Have you been tasked with transforming your company? Whether a new acquisition or an existing company looking to regain market leadership, the insight you gain from this article will be a game-changer. The positive news is, your quest for business transformation is attainable! But you're well aware that it require hard work and an effective business-building strategy. You’ve likely already taken measures to cut costs—that’s the easy part. Now you’re looking to see how you can increase revenue and improve profitability, which are much more daunting. In this blog, we'll give you the basic framework for establishing a modern digital growth engine that can transform and grow your new acquisition or existing business.
How will you go about this? Sure, you can look at your existing customer-base and try to squeeze more out of them, but the best way to increase revenue longterm is by creating a pipeline of new leads and business opportunities. This means expanding into new markets and geographical areas as well as refining your ideal customer profile.
But how can you do this without drastically increasing costs? You could hire new sales reps but training them to the point where you see a substantial return on your investment (ROI) is a lengthy process and a heavy investment. Wouldn’t it be much simpler if, rather than hiring five new salespeople, you could get five times the productivity from your existing sales representatives?
It’s possible! Companies that adopt a modern marketing approach through the implementation of an automated digital platform for lead generation and sales are experiencing these types of results. Rather than having your sales team drudge up qualified leads through cold calling, unsolicited meetings, and trade shows, you automate lead generation by building an online growth engine.
How is such a growth engine built? It starts with identifying the right business building strategy and developing a digital foundation that attracts prospects and qualifies leads that fit your ideal customer profile. As these leads interact with your content and evaluate your product and services, they navigate the initial steps of the buyers journey themselves. Then, when they are ready, they self-enroll into your sales funnel.
The buyer’s journey refers to the natural process people take in making a purchasing decision: First, the customer becomes aware of a need and researches solutions to meet that need. Next, the customer considers several possible solutions. Finally, the customer decides what purchase to make and through which company to buy from.
Once your growth engine has determined that a potential customer is in the decision phase, that lead is then passed onto your sales team to close the deal. Whereas before, your salespeople spent all that time generating the leads themselves, now, they’re using that time interacting with ready and willing buyers.
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Building a growth engine on a digital platform sounds like the most clear, best way forward for business building, right? But what about the cost and complications of implementation? Is it really worth it?
Regarding cost, in the first year of establishing a digital growth engine, you can expect a 2-3x ROI. Between years two through five—once your growth engine is fully up and running—your ROI will generate between 5-10x more revenue in new business than your cost to maintain it! How robust your growth engine is depends on how much you invest in it and how big of a return you're looking to gain.
But what about the transition to marketing on a digital platform? Will it require a fundamental change in how your team works? Because the lead generation process is automated, your sales team members can be as intimately involved with the process as they choose to be. If all they want is to receive the qualified leads and focus on closing the sale, that option is now available to them. You may find, however, that once you’ve seen the power of a digital platform, you’ll want to completely redesign your sales and marketing process around the buyer's journey that’s tailored to your specific customer. That's an option, too!
The best time to implement a digital growth engine is right now! According to Open Path research, only 1 in 10 companies are adequately building and utilizing a digital platform as effectively as they could. Implementing a growth engine now ensures that your new acquisition is ahead of the curve and can cement itself as a powerful industry authority before everyone else catches on.
Building an effective business-building strategy using a growth engine is a means to cost-effectively improve the growth trajectory of your company. It means your acquisition is well-positioned to handle new buying trends, now, and into the future.
Ready to start building your growth engine? We can help! Schedule a call with an Open Path Growth Strategist and we’ll walk you through what transitioning to a digital platform and online lead generation looks like for your new acquisition. Plus, we’ll help you get the conversation started with other stakeholders in your company.