There are four reasons why you add new products or services to your offering:    to sell more to existing customers (complementary)    to sell into new markets (additive)    to facilitate sales of core products (enabling)    to generate new revenue streams with little overhead (adjacent) The first three should have you doing some research to determine what your customers (both […]

The hardest part about growing your business isn’t finding new clients; it’s finding the resources to deliver services. At Growth Path, we frequently recommend that clients choose strategic alliances over formal employees. This can take the risk out of rapid expansion of services. A strategic alliance is like an associate; they add a certain skill […]

Too often, people create loss leader products and services under the impression that these will be “gateways” – that customers will buy more. That is in fact where the concept began – the word leader meant that by leading customers to your business, they would see all the other wonderful things you can do for […]

Why would you want to keep offering a product or service that you almost never sell? Generally you wouldn’t, but sometimes these low-volume offerings are enablers. They stimulate discussion, open doors, and showcase your company’s expertise or abilities. Let me give you a couple prime examples of enabling products. When I was marketing for Simplex, […]

Custom work. It used to be that the ability to get something – anything – designed specifically for you was difficult, and expensive. Custom products came first, followed by the advent of boutique service providers, and we all wanted to provide customer services – at premium prices. The pendulum has been swinging back, but many […]

Productizing is an ugly word – one of those nouns (like text or impact) which gets turned into a verb. But the results can be extremely attractive. Let me first explain what productizing is: taking a service, and clearly defining the deliverables, cost, and value. For example, instead of charging $350/hour to construct a will […]

When most people think of growing a business, they think of increasing revenue. A few consider expanding to new locations. There are significant measures you can take to increase the health of your business – sustainability may be a better phrase. Are they growth initiatives? Since most people don't think of them as growth, probably […]

Did the product managers in your company rise through the ranks, or did you recruit them? In most small to mid-sized companies people become product managers because of their superior product and technical knowledge. These people are your main problem solvers and are invaluable, but they don't usually have a marketing background. As your company […]