Having a clear focus on the sort of customers you WANT to work with is a key ingredient in 3D businesses and new research supports this!
A new report from Deloitte highlighting the UK’s 1000 fastest growing medium-sized businesses who collectively increased their sales by £45 billion in the past 4 years shows that 60% are business-to-business organisations that operate in niche markets.
Our research suggests that 3D businesses ‘Choose ‘Em Or Lose ‘Em’! (It’s a key ingredient of 3D Characteristic #2: Think in 3D! more information here). They focus on specifically targeted types of customers and are happy to say ‘no’ to those they don’t want to work with. They ‘position’ themselves and understand that they don’t have to be loved by everyone.
What can you learn from this approach? Well, the key thing for me is about focus! These successful businesses are not trying to reach EVERYONE! They’ve clearly decided what they stand for, who they are aiming at and have focused their ‘offer’ accordingly.
So….
- Do you have a niche or a specific group of customers that you could / should focus (more) on?
- Do you know what they want / need?
- Does your ‘offer’ reflect those needs and wants?
- Are your sales and marketing efforts focused accordingly?
Interestingly, the Deloitte report also suggests that the majority of these winning businesses boast a strong visionary leader at the heart of the business, who excels at hiring and retaining the right people – That’s 3D Characteristic #1: Get That Vision Thing!
