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Tag: Positioning

Unveiling the Blueprint for Scaling Sales: Essential Insights for Business Owners

Unveiling the Blueprint for Scaling Sales: Essential Insights for Business Owners

In the dynamic realm of business growth, the journey to scaling sales is both an art and a science. Understanding the intricacies of this process is key for business owners aiming to unlock their company’s full potential. Let’s explore invaluable insights, shedding light on essential lessons for businesses looking to scale their sales successfully. 

Sales: The Core of Business Success 

At the heart of every thriving business lies a robust sales strategy. Sales are the lifeblood of any enterprise, regardless of whether it offers products or services. Without a well-defined sales engine, growth and success become challenging. 

The Science of Selling: A Delicate Balance 

Drawing parallels between the artisanal craft of baking and the science of selling, we find a delicate balance required for success. Much like precision in baking, sales demand a systematic approach. This intersection of science and art becomes the foundation for sustainable business growth. 

The Funding and Sales Conundrum: Finding the Right Mix 

A common misconception among business owners is the belief that a great product alone can propel a business to success. But a stellar product is only one half of the equation. The other half involves establishing a robust formula for commercial success, with a well-oiled sales engine driving the process. 

Navigating the Digital Evolution: Ground Presence Matters 

In an ever-evolving digital landscape, the shift from relying solely on digital platforms to find clients and customers, to the importance of establishing a physical presence is critical. Finding motivated salespeople is a global challenge, underscoring the necessity of a dedicated team on the ground to connect with customers on a personal level. 

The Secret of Selling: Understanding Your Customer 

The core of selling is understanding your customer. Instead of immediately presenting your product’s features, start by comprehending your customer’s problems and needs. Building this initial connection sets the stage for a successful sales process. 

Building a Scalable Sales Engine: The Key to Long-Term Success 

Building a scalable sales engine involves creating systems that consistently deliver on promises to customers. By prioritising the development of a reliable sales team and system, business owners can focus on growth rather than mere maintenance. 

As businesses navigate the challenges of scaling, embracing these lessons becomes a pivotal step towards sustained growth and success. Learn more in this podcast discussion on the sales engine, from The Money Show:

Nyad

Business endurance lessons from Nyad

In the dynamic landscape of business, the ability to navigate challenges and uncertainties is paramount for success. As we step into 2024, a year filled with global elections, geopolitical tensions, and economic complexities, the need for strategic planning and purpose-driven leadership is more critical than ever. Drawing inspiration from an unexpected source, Pavlo Phitidis shares his thoughts on how the world of business can glean valuable lessons from the extraordinary journey of Diana Nyad, a world record holding long distance swimmer.

Setting the Destination:

In a recent discussion on “The Money Show,” Pavlo & Bruce Whitfield, shared insights into the challenges and opportunities awaiting in 2024. Recognizing the turbulent waters ahead, Pavlo turned to a surprising source for inspiration – a movie called “Nyad.” The film follows Diana Nyad’s quest to swim from Cuba to Florida, a 100-mile journey through shark-infested waters and unpredictable conditions.

Nyad’s journey became a metaphor for setting a destination in the business world. As Pavlo noted, “Without a destination, you’re going to be swimming in circles.” In the context of business, having a clear vision and purpose is essential to guide strategic decisions and overcome obstacles.

Lessons from Nyad’s Journey:

Diana Nyad’s determination and resilience offer profound insights for business owners facing challenges. Her journey wasn’t just about conquering a physical feat; it was driven by a deep purpose to achieve something remarkable. A key takeaway from the movie is the importance of defining a destination and building a team around that shared goal.

Pavlo emphasizes, “Destination matters.” Without a clear vision, businesses risk swimming aimlessly, unable to attract the right talent and resources. The parallel drawn between Nyad’s swim and business ownership highlights the significance of planning, teamwork, and unwavering commitment.

Team Collaboration: Nyad’s success wasn’t a solo effort. Behind her remarkable achievement were a coach, a navigator, a nutritionist, and a team dedicated to her vision. In the business world, Pavlo draws parallels to successful entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs. Each of them began with a vision, assembling teams that shared their passion and commitment.

Dealing with Failure: The conversation delves into the fear of failure, acknowledging that failure is often seen as a black mark. However, the lesson from Nyad’s journey and the experiences of renowned inventors like Thomas Edison is that persistence and relentless pursuit of a goal lead to success.

Purpose Beyond Fame: One notable aspect of Nyad’s story is her pursuit of a greater purpose beyond fame or fortune. As Phitidis observes, “Diana Nyad never did what she did to be famous.” This echoes the idea that a business should be driven by a purpose that goes beyond financial success, leaving a lasting impact on the world.

As we navigate the business obsctacles of 2024, the lessons from Diana Nyad’s extraordinary swim resonate deeply. Setting a destination, building a committed team, embracing failure as part of the journey, and finding purpose beyond personal gain are crucial elements for enduring success in the business world. Let Nyad’s journey inspire business leaders, to swim with purpose and resilience, overcoming challenges to reach their desired destinations.

Elite Business: The six phases of business leadership to deliver your legacy

Elite Business: The six phases of business leadership to deliver your legacy

In this article, originally featured in Elite Business: To create wealth as a business owner, you need to change how and what you lead over time.


Wealth creation is a strategy, not luck. As a business owner, embracing change is vital to remain relevant, grow, and win in a noisy and competitive market. It’s essential to wealth creation.

Across your lifespan as a business owner, how you lead your business determines your wealth creation outcome. As your company grows, how you lead and direct it must change to ensure it becomes your greatest wealth-generating asset. 

Using a framework against which to know when and how to change the way you lead a business is helpful. I’ve noticed six distinct shifts in leadership attention and direction that enable the likelihood that your business and career generate wealth and a legacy.

Positioning growth leadership

This is about understanding what business you are in defined not by your product or service but by who you serve, what problem your product or service solves for them and what the ideal engagement experience would be to favour your business above competitors. When you start, it’s about serving anyone and everyone in your industry. It ends when you can prioritise less than a handful of segments you want to dominate in the future. This engagement experience includes how to market, sell, fulfill and retain your customers and forms the blueprint of your business model.

Organic growth leadership

Once we know what business we are in and who our customer segments are, the next phase of leadership centres on scaling your customer engagement and fulfilment system using the blueprint. Put differently, it is about building commercial processes and systems, which you can delegate to a team that will create a reliable, consistent customer experience. Getting this right is vital to release your time from daily operations to deliver the next phase of leadership growth.

Accelerated growth leadership

At this point, at least 70% of your attention should focus on accelerating your growth to dominate your segments by deepening your market share of the segments you have chosen to dominate. For example, if a furniture manufacturer decides to dominate the SOHO segment, calculate its approximate value and ensure you develop and enable market access strategies, campaigns and relationships that deepen your market share.

Next-level growth leadership

As you deepen your share of the segment you’ve defined your business against, the next phase of leadership is about de-risking your exposure to that segment and deepening your profitability. In my book, Sweat-Scale-Sell, I highlight the trickiness of this phase of leadership through the story of Jack the Baker. 

Having positioned his business to solve the requirement of 365-fresh-baked-goods for continental breakfast to hotels, he created the ideal experience with his team to dominate this segment in the hospitality industry. His next-level growth play saw him translate the same proposition into the supermarket segment across food retail to solve the problem of morning trade. 

It brought in a new source of revenue that could be serviced off his scalable fulfilment platform, necessitating only a moderate cost increase. The “yawn” between revenue and costs dropped down to the bottom line and a significant shift in profitability. The key to next-level growth is that leveraging your fulfilment platform solves the same problem. It was and remains the blueprint against which his brand, commercial system and team had become expert at delivering. 

Capital growth leadership

This phase ensures you lock in your business value for a successful capital exit. From start to exit, over a 20–30-year period, a business built and led against the above framework should achieve a capital exit above £50m. 

Yes, it is possible, and you can do it. I’ve seen this year in and out across the UK, USA and EU companies. Retiring in the sun by the sea is for the birds, bringing us to the final phase of leadership.  

Legacy growth leadership

The opportunity to create a Family Office to house the capital gained from an exit is worth considering. Set aside a portion of the funds within your Family Office to invest in a few early-stage companies within the industry in which you have successfully built your now-former business. You will have the network and relationships to spot young winners who benefit from your knowledge, insight, relationships, and mentorship. Investing in them can keep you in the game at a strategic level, not a daily grind, and allow you to remain relevant and enjoy a life of purpose and meaning. 

Wealth has three elements: Make money, the first 2 phases; Grow money – the subsequent 2 phases. And Protect money, the last 2 phases. Having a plan to make it happen is as important as enacting it. It will set you apart from the 94.6% of businesses started that ultimately close. It will also let you continue serving humankind, arguably a key to a rich, fulfilling and contended life.

Positioning Your Business for Success: A Blueprint for Standing Out in the Marketplace

Positioning Your Business for Success: A Blueprint for Standing Out in the Marketplace

In the ever-changing landscape of business, where startups can skyrocket or vanish overnight, the journey from small business owner to industry veteran is nothing short of remarkable. What should you do when you’ve built a successful business over two, three, or four decades? Should you retire, or should you continue running the show until the end?

The Power of Positioning

Positioning transcends mere marketing—it’s the cornerstone upon which your business is constructed. It shapes your business’s identity, moulds its culture and values, and, when executed effectively, propels revenue and capital growth. To secure a competitive edge, business owners must understand their fundamental positioning and use them as a strategic guide to success.

Defining Your Purpose

Your business’s purpose is more than merely generating profits; it revolves around problem-solving. To unearth your genuine purpose, think about  your skills, aptitudes, and interests Start by identifying the problem you aspire to resolve, its cost to your customers, and the impact it has on their lives. Your purpose should revolve around addressing this problem effectively.

Shaping Your Products or Services

Once you’ve ascertained your purpose, it’s time to craft products or services that harmonise with it. Instead of starting with what you can offer, initiate your journey with the problem you’re resolving. This method ensures that your offerings are relevant and invaluable to your target audience. A profound understanding of the problem’s cost empowers you to set the appropriate pricing strategy and generate added value for your clients.

Crafting a Memorable Customer Experience

Your business’s purpose and offerings should organically lead to an exceptional customer experience. This experience transcends a mere transaction; it revolves around your interactions with customers. When your purpose and offerings resonate with your clients, they will feel understood and valued. This, in turn, paves the way for positive engagement and word-of-mouth marketing, thus creating a potent cycle of growth.

The Art of Saying Yes and No

Discerning when to say yes and when to say no is one of the most intricate aspects of positioning. In the early phases of business, saying yes to every opportunity is a common tactic to maintain positive cash flow. However, as you acquire a deeper understanding of your purpose and problem-solving capabilities, you must learn to decline opportunities that do not align with your positioning strategy. This discernment is pivotal for sustaining your focus and establishing a robust brand.

Positioning your business for success involves grasping your purpose, aligning your products or services with that purpose, and delivering an unforgettable customer experience. By concentrating on these components and mastering the art of saying yes or no, you can differentiate your business from the competition and establish a distinct and compelling position in the marketplace.

To listen to the full discussion from the show:

How you position your business determines your ability to grow.

How you position your business determines your ability to grow.

Pavlo recently had a valuable conversation that highlighted the common challenges faced by many business owners. One crucial aspect that determines the effectiveness of your business in terms of competition, scalability, growth, and industry dominance is how you position it.

Here’s the context: the business in question deals with second-generation door and window frames, and it has been operating for three generations. The owners have been blindly loyal to their suppliers, but they are experiencing a decrease in customer loyalty. Additionally, they are grappling with an aging workforce and the absence of apprenticeships and artisanal skill development.

The business has hit a growth ceiling, and what makes matters more pressing is the fact that the average age of competitors across the industry is approaching 61. This poses a challenge as the business needs to grow to combat inflation and secure retirement and pensions for the third generation, who are constantly uncertain about the future.

The owners are aware of what needs to be done to foster growth, but they find themselves lacking the time to dedicate to it. Their daily, weekly, and monthly operations are the center of their attention.

To overcome these challenges, the resolution lies in repositioning the business. The following steps should be taken:

  1. Position: Clearly define the business and its core focus. Determine precisely who you serve, and what experience you provide in delivering your solution to them.
  2. Build a system of delivery that codifies every action and step that enables that delivery, consistently.
  3. Do it with your team: Acknowledging that growth cannot be achieved alone, they engaged their team in the decision-making process. By leveraging collective knowledge and expertise, they instilled a sense of ownership and commitment, inspiring everyone to work towards a shared goal.
  4. Release your time: Recognizing the value of the business owner’s time, they delegated and automated tasks that could be handled by others. This freed up time for the owner to focus on growth strategies, explore new opportunities, and build connections with industry leaders.

As the business owner, you need to ask yourself, “What is your job”? In our door and window frame company example, the business owners shifted from being immersed in daily operations to becoming leaders. Guiding and inspiring the team towards achieving growth objectives became their primary focus. To get this right, take a leaf out of their playbook:

  1. Start: What business are you in? Revisiting their core purpose, they identified the specific niche within the door and window frame industry where they aimed to excel. This allowed them to differentiate themselves and concentrate efforts on areas with the greatest growth potential.
  2. Build – create a chassis to support growth: By decoding what they did and how, they established a solid foundation to develop apprenticeships and skill development initiatives to attract and nurture new talent, ensuring a sustainable workforce for the future.
  3. Grow and lead it: The business owner took the lead as the driving force behind the company’s growth. Actively seeking expansion opportunities, exploring strategic partnerships, and embracing innovation became their mantra to stay ahead of the competition.
  4. Sell and package it: Understanding the value of their business, and with a system and team in place that showed potential buyers the sustainability and growth trajectory, the owners have built the business into an asset that functions without them in it, and thus can be succeeded or sold.

Positioning your business effectively is crucial for competition, growth, and industry dominance. The experiences and challenges faced by this door and window frame company underscore the significance of strategic decision-making, fostering a growth-oriented culture, and adapting to changing market dynamics.

To listen to the full discussion from the show:

This Week@Work: Create opportunities through business development

This Week@Work: Create opportunities through business development

This Week@Work Pavlo went to play in the traffic, to make a point about actively hunting for business, rather than passively waiting for it to come to you.

Business Development is more than marketing or sales and it allows us to see the opportunities in the market, which you can’t see if you’re simply waiting for the phone to ring.

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2 halves of a business

This Week@Work: A brilliant product or service is only half of the business

This Week@Work Pavlo met with a business owner who has a brilliant product that genuinely competes with the best in their industry. But a product only exists for one reason – to solve a problem for someone. The team and commercial system that allows people to find, use and want more of the product is the 2nd half the business.

Watch as Pavlo discusses this idea of 2 parts of a business.

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