Training Case Study

SMBs

Providing Small- to Mid-Sized Businesses with Tools to Address Growth Issues

Background

Small- to mid-size companies (SMBs), the drivers of the United States economy, face growth challenges that they sometimes don’t know how to work-through. Stakeholder interviews and conversations with owners revealed a wide range of potentially addressable needs including:

“my business is growing rapidly but I don’t have the time to step back and ensure operations and products are aligned with continued expansion”;

“our team has ideas about the brand’s potential but we need an objective perspective to choose the best path”; and

“my company’s growth has slowed but we’re not sure how to act before things get serious”.

Solutions

Starting with a focus that was ¾ growth and ¼ brand and partnering with another team that had a ¾ brand and ¼ growth focus, I co-developed The SMB Growth Acceleration Program.

A three session “boot camp” to empower SMB leaders to address growth challenges, the Program created value by balancing strategic frameworks with immediately useful ideas. Modules included: understanding what type of competencies (e.g., product innovation, customer intimacy, or operational efficiency) your business should focus on; framing your competitive set based on this categorization; addressing functional and emotional customer drivers; and selecting an achievable array of growth activities over the short- to mid-term.

I led the growth modules and my partner led the brand modules.

The well-received inaugural program was held in Chicago and provides a template for a similar or scaled-down offering elsewhere.