Our research and experience have enabled us to pinpoint five key strategies that value-driven companies are focusing on to address the new economy.
1. Put People at the Center
The quality of relationships that a company has with its employees, board members, advisors, vendors and customers is crucial to its success. Leading companies aim to build relationships that are based on mutual benefit, learning, accountability, transparency and trust.
Many companies state that its employees are its most important asset, but fail to operate this way. Great companies truly believe that people are not the most important asset of a company – but are the company. Everything else is an asset. Employee and customer retention is a major issue today and has a tremendous impact on profits.
2. Harness Innovation
The ability and urgency to turn innovative ideas into deliverable products and services has never been more important to the success of businesses today. Innovation that addresses changing customer needs is the lifeblood of competitiveness, value building and sustainable growth resulting in a substantial impact on profits.
3. Leadership
Sustained, long-term business leadership is built upon clarity of purpose, principles and values. In great companies, this purpose extends beyond short-term profit and the creation of shareholder value. It often encompasses a longer-term vision to make a contribution to improve peoples’ lives and be a force for progress.
As Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of General Electric states, “The reason people come to work for GE is that they want to be about something that is bigger than themselves. People want to work hard; they want to get promoted. But they also want to work for a company that makes a difference, a company that’s doing great things in the world.”
This starts and ends with leadership and how you motivate your employees, vendors and customers to be great every day.
4. Create Sales and Reseller Channels
There is a growing need for improved sales management and reseller channel sales. Successful companies are creating efficient sales opportunities and managing them effectively to higher profits. Some companies are building new types of innovative sales teams to increase the leverage and effectiveness of their sales and marketing budgets. With proper sales management, goals, compensation plans, focus and training, profits can be increased on a large scale.
5. Performance-driven in Everything
A growing number of the world’s most successful companies track and reward performance in every aspect of their business. They establish goals, reporting, rigorous metrics, incentives, and training programs to create a true performance-driven culture. They report openly on progress towards their targets, and are committed to continuous learning as a way to drive improvement. This accountability, in a positive way, represents one of the largest up-swings in profit.
The five key strategies we describe above call for commitment and conviction. There are no simple solutions when it comes to delivering profits in today’s economy. Competition keeps increasing. Expectations of customers, employees and other stakeholders keep rising. As daunting as these challenges are, it is riskier to do nothing.