During the week of August 12th I traveled to Budapest Hungary to be a presenter at the first annual American Gear Manufacturing Association’s International conference. Founded in 1916, AGMA is a voluntary association of companies with a direct interest in the design, manufacture, and application of gears, couplings and related power transmission components equipment. Of its 430 members, approximately 100 are actually located outside the United States.
The three day conference was designed to provide gear manufacturing leaders with intelligence on new market opportunities and strategies to improve business development. In total, representatives from 25 gear manufacturing companies from around the world participated: thirteen from the United States; twelve from Europe, Asia and Australia.
The agenda included sessions on:
• Keys to successful business growth
• Leadership
• Market opportunities in Central Europe
• World market for gearboxes and geared motors
Thanks to support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST-MEP) I was engaged by the AGMA leadership to deliver a session on business growth and market diversification. My message was simple: companies can apply structure and discipline to their sales growth efforts just like the structure and discipline they are familiar with applying to cost reductions and production efficiencies. I shared five guiding principles to successfully growing a business, including
1. Developing a clear and compelling vision
2. Appointing an empowered leader
3. Conducting quick cycles of learning on the four P’s (Product, Promise, Production, People)
4. Identifying and confronting obstacles
5. Developing a structured implementation / decision making process
After the presentation, I had the opportunity to spend some time talking to the attendees and offering advice on growth strategies and tactics. AGMA is to be commended for taking a proactive approach to facilitating conversations about business growth for their members.
Are you ready to grow? The first step is to review your company’s position within in each of the four points above. Complete a short Business Growth Assessment to help identify the gaps in your capabilities to move forward. The assessment takes approximately 20 minutes to complete.
I will be happy to follow up with you to schedule a review.
