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Top 4 Reasons for Stalled Revenue Growth

Updated: Oct 21, 2024


Growth stalled after years of acceleration?

Research* points to 4 primary causes...


...within management's control.


__________________


First, the research observations...


13% of growth stalls are external factors

• Regulatory

• Economic

• Geopolitical

• Labor market


87% of growth stalls are within mgmt's control

• 70% #Strategic


Of that 87% in mgmt's control,

here are the top 4 themes...

__________________


1️⃣ 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗜𝗨𝗠 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗦

• Failure to respond to disruptors

or a shift in customer preferences


𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳...

→ Disdain for 'upcoming' competitors

→ Denial that disruption threats exist

→ Rationalizing away new customer needs

__________________


2️⃣ 𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗢𝗩𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗦

• A failure to update existing products/services

or a failure to launch new products/services


𝗢𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲...

→ Unaccountably slow product development

→ Inconsistent or overly decentralized R&D

→ Lack of innovation vision or strategy

__________________


3️⃣ 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧

• Failure to fully exploit core business growth,

diversifying too soon, weakening core strength


𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝘀...

→ Belief that one's core market is saturated

→ Misreading operational friction as market friction

→ A competitor displaces the you in the core area

__________________


4️⃣ 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗕𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗛 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗙𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗦

• Lack of leaders and supporting staff

with both skills & values for strategy execution


𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵...

→ Lack of investment in talent dev

→ Echo chamber of internal lifers

→ Poor integration of external talent

→ Key talent leaves the org

__________________


Discuss with your exec leadership team

which of the following is most likely

the cause of growth stalls

either...

...currently experienced stalls

...greatest risk to cause stalls

__________________


🟩🟩🟩 ACTION 🟩🟩🟩


If you're a #CEO, #COO, or #CRO

and want help unblocking or avoiding


▶️ REACH OUT ◀️


...and we can discuss how to break through

with clear, credible, structured approaches.





*Research by Olson & van Bever, Stall Points

(2008, Yale University Press)

 

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