Selecting Your Growth Strategies to Achieve the Highest Return on Capital

Different types of revenue growth earn different returns on capital, so not all growth is equally value creating. Today’s topic is focused on demonstrating how to think through and communicate which types of revenue growth dollars are most valuable. Joining us today is Dennis Hummel, the President of a $1.2 billion dollar privately held enterprise company with 5,000 employees. Dennis and I leverage our workbook to guide the conversation, turn to the Corporate Objectives phase on pages 54 – 59 to follow along.

Dennis is uniquely qualified to speak on this topic of developing corporate objectives. Maritz Holdings has several companies operating in an array of industries including the travel, industry and motivation industries. Dennis is responsible for setting the strategic direction for each company. Today Dennis is going to share how he provides clarity of objectives to his leadership teams.
Watch as Dennis demonstrates how to think through and communicate to the organization which types of revenue growth are the most valuable. This show is a must watch for executives seeking to bring clarity to the leadership team on how to achieve high growth goals.

Why this topic today? Organizations that have too many objectives and priorities really don’t have any at all, they risk accomplishing nothing of significance. A corporate strategy often does not get executed because the sales, marketing, and product leaders, are in their silos pursuing what they feel is important. This causes strategic misalignment, and often results in sub-par revenue growth.

We begin the show discussing how important it is for his leadership team to understand how we make money and how that affects cash flow. We then discuss the three different types of growth strategies that a company can deploy. The first is market expansion where high water raises all ships. You’re in the right market, at the right time, at the right offering, and you’re going to grow because that sector is doing really well. The next is market exposure you go after an adjacent growth market and grow. The third type is market share where you are competing in a highly competitor and/or slow growth market. To grow you must take business from competitors. Dennis describes how his business units are leveraging all three strategies due to the different dynamics faced in each market. Watch the scenarios Dennis describes to better understand why it’s important to identify your specific growth strategy.

Dennis and I discuss how you select a growth strategy to achieve your aggressive revenue growth goals. Can I expand in my current business? Can I expose myself to a new business? If I’m going to be in a market share battle then I better know my accounts better than a competitor can learn my accounts. Your growth strategy comes down to selecting market expansion, market exposure, or market share performance. Depending on what you select determines your sales strategy. In the final segment of the show we discuss the strategic trade-off decisions that must be made to prioritize long-term value creation and how to measure a return on ROI.