I talk to manufacturers who have many great ideas on to grow their businesses. They often include things such as entering new markets, introducing new products, adopting new sales and marketing strategies and acquiring new businesses. However, in smaller manufacturing companies, there is rarely one individual responsible for prioritizing, planning and leading the team through these growth strategies. As a result, many of those activities never reach their full potential.
Consider the risks, in a small company, with sharing the responsibility for growth strategies among several people in the company:
Conflicting goals.
Without careful coordination and organizational prioritization, strategies may have competing objectives. If marketing establishes an online shopping cart to sell products, but sales is working on broadening a dealer base, the two strategies could easily hinder the other's success. However, with careful planning, cross-functional strategies can be coordinated to complement one another and yield greater returns than operating in silos.
Competing resources
Especially in smaller companies, resources are limited. Budgets are tight and staff members are often over-extended. In both cases, if two strategies are competing for the same resources, what often happens is that neither is fully supported, thereby inhibiting success. Prioritization of strategies allows companies to allocate and stick to budgets and staff allocations as well as measure their success and return on investment.
Bad investments, or missed opportunities
It's tough to make a go/stop gate decision on strategies that are weakly implemented. Are you pulling the plug on a strategy due to a poorly constructed plan of attack or is the strategy simply not a good fit for the company or the customer? Even more concerning, are you deeply investing in strategies that are not being evaluated on a regular basis? If strategies are implemented according to plan and assessed at appropriate times, those questions are easy to answer, potentially saving significant resources when stopping is necessary or yielding greater returns by applying resources to initiatives with a higher likelihood of success.
Staff apathy
When ideas come and go and changes rarely stick, staff become immune and disinterested in the "flavor of the week." Building and sharing a strategic plan for growth promotes employee involvement in manageable activities.
So, if you are a small company with limited in resources, how do you allocate a single point of contact for growth? It's not easy, but it's worth doing. You'll still need implementation support from cross-functional staff. However, the investment in a single resource to manage growth increases the likelihood of success. With a key point of contact you'll benefit from prioritization of activities, assured alignment of goals and resources, attention to necessary decisions and best use of human capital. In the long run, you'll waste fewer resources and see greater success in revenue generating activities.
IMEC's business growth coaches serve in this role when companies have don’t have the internal capability or time to executes. We can work with your team to accelerate implementation of strategies. Call me today if you want some insights on how to better plan your company's growth.
Rachel Rockhold – The Manufacturer’s “Marketeer”
309-677-3497
rrockhold@imec.org
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