Dear Manufacturing Leaders,
If you’re tired of witnessing fluctuating results and aspire to achieve robust growth independent of economic shifts, here’s a roadmap to adapt your revenue strategy. In the ever-changing economic landscape, designing a revenue strategy that defies the circumstances is crucial. Despite substantial commercial investments, only one out of ten manufacturers successfully grows revenue and margin when the economy is in flux.
I am Olivier Dallemagne, and for over twenty years, I have had the privilege of advising senior leaders on their revenue strategy in the manufacturing sector, including numerous champions of resilient growth such as CRH, Holcim-Lafarge, Kingspan, Solvay, Bekaert, Michelin, Forvia, Cargill, or Puratos.
What Prevents Robust Growth?
Despite significant commercial investments: nine out of ten company’s experience declining volumes or contracting margins when the economy changes (source:BCG).
This indicates that their efforts are not yielding the desired outcomes.
The most commonly observed problems fall into five categories: 👇🏻
- Lack of a clear growing profit source: Pursuing multiple growth opportunities without a standout performer.
- Low yield from the commercial approach: Lagging behind top performers in margin per commercial.
- Price alignment downward: Succumbing to increased price competition and lowering prices.
- Lack of revenue recurrence: A significant portion of customers are one-off, requiring constant acquisition efforts.
- Inefficient team efforts: Individual efforts not synergizing into an effective collective game.
Where to Be Instead?
Imagine achieving 30% organic growth in a declining market like CRH, or realize price premiums in sustainable materials as Klöchner did. Picture joining the 14% of companies expanding margins and revenues by adopting a resilient strategy that anticipates and adapts to economic changes.
Why Now?
There has never been a more critical time for a resilient revenue strategy, given three unprecedented economic shifts:
- The need to finance the accelerating ecological transition, driven by regulators, particularly in Europe.
- The necessity to re-earn customers’ willingness-to-pay due to deflation.
The digital acceleration pushing competitors and customers towards extreme precision in sales and pricing
5 Actions for Exceptional Growth ✨
- Identify Ideal Customers:Identify and target high-growth customers confidently, those likely to deliver 30% growth even in downturns. By understanding their economic interests upfront, our clients sidestep the risk of underserving by fear of wrong selection. Utilizing dashboards for real-time data analysis, they merge customer and transactional data with market insights to accurately locate growth opportunities and predict outcomes.
- High Stakes Sales Engagement:Direct efforts to high-stakes clients with an economically advantageous proposition. Unlike many sales teams, our clients efficiently convert efforts, boosting business by up to 30% and creating economic advantages for customers while cutting commercial costs by half compared to competitors.
- Proactively Anchor Pricing. Tom Nagle’s research at University of Chicago indicates that proactive pricing often hits target prices, unlike B2B firms that adjust reactively to demands or competition. Our clients’ variety of budget options usually steers customers towards higher-priced choices.
4. Lock in Recurring Revenues. Here’s how my most clients in manufacturing achieve this: Act to be specified repeatedly for similar products e.g. by architects, or initiate a subscription from the first sale, enabling clients to enhance outcomes related to the use of their products.
5. Systemize for Robust Commercial Growth. A strong commercial engine requires the convergence of several elements: the right people, precise targets, proper ambition, effective on-the-job guidance, and the appropriate tools. When these align, exceptional and sustainable growth occurs. Yet, many manufacturers operate in silos, and the absence of a comprehensive system hinders robust growth. RGConsultants’ clients employ a blueprint that integrates strategy, people enablement, IT revenue systems, and workflows for every transaction.
Case Study. 📊 PAI Partners bought an airport lighting firm for €208M, sold it for €910M four years later, creating €700M+ in value. The EBITDA soared from €21M to €94M, thanks to refined revenue strategies and improved management of direct and indirect sales, driven by five core action levers.
Interested in Learning More?
If you’re interested in an informal discussion on how to succeed with your revenue strategy, feel free to contact me at 🚀
olivier.dallemagne@rgconsultants.be or +32 493 900 481.
Let’s navigate the complexities of the manufacturing landscape together and pave the way for resilient and exceptional growth.
Best regards,
Olivier Dallemagne CEO & Owner, Resilient Growth Consultants