In today’s rapidly changing economic and geopolitical climate, achieving sustainable and profitable growth is more challenging than ever. Yet, it is still the primary responsibility of any leadership team.
In this blog I break down the most effective strategic actions for revenue growth – drawing from both global research and hands-on experience with clients navigating real-world growth challenges.
McKinsey & Co and Boston Consulting Group (among others) offer a variety of growth models and while they may differ in name and structure they generally focus on the same fundamental levers.
Companies want to maximise their core revenues, getting the maximum share-of-wallet they can from each client. Straightforward organic growth is arguably the easiest lever for growth, but a company also needs to look at: new markets, new offerings, technology, acquisitions and diversification to try and boost revenues.
Meanwhile the rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed how we analyse market data. Real time insights now enable quicker more accurate decision-making. With regulatory shifts and market trends moving at unprecedented speed, keeping your strategy relevant is harder than ever. Research the AI tools available to support timely, data driven decisions.
During my career working for corporates and through my consulting work, I have found that successful growth strategies come from applying core strengths to new opportunities, with calculated risk-taking, alignment across teams and clear messaging.
Let’s look at the options for driving revenue growth?
- Going Global: Expanding into New Geographies.
International expansion can unlock significant growth, but execution is everything. Consider this:
Case Study: Expanding into Italy
A US and UK based services company identified strong demand in the Italian market. The options to launch in this new market included:
Setting up an office and hiring locally. Offers control and cultural fit.
However, brand recognition, at this point, is minimal to non-existent. Success depends heavily on recruiting high-impact local talent with a loyal regional network.
Deploying, via relocation, of internal talent. An existing employee from another location may lack local language, cultural knowledge and market
insight. There is likely to be a long ramp-up before they generate revenues.
Partnering with a reseller or agent. Potentially easy to launch, but limited control over the client engagement. The company may get reduced focus if the partner is representing multiple clients.
Forming a Joint Venture (JV). A shared entity with a trusted regional partner, where you have an equal input into strategy and execution. A good regional partner combines domestic credibility with international capability.
Result: The company opted for a JV. The local partner provided regional credibility and a network. The US / UK firm brought scale and process. One of the critical components of the successful partnership was the hiring of an experienced local executive with a strong regional and international network. This provided added credibility to the JV.
I am the first to recognise that Joint Ventures can be problematic. If there is misalignment on strategy and inequitable results, that favour one party over the other, then it won’t work. It has to be a win-win for both parties with complete transparency for all stakeholders. The relationship has to be built on a foundation of trust. In this case it was a resounding success building profitable revenue for the parent companies.
2. Expanding Your Offering: Smart Service Expansion.
This is an equally challenging growth strategy, potentially requiring a new go-to-market strategy, value proposition and client messaging. If executed properly and aligned with client need, it can help you gain a greater share-of-wallet from your existing portfolio of clients.
Key is to make your decision based on accurate research and data. You need to be 100% sure you have identified the correct client base for your offering and the size of the total available market.
Case Study: Document Services for Mergers and Acquisitions.
A firm assisting in the production of documentation for mergers & acquisitions, financings and compliance for publicly listed entities identified an opportunity to go upstream.
The M & A process was evolving digitally and consequently there was an opportunity to capture a greater share-of-wallet from existing corporate and financial clients.
Historically, company due diligence during a M & A transaction was managed by placing all the financial and corporate information, in physical form, in a locked room. Advisors and other stakeholders could review the information but no photography was allowed and no papers / drives could leave the room.
The concept of Virtual Data Rooms (VDRs) – secure virtual repositories – was born, facilitating due diligence online and reducing the time taken to review a company, by weeks if not months.
Result: With the advent of VDRs the company was able to engage earlier in the acquisition life cycle and offer additional services, before and during the due diligence process. Prior to the availability of VDRs the company was only engaged to compose and print the offer documentation at the very end of the process. This shift significantly increased revenues.
There is a lot of work needed to evaluate the true market opportunity, hopefully leading to a greater share-of-wallet and more revenues. The market research needs to be thorough with accurate data and some sharp positioning to get ahead of the competition. It is however, generally easier to build your business from existing clients rather than acquire new logos. Ideally you achieve both.
- From Services to Solutions: Productising your IP.
If you have built proprietary tools to better serve clients, there is a good chance others will pay for them too. I have gone into detail on a previous blog about the challenges with launching a new technology.In brief, undertake a Viability Summary for each vertical you intend targeting. Look at Market Viability, Channel Viability, Differentiation, Operational Viability and Financial Viability. Finally, do beta testing and run a few pilots before launching on the market. Don’t launch until you are ready!
Case Study: Arabic Machine Translation
A leading provider of localisation services in the GCC region was looking to capitalise on its proprietary technology offering.
Originally designed for internal use to help deliver a superior translation service for its existing clients, the technology was developed with Arabic language at the forefront. With intense competition from global language technology providers, the company had to have a strong value proposition and clear area of differentiation. Being an Arabic founded and headquartered business with a deep cultural knowledge of the Middle East, the company sought to capitalise on strong regional name recognition and a captivating history.
The experience in Arabic language, collected over almost two decades serving governments, consulting and legal firms, eCommerce and Media and Entertainment companies meant the company had unparalleled knowledge of Arabic dialects, coupled with high quality Arabic – English datasets, to deliver machine translation from Arabic to English and vice versa.
With the advent of improved machine translation technology and the release of AI driven large language models the trend was for companies to access freely available technology, independently of language providers, and manage language needs in-house.
Result: The company needed to pivot and offer its proprietary technology as a market- leading solution for multiple language translation, with an emphasis on delivering superior quality Arabic language. With almost two decades of superior Arabic-English datasets and a technology suite that included multiple technology solutions the company was able to offer both SaaS and on-premise versions.
The focus on Arabic in the GCC region, with a superior Arabic language offering, coupled with technology that was comparable to global offerings, meant that the company cemented its market leading position in the region.
With a refusal to stand still, the company invested in the first Arabic large language model (LLM), outperforming its global competitors. This enabled the company to switch away from an increasingly commoditized service to offering solutions, driven by technology, that saved clients time, money and resources.
As a result, the company gained additional capital investment to continue its technology investment.
A great example of a successful pivot with early identification of a change in the direction of travel for the language services industry. From a position of trust with key clients, the company was able to switch its focus to a more profitable business model. This comparatively recent shift of strategy, at a minimum protected its revenue and potentially repurposed the business to deliver a higher margin solution sale.
A detailed market viability study, successful launch phase and strong impactful messaging resulted in a successful launch.
- Growth by Acquisition: Unlocking New Verticals and Capabilities.Acquisition is a classic growth lever, but success hinges on more than deal terms. Thoughtful business Integration and impactful internal and external messaging are crucial. Are you: buying up your competition to own the market; looking to gain new verticals; expanding geographically or acquiring new revenue streams.
Case Study: Expanding into Mainland China
An international company, with a strong East Asia base serving the needs of clients looking to raise capital through listing on overseas stock exchanges. The challenge was to also capture the local domestic Chinese market for regulatory reporting and local listings documentation.In this instance, the acquisition of a local company with a strong brand enabled the company to offer capabilities both domestically and internationally.There were challenges with creating a combined value proposition that would resonate with all existing and potentially new clients. The differences in pricing, speed of service delivery, personnel, company culture, compensation and operating platform were significant.
Result: It was critical to show that the merger was a win-win for clients with powerful messaging delivered quickly. This had to be out in the market ahead of competitor narratives.
The important step was to look at what could be accomplished quickly with high visibility. Creating one sales team with a unified message, whilst retaining two separate operating platforms, until they could be integrated. Key was to ensure there was no negative impact on service delivery, pricing and employee motivation.
Client’s benefited from end-to-end services covering both local and international requirements. They were now dealing with one company managing both domestic and international financial and regulatory documentation. The key was picking fast-win integration moves that created value without disrupting day-to-day operations.
- Related Diversification: Capture Additional Client Spend.
There are several reasons for considering this option. Your existing market for goods and / or services is increasingly competitive and less stable. You take what you already have, add capabilities and market into the same client demographic. This diversification solves a tangential need for your clients. In other words it is not too far away from your existing product / service, but it enables you to add another capability, potentially delivering it through your existing platform while increasing your revenues.
Case Study: Language Services for Insurance.
A US language services provider (LSP) supported policyholder appeals in multiple languages.
The client (Insurance Company) received the appeal letters in non-English languages, sending them to the LSP for translation. They then wrote a response in English for the LSP to translate back into the native language of the policyholder.
The LSP took the initiative to reduce the number of client touchpoints during the process. Non-English language appeal letters were sent directly to a receiving address managed by the LSP for translation, before being sent to the insurance company. The LSP translated the replies and eventually took responsibility for policy holder address management and mailing of letters.
Result: The LSP moved upstream taking on more of the task, streamlining the process and reducing the amount of administrative work managed by the insurance company. This improved the speed of the appeals process for both company and individual policyholders.
Similar to the expansion of a service / product line. The diversification enabled the company to move upstream and take a greater share of client spend. The client benefited from outsourcing time consuming administrative tasks to a trusted partner enabling them to repurpose internal resources to more value-added tasks.
Conclusion: Growth Needs Alignment, Insight, Conviction and Courage
To facilitate growth in whatever form both management and employees have to collectively support decisions on the growth strategy. This may sound easy but executive appetite for risk taking needs to be encouraged and rewarded. Standing still is rarely an option for companies and consequently innovation needs to be supported to help the company capture more of a client’s business.
Growth is about more than just adding services or markets. It requires:
- A willingness to innovate.
- A platform ready to scale
- Clear Messaging inside and out.
- Team alignment and strong execution.
The best growth strategies build on your core competencies while adding capabilities that solve more for your clients. Whether it is entering new markets, acquiring competitors, launching tech or expanding services, success depends on clarity, courage and execution.
If your organisation is considering a new growth strategy, we would be happy to help assess your readiness and identify the best path forward.