Why create a plan?

Having a rough plan sketched out in one's head is one thing.

But mapping out goals and strategies, against a realistic timeline, will provide you with a proper pathway, ensuring you commit to the plan and allows you to track your progress as you go.

People who put a formal plan down on paper are proven to execute more effectively.

Those who review their plans on a regular basis have an even higher rate of success.

Why use a growth advisor?

It also makes sense to have someone from outside of the business challenge your assumptions - assumptions that can sometimes keep us from advancing in certain respects - and help you frame and validate your thinking about how to move forwards. I tend to work with agencies that have been going long enough for the founders to have proven product but where they could now do with a hand taking things to the next level.

Now it’s time to unleash their potential.

Discovery phase

There tend to be two phases to our work with founders:

• Mapping out your growth plan

• Helping you to stick to the plan

i. Immersion

We interrogate how the business has operated to date - how you win business, deliver work and make money - this tends to unearth gaps and opportunities that we can work on later.

ii. Exploration

We look at where the greatest potential for growth lies in terms of your product, your market and the fit. We also explore your personal ambitions as founders.

Then we get into the plan.

Planning phase

iii. What (objectives)

Setting realistic, achievable growth goals for:

• next 3 years - broad brushstrokes (for the business and for you as founders)

• next Financial Year - much more detailed (set and reviewed in quarterly sprints)

iv. How (strategies)

Nailing the best approach to achieving the above:

• Sales/NBD: growing and, crucially, extending your pipeline; ensuring there is a rigorous process for practively seeking out and winning profitable work

• CDS: battening down strategies to develop every existing client with growth potential

• Marketing: tying down a proper plan, prioritising channels, content and effort / budget

• Talent: team configuration, hiring strategy, leadership and development

• Operations: the physical, capital and digital resources you’ll need to grow comfortably

• Product: taking a longer-term view of how to develop your offer

Setting clear goals and an idea of how to achieve your goals will help you to:

• focus your energies

• gain a much clearer sense of direction

• set benchmarks to measure your progress

• better manage your business

See examples of success below

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KEEPING TO THE PLAN

It’s one thing to put a plan down. It’s another to execute it.

At this point it’s my job to keep you focused, energised and on track while we continue fine-tuning areas such as:

• becoming a better coach for your team

• adopting robust financial practises & processes

• optimising your pricing & profitability

• making better growth-oriented business decisions=

• building saleable value into the business