For Humberto Herrera, CEO of Blackwell Strategy, a company that specializes in business sales growth, today’s mid-sized businesses present serious sales challenges, stemming from age-old practices such as thinking that the vast majority of customers should come to get recommendations from other customers. .
The specialist explained that the factor that slows the growth of more than 90 percent of small and medium-sized companies today lies in their limited ability to generate new customers. There is no doubt that customer retention and growth by recommendation is not only important but vital to increasing the value of the company, but it should not be the basis of a growth strategy.
In this regard, Humberto Herrera explained that “more than 90 percent of medium-sized companies in the US, Latin America and Europe base their income on recommendations from existing customers, and this speaks of great service and satisfied customers, but it also speaks of one of their biggest weaknesses: Null strategy to effectively generate new customers. This slows down their growth significantly.”
In terms of how to generate new customers, Blackwell Strategy states that the most strategic component companies have is Social Proof, or social verification. Herrera explains that Social Proof is all the elements that contribute to the credibility of the company, such as customer testimonials, oral recommendations, testimonials, awards, mentions in the media, strong personal brand of the founders, links with reputable organizations, collaborations with organizations that support vulnerable groups, from Among other things.
When a sales team dedicated solely to developing new business is combined with a series of elements of social proof that demonstrate the company’s effectiveness and seriousness, the result is a sales system that can grow consistently in double digits year after year.
On the other hand, Daniel Marcus, CEO of the Growth Institute, based in Austin, Texas, one of the leading experts in the growth and selling of companies worldwide, explained that one of the important elements that seasoned investors analyze when it comes to acquiring a company, is the ability to Finding and closing new clients in a scalable, systematic and predictable manner.
Marcus explained that in the next 10 years, funds located in developed regions such as the United States and Europe will significantly increase the number of acquisitions of companies located in developing countries (such as Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Poland). He added that founders interested in selling their companies should keep in mind that in order to become a value target, their ventures must be fully organized and have the potential to generate new sales, not only in their home countries, but also in the more valuable and competitive global markets there.
In conclusion, Humberto Herrera shared that “The biggest challenge for businesses today is not in productivity or adaptability to change, but in the ability to drive new sales. Medium-sized businesses work with suboptimal business teams focused on maintaining relationships and retaining with assumed customers, while in reality this valuable work should be carried out by the Customer Success Management team and the company should have a dedicated team only looking for and closing new customers.”
Blackwell is a company that specializes in driving sales through Social Proof. Their clients are B2B companies that bill over $1 million annually and seek to grow their income above 20 percent annually. The firm has been advising companies in Mexico, the United States and Europe for 10 years.
