Growing up, I spent a lot of time watching baseball. My brother was a very good left handed pitcher and my Dad was his Coach for a lot of his time on the field. He was recruited and ended up playing for team Canada and went on scholarship to Duquesne University in PA.

When I think about it, there were many lessons I can equate to business growth- in the language of baseball. “Swinging for the fences”, home runs that capture huge sales increases that will dramatically increase the size of a business. Growth is often thought of only in big-dollar terms, breakthroughs such as the creation of a new business model, the development of a breakthrough products, a mega-merger or a world-changing new technology.

When it comes to growth, leaders often think they need to “break the paradigm”; they worry about double digit growth, it is all or nothing. A single or double just doesn’t seem good enough.

I have talked to hundreds of leaders over the years who believe this, and many of them are frustrated. They are struggling and feel a great sense of pressure to come up with the big ideas, and often, to extend the baseball metaphor, they swing and miss. Or worse, they don’t even swing, failing to proceed because the risk is too great.

For many, growth is about home runs. While that is attractive and perceived as the most lucrative, home runs don’t happen all the time and frequently come in cycles. Products like Apple may be a once in a decade phenomena.

A surer and more consistent path to profitable revenue growth is through “singles and doubles” – small day-to-day wins and adaptation to changes in the marketplace that build a foundation for sustainably increasing revenue growth, but are in fact, the foundation for home runs. Singles and doubles provide the discipline of execution, an absolute necessity for successfully bringing a breakthrough technology to market or implementing a new business model.

In this way of thinking is the idea that growth is everyone’s business- not solely the concern of the sales force or top management. Just as everyone participates in cost reduction, so must everyone be engaged in the growth agenda of the business. Every contact of each employee with a customer is an opportunity for revenue growth. Including everyone from people working in a company’s call centre handing customer inquiries all the way to major industry trends coming to the attention of the CEO.

For more than 20 years, I have been observing day in and day out. I have developed strategies for solving the profitable revenue growth dilemma facing many businesses and are based on seeing what works in real time. They are ideas that have been tested across industries and that deliver results. Inside The Prosperity Program, my clients see the difference building a clear and consistent strategy makes, they focus on the 4 disciples of execution daily.

I tend to see Aha’s happen when I take a curious approach and ask discovery questions a certain way with leaders. To get them to take a fresh look at fundamentals and their importance to sustained revenue growth, I have in one-on-one meetings, ask- on a scale of one to ten- questions like:

• What are you doing to help your customers know what is unique about your business?
• What are you doing to help your people prosper?
• In every client interaction, how well do your people extract information important to the customer?

It often comes as a revelation to many people I work with that revenue growth is not just the domain of the specialists- the sales force in charge of product development for example. Just as in baseball, where everyone on the team has the potential ability to hit a single or a double, in business, everyone- from the CEO to the front and back end of the business- has an opportunity to increase revenues. And, in fact people who do not occupy the executive suit have a big vested interest in doing do. Without growth, personal opportunity is a zero-sum game, that is, for me to win, someone else in the company (usually) has to lose. With growth, people can build a career and a future with a company they have faith in.

You can follow a more effective growth process, one based on “singles and doubles” that will enable you to increase revenues sustainably. One of the most important factors in growth is building on a solid foundation and as you have likely heard me say before “ consistency pays dividends.” When athletes build their foundation, they do so in sprints, they build their strength over time, not overnight.

There are companies whose strategy is at a crossroads. And, there are industries in which the current business model is obsolete. Even in these cases, singles and doubles provide the foundation for making the necessary change to keep them in the game.

Are you ready to explore the benefits, blunders, and breakthroughs of building a successful business with your partner in prosperity? Just as I used to cheer my big brother on as he threw the ball over the plate, I am happy to cheer you on as well. I believe you are creative, capable, wise and good. The world needs your gifts.
It is time to step into your prosperous life.

What you think is possible, is just the beginning. 

I work with highly educated, growth minded, action takers who are serious about their success. Bringing their dreams and passion together, we are actioning on focused plans and welcoming them into their new prosperous reality.

A recognized authority on the psychology of performance, negotiations and organizational turnaround. I have served as an advisor to thousands of individuals and organizations around the world for more than 20 years. Nominated in 2020, 2021, 2022 for RBC Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, Won 2022 Oakville Beaver Readers’ Choice Award for Best Business Consulting Service, Won 2020 & 2022 Productivity & Profitability Impact Consultant of the Year (Ontario) by Corporate Vision and have also been named Influence Magazine 100 Authority. Nominated for the 2023 Compassionate Leaders Circle Awards.

Here is to partnering in possibility and to you achieving your 2023 goals. Learn more about The Prosperity Program, what is included and what results you can expect.
Book in your discovery call today and let’s get started.

This week over on my Facebook Business Page we will be talking about Planning. Be sure to join the 2600+ amazing professionals who are part of the JCC Facebook Community where you’ll find a ton of useful insights, tips, and original content that is sure to help you succeed! Click here to join.