The Growth Metrics articles are the first step in getting into the public domain this invaluable information about how to more effectively grow a business.

Welcome to the first in my Growth Metrics series of articles, which I hope will help point you to ways you can grow your business and just as importantly, enjoy the process. I'll share my experiences and insights from working with a wide range of clients, illustrated with practical examples of strategies that have been proved to work.

In this, the second article in the Growth Metrics series, we look at addressing challenges and how to effect change.

Think about your dream home. What are the characteristics that make it a great house (or apartment, or mud-brick eco-dwelling – whatever your fantasy…)? Chances are it has these four things

Do you remember the seesaws of your childhood playground? The thrill of being able to send your seesaw partner up into the air with ease?  Seesaws are often our earliest experience of the power of levers – the simple machines that make work easier by reducing effort.

Brand is far more than a symbol, name or tagline.
Brand encapsulates the essence of a person or business - hence being often referred to as ‘business DNA’. DNA makes us who we are, it is inextricably linked with our purpose and higher context and comes from the sum of our experiences in life.

What is a product? Many people think of it as a physical, tangible thing, something we can see, feel, touch or taste. They distinguish ‘products’ from ‘services’, the tangible from the intangible. I take a different view.

When a business can clearly articulate customer value, and has an in-depth understanding of costs (in goods and time), it can determine the margin it makes on each and every product.

No man is an island – nor is a business.

No business can thrive alone – all need interaction with other organisations, as suppliers, partners and channels.

Brand starts with communication and is followed through with a good sales process.

In this article we explore the differences in a push-led vs. pull-led sales strategy and explore the outcomes and key principles of both.

The 80/20 rule, or Pareto Principle, says that 80% of the outcome is generated by 20% of the activity.

For businesses to be able to grow they need to have solid foundations. In my earlier article ‘The business of building and building a business’ , I likened the foundations of a business to the foundations of a building. 

If you build a house or apartment block, the size of the building will determine the depth of your foundations – and it’s the same in business; the bigger the business you want to build, the deeper and more solid the foundations you need.

In this, the 11th article in my Growth Metrics series, we’ll take a look at the first two of these foundations – time and resource and business model. We’ll then explore the others in the next article.