured, disciplined way.

As challenges present themselves, the strategy team should utilize a solid problem-solving process to determine root cause and to put an action plan that will resolve whatever is blocking progress into place. Sometimes, the challenges relate to a lack of expertise or capacity, which is when bringing consulting resources in can make sense.

PwC concludes that companies with strong execution capabilities are 2.2 times more likely to outperform their peers in terms of profitability, because they ensure alignment between strategic objectives, operational processes, and performance management systems.

Before we get started, we’ll help to identify the gaps

Most engagements start with an in-depth, cross-functional assessment of growth readiness within the client's organization. This is a discovery process, with the intent of understanding the current growth strategy, what is known and not known about the market, to what extent there's a process in place to manage the product development roadmap, how capable the organization is at executing strategy and finally, how well-organized and action-oriented the go-to-market effort is.

Once the assessment is complete, findings and recommendations are presented to the client, followed by a discussion of which projects should be chartered and in what order; or whether a fractional role should be considered.

If you'd like an idea of where your organization stands today, take the quick view survey on the Assessment page.

Throughout, we’ll ensure an exceptional client experience

First, thank you for your interest in MarketWise. We truly appreciate the chance to talk with you about your growth initiatives and we look forward to working with you to help you achieve your objectives. Growth is what we're passionate about and it's why we do what we do.

I wanted to take a moment to talk about how important the client relationship is to us. We are committed to the highest standards of professionalism, great communication and stellar results. We know this leads to high levels of client satisfaction, repeat business and referrals, which we of course love; but more than anything, our approach is based on wanting to: 1) always do the right thing, 2) collaborate closely with our clients and partners, 3) deliver projects that get results and 4) enable the best customer experience possible.

With the above values in mind, please reach out to me directly with any suggestions you may have. Like any great company, we’re always looking for ways to continuously improve. mikeh@marketwiseadvising.com.

- Mike Haldane