It’s hard to envision a more timely topic. Verne Harnish, founder of Entrepreneurs’ Organization and executive training company Gazelles, will tell NSCA BLC 2018 how to scale up their business.
[related]The dynamics of the AV integration market have changed dramatically. The largest companies at the top are imposing with large footprints and revenue 10-, 20- or 100-times small- and mid-sized competitors.
The smaller competitors that have become good at scaling up are the ones best positioned to compete with the big guys. Harnish has made a career out of coaching companies on how to scale up.
He is the founder of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and founder/CEO of Gazelles, a global executive education and coaching company. He also write a syndicated column, “Growth Guy.”
What the ‘Growth Guy’ Plans to Discuss
Harnish, having chatted with NSCA board members and executive director Chuck Wilson, about the AV integration industry, knows what he wants to tackle.
“I’m going to dig into the fundamental constraint for scaling up which is the marketing function,” he says.
Those fundamentals are likely to come down to four decisions that he says are important for company leaders to make if they truly want to scale up their businesses.
- People: Integration firms need to look internally and understand whether their employees are happy and if they are engaged in the business. Add to that, they need to feel confident that they can find enough of the right people to grow the business. That challenge is particularly tricky for the AV integration market.
- Strategy: What is the true value that your integration firm offers its customers? Integration firms need to have a clear understanding of what it is that they offer that is unique. That’s only half the battle. Your team should be able to state that market strategy simply and clearly. And, oh yeah, the strategy has to be sound enough that it’s actually driving revenue and profits.
- Execution: It’s one thing to have a strategy. It’s another to actually be able to execute it. Harnish will challenge BLC 2018 attendees on whether or not all their processes are running smoothly and without drama.
- Cash: To truly scale up, companies need to invest in their business. One of the reasons the large companies at the top of the market continue to grow is that they have cash flow that allows them to invest in growth. Does your business model generate consistent cash to fuel the growth of your business?
During BLC 2018, Harnish will deliver the opening keynote, Scaling Up, and will conduct a workshop, Strategy & Execution Habit for Peak Level Performance.
