The MVF Formula for Growth

growth

Most business leaders want to see their organisation grow. But not all companies are able to deliver.

MVF specialises in working with organisations capable of scaling quickly, and we’ve become very good at spotting when prospective clients are likely to be able to handle meaningful increases in customer volumes to deliver on their growth aspirations.

Here are five attributes we see in the high growth companies we work with:

1) Ambition

Ambition is obviously a key element when it comes to business growth. Without appetite from those at the top of an organisation, meaningful growth is near impossible. But blind optimism and properly focused ambition are two different things. Do you know what you’re trying to achieve? And do you really believe it’s going to happen? Business leaders working in high growth companies can usually answer ‘yes’ to both these questions.

2) Large, sophisticated in-house sales teams

High growth often involves creating a lot of demand and generating lots of customers in relatively short periods of time. Scaling quickly is often the imperative; steep growth plans and large quarterly target increases often go hand-in-hand. But it’s important to ensure that the sales function has the capacity to deliver. Sales teams in high growth companies are large enough to deliver incremental revenue increases, and are typically underpinned by sophisticated structures and tech stacks. If you don’t have the capacity to close deals, you don’t have growth.

3) Mass market products

Your organisation’s ability to scale depends directly on its addressable universe. If the potential client list extends to only 50 names, growth will rely on finding ways to increase the value of each account. But if there are huge lists of potential clients, growth is more likely to be focused on spreading the word and selling more units. High growth companies typically come from the latter group. And if you’re able to generate demand internationally, then you’re even more likely to join the high growth ranks.

4) Trust in tech

It should come as no surprise to hear that high growth companies use technology to help streamline their operations. CRM systems should be regarded as essential extensions for any sales team expected to handle decent volumes of leads and sales. And the efficiencies delivered by cloud-based marketing platforms – particularly properly configured marketing automation systems – are also hugely beneficial. But remember: these systems do not revolutionise businesses straight out of the box. Implementation and data integrity are vital.

5) Commitment to measurement

Growth means being able to figure out what works, and then repeating it across lots of different accounts. There is no point in scaling errors and sloppy process. Therefore a commitment to measurement across all functions – but specifically with regard to sales and marketing – generally underpins meaningful business growth. Track campaigns, improve your landing pages, streamline processes. High growth companies do more of what works, and they don’t tend to repeat their mistakes.