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Strategic Growth in a Tough Economy

Use these tools to grow now

By Sandi Villarreal, Web Marketing Manager, Bizmanualz
The present economic downturn looms over the heads of business executives and their employees alike. How can you ensure your company doesn’t fall prey to the negative hype and actually grows during this economic downturn? How can you use this time to focus and develop more sustainable customer relationships to increase your customer satisfaction?


There are four basic areas of operational improvement that are necessary : a Quality Management Plan, a Value Proposition, Lead-Generation marketing, and Quality Training. These are tools you need to grow.
  • Quality Management can mean a variety of things, but it centers on achieving your vision for your company. What is your growth strategy for your company, and what tools do you have in place to get there? Quality Management can start right now with a Gap Analysis to show you the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Your improvement process can be formal, such as implementing an ISO Quality Management System. Or it can be informal and start with whatever elements you have already identified for operational improvement.

  • The benchmark for all operational improvement should be customer quality, which comes from discovering your Value Proposition. A Value Proposition is simply a statement that captures the customers’ perception of what your company does that they value. What makes you unique among your competitors? Understanding customers’ perceptions of your company—and aligning your strategy to meet those perceptions—will lead to increased customer satisfaction, the ultimate goal for any company.

  • Once you have established a Quality Management System and sharpened your understanding of your customers, what is left? Well, all that improvement should lead to increased sales and increased profit. That’s where Lead Generation comes in. You don’t want to waste time cold calling and selling to people who don’t want or need your products. Lead Generation uses what you have learned about your customer to create highly focused, customer-centric, often visual marketing campaigns. Creating a website with the right message—and proactively getting that message into your customers’ hands—means they will come to you, not vice versa.

  • So now you have established operational improvement, you have increased customer quality, and you are selling more. How do you make sure your company continues running at a high level? Quality Training enables continuous improvement throughout your company so that all of your employees are equipped to work smarter, reduce waste, and work more closely with customers. Regular Quality Training leads to an empowered workforce, buy-in across all levels, and continual improvement.
These four tools don't have to be expensive either. Implementing small process changes toward the end goal of a quality management system can exponentially improve your bottom line. And creating a value proposition, launching a relevant website, and providing training for your employees (even through free webinars or your own expertise), actually save you time and money in the long run.

For more information visit Bizmanualz' Strategic Process Implementation website, or read more informative articles on these and more management topics.

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