Create 3 Year Strategic Plans with Revenue Growth

Recently, Patrick Thean led our team through a Winning Moves education session.  As usual, I walked away with a million new tools in my coaching arsenal! These 3 year strategic business plans are designed to help you double your revenue in three years.  

Winning Moves are items on your 3-5 Year Plan that have the potential to double your revenue.  They are necessary to keep your growth engine going. Patrick teaches that your 3-5 Year Plan should include 2-3 Key Thrusts that are Winning Moves - items that will fuel growth, as well as 2-3 Winning Moves for Profit that are operational/infrastructure - items that will support business growth as you scale up your organization.  It's important to have both.

Every one of you is in a different place with your Winning Moves.  Some are in the middle of executing a Winning Move.  Some are just finishing up a Winning Move and looking for the next one.  Others are just getting started with brainstorming.  As good as your current strategy is, you should always be asking the question "What's next" when it comes to fueling revenue.

Here are the steps for finding your 3 Year Strategic Revenue Growth Initiatives or  Winning Moves:

Step 1: Start by brainstorming a comprehensive list of all the ways your team can think of to increase revenue.  Really push yourselves here and try to list at least 20 potential ways.  Patrick offered some ideas to jump-start the brainstorming process by considering some common patterns we have seen while working with clients on Winning Moves:

      ** What's my competition not willing to do?  Perhaps there is a pain point in your industry that no one has been brave enough to solve yet.

      ** What do our customers hate but have to put up with?  Perhaps there is a process that is standard for your industry that customers hate but have accepted.

     ** Do I have an asset or diamond in my backyard?  Perhaps there is a internal asset that has potential to be monetized.

     ** What's the biggest barrier to entry for my prospects and how can I remove it?  Perhaps removing or addressing your biggest sales objection would 2x your revenue.

     ** Are there opportunities to consider through partnership, acquisition or joint venture?  Perhaps there is a growth opportunity with just the right partner.

     ** What are some big ideas or opportunities we have discussed in the past, but not acted on?  Perhaps there is a big idea you have been hesitant to take on because of the unknown. 

Step 2: Narrow the list down to the top 5-8 ideas.  Have the team consider each idea and vote on the top three they recommend investing time and energy in considering.  Tally the votes and identify the top 6-10 ideas that have the most support.

Step 3: Evaluate and rank each of the top 5-8 ideas based on two scales, Revenue Impact and Ease.  

     *** Revenue Impact - on a scale of 1-10, what is the potential impact this move could have on revenue?  A score of 10 would indicate that this move alone could more than double your current revenue.

     *** Easy to do - on a scale of 1-10, how easy would it be to get this done?  A score of 10 would indicate that it would be very easy to execute because you already have all the expertise and resources necessary and it's synergistic with your other activities.

Step 4:  Select the few Winning Moves you want to include in your 3-5 year plan.  Obvious Winning Moves will score high on both scales, but you may also find Winning Moves that are high on Revenue Impact, but not high on Ease.  If you choose to pursue these, be sure to consider your capacity, and limit to just one or two.  If you don't have any that score high on Revenue Impact, you'll need to go back to brainstorming ideas.  Remember that by definition, a Winning Move will have the potential to double revenue over the next 3-5 years.  Your goal is to identify 2-3 Winning Moves that you want to begin to develop.  You may find that you have more potential Winning Moves that you can support at one time.  That's great!  Pick 2-3 to begin work on and keep the others on a virtual "Idea Bench".  These are ideas you don't want to lose, that you may choose to add to your plan later.

Step 5: Identify the assumptions leading you to believe the Revenue Impact and Ease rankings are accurate.  Have the team document up to 5 assumptions they are making on each idea, then allow time to use data and experience to test those assumptions.  This process allows the team to select and develop Winning Moves based on facts instead of emotion. 

These are the steps to identify the 2-3 Winning Moves you want to include in your 3-5 year plan.  Now you're ready to begin the process of developing and implementing.  As you begin to put these Winning Moves into action, it's important that you keep testing your assumptions, documenting learnings and making adjustments to the plan as you go.  Those of you using Rhythm 2 have some great Winning Moves screens to help lead you through this process! 

Interested in learning more about your 3 year strategic plan?

The CEOs Strategy-Execution Gap...And How To Fix It

Choose Your 3 Year Strategic Growth Initiatives Wisely With This 4 Step Process

5 Steps to Getting Started on 3 Year Strategic Plans with Winning Moves

Have You Validated Your 3 Year Strategic Plan?

Strong 3 Year Strategic Plans to Grow Revenue and Stay Competitive

16 Strategic Planning Tips to Keep Your Strategic Plan Alive

Don't Confuse Strategic Thinking And Strategy Execution Plans

9 Steps to a New Revenue Growth Strategy [Infographic]