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A Tale of Two Clients.
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This is a true story of two companies that took divergent paths with their growth strategies. As you might guess, one client is enjoying the rewards of an ambitious, well-thought-out growth plan, and the other, well—let's say they've proven to be somewhat revenue-challenged.
In the beginning, these companies were one, as the two principals started as business partners with similar backgrounds and experiences. Ten years ago, they parted ways over differences of opinion about where to take the company, and each went out on his own.
A capsule summary of the two company strategies indicates:
After 10 years, following the paths they've each chosen, they are in very different places:
What distinguished the Vibrant Company from the Stymied Company right off the bat was a pledge of allegiance to focus on one vertical market, to resist pressures to stray from this focus, and to build smartly from this base. The result of this diligence was sustained, profitable growth, insulation from the tech downturn, a large and vibrant client base and a more effortless and seamless transition to new service offerings within the verticals. Because of the aforementioned, the company was also better positioned to accelerate its growth with smart, strategic acquisitions, lessons for which appeared in our March e-newsletter.
What plagued the Stymied Company, almost from the beginning, was that without a focus, the company found itself taking on AFAB projects. You know the allure and the danger of these "anything for a buck" projects. This seductive demon is easily recognized when your wallet says yes to a project, but your brain says no way. Just this once, you say to yourself. Soon once leads to twice, thrice and after a while your business practice bears scant resemblance to your business plan, and you wonder what went wrong. (Read about how to avoid falling prey to the AFAB disease by clicking here.) In the case of our stymied friend, what went wrong was pretty much everything. The company's lack of focus and its inability to specialize was the main reason for stagnant revenue and profits, high cost-of-sales and a punishing collapse during the downturn.
So, how do you go about becoming the vibrant company that specialization can bring forth?
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The Latest News:
Revenue Rocket buys Wire The Market, Inc.
Revenue Rocket CEO Mike Harvath announced on May 29, 2008 that the company has purchased the research division and selected assets of the executive appointment setting divisions of Wire the Market, a Savage, MN based market intelligence company specializing in the IT industry. Ryan Barnett, Vice President of Analyst Services at Wire the Market, will join Revenue Rocket in the same capacity.
According to Harvath, "This acquisition will greatly enhance our ability to help our clients grow their IT services business by having access to timely and actionable industry, market and competitive information, insights and intelligence. The pace of change, the ongoing introduction of new technologies and the intense domestic and global competitive nature of this industry demands that we and our clients stay current with everything happening in the industry. This added value addition to our strategic arsenal will help us and our clients do just that."
Harvath added, "By embedding Wire The Market's Executive Appointment Setting capability into our integrated set of sales, marketing and research solutions, we will position our clients for ideal revenue opportunities that have the highest likelihood of closing."
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