Every business dreams of growth, but without a clear business growth plan, it’s easy to wander aimlessly in a sea of competitors. A well-crafted growth plan is your organization’s game plan for boosting revenue—whether that’s expanding into new markets, adding products, or finding untapped customer bases. However, a growth plan is only part of the puzzle. The secret sauce? Aligning it with a sharp strategy that sets you apart. Let’s dive into how you can grow smarter, not harder, and craft the perfect blueprint for success. 

What is a Growth Plan? 

A growth plan is your organization’s way to increase revenue. That’s it. It’s not a complicated concept, but people tend to get hung up on the word “growth” and apply it to all areas of the business: products, physical office footprint, employees, strategy, and more. In fact, other sources on the internet have mixed opinions as to what a growth plan is. At Stratavize, we keep it simple. A growth plan is how your organization will increase revenue.  

Concepts for business growth may include: 

  • Mergers 
  • Acquisitions 
  • Adding products 
  • Expanding territory 
  • Adding new customer segments 

When we build a growth plan, we’re focused on what is going to bring money to your organization: more ticket sales, new product lines, finding new customers to sell to, expanding to a new part of the country, etc.  

A cartoon image of increasing stacks of gold coins with the words "increased revenue" build up to the far right, where a business executive stands at the top holding a flag saying "growth plan."

So, What’s a Strategy? 

While a growth plan talks specifically about increasing revenue, a strategy differentiates your organization from all the competitors. This is the document that clearly outlines what your organization will and will not do.  Let’s imagine your company finds success in creating duplicates of famous fragrances (you might have heard of them referred to as “dupes” or “knockoffs”). Your growth plan may be to start selling dupes in European markets – that’s a way to increase revenue. You will NOT be creating proprietary or original fragrances because your strategy is to make only duplicates.  

Options to enhance the strategy (making dupes) might include: 

  • Price changes 
  • Quality improvements 
  • Enhancements to manufacturing 

Ways An Organization Competes

An organization can only compete in a few ways. That could be best Customer Experience (think Chick- Fil-A, after all they sell deep fried chicken), Price (think IKEA), Innovative Products (think Tesla), Operational Excellence (think Amazon), or Unique Product (think United Way – yes, nonprofits compete in the market for donor dollars, therefore, they must have a clear strategy that sets them apart from other nonprofits).   

It’s how an organization molds these options into a clear strategy. 

A cartoon image depicting a businessman standing apart from the crowd. A light labeled "strategy" illuminates him. The label across the man says, "differentiation."

Do I Need a Growth Plan or a Strategy? 

Sometimes, businesses require assistance in developing both, but you likely aren’t looking for a growth plan if you don’t have a good strategy in place already. You may be wondering, however, how to identify which features you already have in place and how to ask for the help you need. We can help with that!  

You are searching for a growth plan if you hear your team asking: 

  • What are the questions we’re supposed to be asking? (Meta, we know…) 
  • Who do we serve? 
  • What do they need? 
  • Why do we exist? 
  • What is our purpose? 
  • What business are we really in? 
  • What do we need to plan for? 
  • What are our ways to win? 
  • How do we grow? 

You are in need of a strategy if you hear your team asking: 

  • What is our strategy compared to our competitors? 
  • What are we doing that’s different? 
  • How do we drive this work? 
  • What do we need to chance to reach success? 
  • Are we ready to adapt if needed? 

Don’t Forget the Strategic Plan! 

Now you know what you do – and how to grow it – the question is: how do you accomplish all of this? The answer lies in a strategic plan. Your company’s strategic plan is the road map to executing a new growth plan and implementing strategy. The strategic plan lays out all the key pillars (or buckets or silos) of work and identifies the goals, objectives, outcomes, and metrics. A strategic plan is meant to guide the work. 

Your Next Steps for Growth 

By developing a sound growth plan, knowing your strategy, and using a strategic plan to outline the work, how you’ll get things done, and how you’ll measure success, you’ll be well on the way towards increasing revenue and setting your organization up for lasting success. 

It’s a critical part of any business’s Business Strategy – and we say “Business” with a capital B to differentiate from the noun, “business.” This is your company’s method to align towards a shared mission, develop strategies and strategic plans that help you achieve your goals, and facilitate change that everyone buys-in to with enthusiasm and optimism. A solid business strategy helps position your organization for growth and sets you apart from the competition. Business Strategy is just one part of our four-part process in the Stratavize Transformation Model. When you activate all parts of the model, you’ll see Whole Systems Change: everything improves together.  

Are you ready to dive into a growth plan to improve your business strategy? Request a consultation now

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