Weekly Business Insights from Top Ten Business Magazines | Week 314 | Strategy & Business Model Section | 2

Extractive summaries and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Since September 2017 | Week 314 | September 15-21, 2023

Tech-powered growth: Three things growth leaders do differently

By Russell Groves et al., | McKinsey & Company | September 12, 2023

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Growth has always been important. In times of uncertainty, profitable growth is critical.  The benefits of growth are undeniable. McKinsey’s analysis of more than 5,000 public companies shows that growth champions—companies that profitably outgrow their peers—create 80 percent more shareholder value than their peers over a ten-year period.  But growth is hard to achieve. Only one out of eight companies grew their revenues by more than 10 percent per year over that span.

To drive above-peer growth, other companies can take a page from odds-defying growth champions by focusing on three cornerstone elements powered by built-for-growth technology: growth analytics, sales productivity, and omnichannel experiences

1. Growth analytics: Scaling smart decisions.  Data and analytics is the lifeblood of modern organizations because it’s an engine that drives rapid, smarter decision making.  The most effective approach is to seamlessly embed analytical tools into the sales process, allowing organizations to quickly act on insights and recommendations. The best action to take next may be contacting a top-priority lead, addressing an account at risk of churn, or offering the best-possible pricing. That information would be the most useful if displayed in the context of opportunities, quotes, and accounts that sellers work through every day.
2. Sales productivity: Doing more with less.  The growth champions the authors studied have been able to increase their sales productivity by as much as 30 percent by using automations to increases sales teams’ effectiveness.  These opportunities range from simple repetitive actions, such as sending email follow-ups at the right time, to sophisticated lead routing based on lead scores, agent capacities, and skill sets.  More than 30 percent of sales activities across the value chain can be automated, and leading B2B companies are already stepping on the gas. Growth champions seeking still higher productivity boosts are also pursuing AI tools such as smart workflows and generative AI (gen AI).  Bringing tech, data, and AI together under one customer relationship management (CRM) platform—all enabled by gen AI—can transform customer experience and turbocharge employee productivity.  The analysis shows that marketing and sales is one of four functional groups that, all together, will reap an estimated 75 percent of that impact.
3. Omnichannel experiences: Growing profitably through new channels.  Expanding and connecting new digital or digitally enabled channels to create seamless customer experiences can unlock new segments and improve conversion.   More immediately, omnichannel motions—the ability to complete different parts of the sales journey on a variety of channels—are no longer optional. 

3 key takeaways from the article

1. The benefits of growth are undeniable. McKinsey’s analysis of more than 5,000 public companies shows that growth champions—companies that profitably outgrow their peers—create 80 percent more shareholder value than their peers over a ten-year period.  But growth is hard to achieve. Only one out of eight companies grew their revenues by more than 10 percent per year over that span.
2. Growth champions’ performance stems from a variety of factors, but one area in which they’ve pulled ahead most obviously during and since the COVID-19 pandemic has been tech-enabled growth —and they’re still pulling ahead.
3. Growth champions are turning tech innovation into impact by focusing on growth analytics, sales productivity, and omnichannel experiences.

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Topics:  Strategy, Business Model, Technology