Do you have the right revenue growth strategy for 2012?

Do you have the right revenue growth strategies for 2012?          

The answer is “NO” unless you have a more capital efficient and effective strategy than your competition.

 

Based on primary research interviews we conducted during 2011 with more than a hundred software company and VAR providers these are the most common revenue growth obstacles:

1. Not enough qualified leads. Lack of qualified sales opportunities.
2. Long sales cycle complicated by a committee buying process.
3. Ineffective sales and marketing programs.
4. Misaligned or ineffective sales workforce including mediocre performance and talent constraints including lack of industry expertise.
5. Unrecognized brand. Lack of brand awareness and brand credibility.
6. Financial engineering, capital, and resource constraints.

Overcoming these revenue growth obstacles requires an effective revenue strategy that fits the buying process for today’s B2B buyers.

Marketing cannot fix a product, revenue model, nor a company. Effective revenue growth requires a strategy centered around a portfolio of lead and revenue sources that is highly focused and differentiated.

Do you have a more effective revenue strategy than your competition?

At Ephor Group, we work with software, outsourcing and resellers on their revenue growth and expansion strategies and around this time of year, as we prepare budgets and plans for 2012, we ask the following questions to ensure that we have the right revenue model and revenue growth strategy.

1. How does cost of client acquisition compare to competitors?
2. How will you improve your Portfolio of Lead and Revenue Sources and Alternative Distribution?
3. Are we leveraging marketing automation software technology? 

 

Top Three Actions Every Executive Should Evaluate for 2012:

#A. Have a lower cost of sales than your competition.

1. Implement multi-tiered sales compensation across multiple channels including partners, agents, alliances, account managers, and sales personnel.

2. Implement marketing automation software to take advantage of inbound marketing and social media by leveraging technology which can do a lot of the work.

3. Shift towards more variable compensation tied to performance.

#B. Make every client worth more to the bottom-line.

1. Create incentives, user conferences, or seminars that drive referrals.

2. Make, buy or partner to add product extensions and ancillary services.

3. Improve workforce sales performance by focusing on cross-functional revenue management, team selling, and leveraging matrix organizational structures. Create team, matrix, and cross-functional initiatives and revenue goals.

#C. Implement Management Science reporting to proactively manage Cash Forecasts and Client Contracts including upsell and cross-sell opportunities, partner forecasts and revenue pipeline forecasts.

Have a great holiday season and a prosperous new year!

 

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