Empowering Growth: The Journey from PowerPoint to P&L

Introduction:

In today's dynamic business landscape, organizations constantly strive to unlock new avenues for growth and profitability. The path from wielding power to generating sustainable growth that positively impacts the P&L statement is often riddled with challenges and uncertainties. This blog aims to shed light on the critical steps involved in this transformative journey, enabling businesses to identify unmet needs, align with their vision, and paint a clear picture of their path to success.

1. Visualize the Problem: Clearly Define the Problem Statement

To embark on the journey towards sustainable growth, it is crucial first to visualize the problem. This involves clearly defining the problem statement, focusing on three vital aspects: new customer acquisition, customer retention, and profitable growth. Businesses can effectively address the root causes hindering their progress by pinpointing the challenges.

2. Add Color to the Visual: Identifying Unmet Needs

To enrich the visualization of the problem, businesses must gather and analyze data from internal and external sources. This step involves identifying internal data and exploring external sources related to the industry, category, vertical, etc. By connecting the dots between these data points, organizations can pinpoint unmet needs in the market, laying the groundwork for innovative solutions.

3. Connect Company Vision to the Opportunity: Strategic Intent and Economic Model

Aligning the company's vision with the identified opportunity is the key to setting the right direction for growth. Developing a strategic intent that aligns with the company's vision lays the foundation for the economic model. Utilizing data to create an economic (financial) model that serves the strategic intent helps understand the market's potential and the company's fair share.

4. Paint a Clear Picture: Identifying Key Differentiators and Addressing Gaps

Now that the vision and economic model are in place, businesses must paint a clear picture of the solution.

Steps involve:

• Restate the problem statement with a focus on customers

• Analyzing how the industry and the company currently address the problem

• Identifying key differentiators that remain untapped

• Aligning strategic intent with the economic model

• Consider the opportunity cost. This helps to rank the initiatives for competing priorities.

Additionally, businesses must identify and address the gaps that must be filled to offer the new solution successfully. This includes addressing internal capacity and resource gaps and anticipating potential external adoption challenges.

5. Layout the Execution Plan: Customer-Centric Approach

• Start with the CUSTOMER: This will help communicate the WHY

• Layout customer-centric KPIs vs. current internal or external measures: This will help communicate WHAT

  • Find a unit of measure that bridges the gap between customer expectations and known industry KPIs.

• Avoid Revenue, GP, OI, etc., as a unit of measure. 

• Identify core team: no more than 6-8 employees + BETA group (2 Pizza rule: if you can't feed the team with two Pizza, you have too many team members involved): This will help communicate WHO

  • Each team member is an SMEs (Subject Matter Expert) in their field and has complete autonomy to lead in that capacity.

• Layout ongoing working and reporting structure: This will help identify HOW

  • PDCA: Plan, DO, Act, and Check at each stage of the process to make the process fluid without losing focus on the CUSTOMER

  • If feasible, Involve CUSTOMER at the "C - Check" stage to ensure the solution aligns with customer expectations.

6. Launch Plan: Communicating the Solution

As the solution takes shape, businesses must communicate it effectively to the target audience. Articulating the problem and the corresponding solution clearly is crucial. Emphasizing a singular message that aligns with the chosen unit of measure helps reinforce how the solution benefits the CUSTOMER.

Additionally, businesses should identify all communication platforms where customers interact, paying particular attention to often overlooked channels such as customer service or inside sales teams.

7. Post-Project Audit: The Key to Sustained Success

The post-project audit is an often overlooked but vital aspect of the entire journey. Aligning with the PDCA methodology, this stage involves "A - Adjust" as part of the solution's lifecycle. It signifies that the process doesn't end at the launch, but continuous improvement and adaptation are crucial for sustained success.

Conclusion:

The journey from PowerPoint to P&L statement requires a well-structured approach and a customer-centric mindset. By visualizing the problem, connecting the company's vision to the opportunity, and laying out a clear execution plan, businesses can navigate the challenges and unlock new avenues for growth and profitability. Emphasizing a singular message, embracing the post-project audit, and staying agile in the face of change will ensure sustainable success in the competitive business landscape.