The One Thing Every Entrepreneur Should Do to Accelerate Growth

The search for the one thing every entrepreneur should do to accelerate growth is critical in view of the plethora of strategies, tools, and quick fixes available on the internet. Being an entrepreneur begins with starting a business. But creating and sustaining growth for the business is, by far, a big challenge to entrepreneurship. Understanding the right things to do, and doing them consistently keeps many entrepreneurs awake all night. To develop the discipline of doing the “Right Things” is by far the most important discipline for entrepreneurial growth. It is also a key factor that separates successful entrepreneurs from the average. The trouble is; many people do not understand the one thing every entrepreneur should do to accelerate growth, even though it is not a secret.

Business strategies can be meaningless if they do not align with, and support your value propositions. For instance; investing in technology that does not improve quality, or speeds up delivery of your value propositions is meaningless.

Nkem Mpamah

Understanding the one thing every entrepreneur should do to accelerate growth

Popular opinion suggests that attracting and retaining ideal customers is the most important task entrepreneurs should focus on. While that is crucial to entrepreneurial success, it is often not the one thing every entrepreneur should do to accelerate growth. Attracting the ideal customer is great, but, creating products and services that meet the customers’ needs trumps everything else entrepreneurs do. Focusing on value creation, therefore, is the one thing every entrepreneur must do to grow; and in this post, I refer to it as focusing on Value Propositions.

In Understanding who the entrepreneur is, a section in my previous post; I explained that entrepreneurs are coordinators of the economic system. Why not? Because. entrepreneurs take resources from a lower level of economic activity to a higher level of productivity and yield; they do so through a value creation process. Notwithstanding the role money plays in business, value creation is the whole essence of entrepreneurship and the primary focus of the business.

Attracting the ideal customer is great, but, creating products and services that meet the customers’ needs trumps everything else entrepreneurs do.

Value Proposition: the one thing every entrepreneur should do to accelerate growth

In the past decade of coaching successful entrepreneurs and CEOs, I get asked about the one thing every entrepreneur should do to accelerate growth. Take note of the question; “…the one thing…,” not “10 Things” or “Strategies to Grow a Business.” 

In a bid to grow, entrepreneurs perform several activities. They get involved in marketing, search for funding, staff hiring, record keeping, leadership, and a lot more. There is no doubt, entrepreneurs work hard, but only a few of them focus on continuously enhancing their value propositions; even though that is the one thing every entrepreneur should do to accelerate growth. Value propositions are the promises, solutions, or benefits that entrepreneurs bring to the marketplace. Entrepreneurs create value propositions by producing goods and services that satisfy customers. By doing so, they fulfill the Core Purpose of entrepreneurship.

Also, value propositions define a company’s business model and the various elements that make up the business. For example; value propositions drive decisions about the type of customer to acquire, the relationships to keep with the customer, and the choice of distribution channels. The value propositions of business impact the decisions about who the key suppliers and partners are; they also determine the key activities that must be taken daily and the cost and revenue structures of the business.

How to focus on your Value Propositions

A good value proposition is central to entrepreneurial growth and results in a better competitive advantage for the business. But entrepreneurs must be willing to make the necessary changes to ensure that their products and services satisfy the customer.

Making necessary changes do not always mean creating new products or services. You can make changes in your existing value propositions and how you offer them. For example; you can improve the quality of an existing offering by minimizing errors and ensuring they meet your customers’ needs; you can also improve speed by cutting down the time it takes to respond to your customers’ requests. Customers need to see you as dependable, and delivering exactly what you promise is a great way to demonstrate that. Also, you need to develop flexibility; the ability to change how you do things or respond to unexpected requests from customers. Finally, it is important that your pricing model is fair.

Conclusion

The point is, an entrepreneurial business is said to grow only when its value propositions are accepted by customers. To achieve such an objective, entrepreneurs need to innovate continuously as their markets evolve. Sadly, most SME entrepreneurs see innovation as the ‘big boys’ game. They want to accelerate growth but lack the courage to think differently and better their products and services. In today’s turbulent business environments, no one can accelerate growth in isolation of offering innovative value propositions. Products and services must be relevant to market needs; otherwise, customers will not accept them.

Have you considered why a company like Apple introduce new versions of iPhones to the market every 18 months? Why does the company not promote the iPhone 4 or lesser versions? The answer is obvious; investment in a value proposition that does no longer add value to the market is useless. To accelerate growth, entrepreneurs need to focus on enhancing their value propositions continuously.

The point is, an entrepreneurial business is said to grow only when its value propositions are accepted by customers. To achieve such an objective, entrepreneurs need to innovate continuously as their markets evolve.

When it comes to implementing business growth strategies, most entrepreneurs focus on the wrong things. While investing in strategies to accelerate growth is crucial, entrepreneurs must ensure that such strategies contribute to their value propositions. Business strategies can be meaningless if they do not align with, and support your value propositions. For instance; investing in technology that does not improve quality, or speeds up delivery of your value propositions is meaningless. Likewise, investing in the best marketing strategy without upgrading your value propositions is majoring in the wrong things.

If you want to get beyond talking about growing your business, and start taking the exact actions that could create the results you seek, why not schedule a “Growth Strategy Session” with me, right now? Don’t worry, the fee will be on me.