B2B Growth Insights: Feb 2021
MINI “GROWTH CASE STUDIES” OF THE MONTH
[1] Scale up your support network before investing heavily into your products
Tesla holds a dominant position among EVs despite the countless announcements of new EV models from other car manufacturers. Part of the dominance might be due to its “proprietary platform strategy”. By building a coast-to-coast network of charging stations ahead of time; Tesla removed hesitations for newer buyers even when they sold only a few thousand cars in their early years.
[2] Link spare capacity to popular brand names for a whole new growth avenue
What can you do with restaurants that are either sitting idle or not being able to generate enough business due to the pandemic? Enter Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC). VDC effectively uses the spare capacity of kitchens all over the country by providing “these kitchens with ingredients and branding, as well as a home app that centralizes the orders from various delivery apps”. The most popular example is MrBeast Burger (launched by the popular YouTuber) which is growing faster than McDonald’s in its early days.
[3] Choose “Pick Your Price” over “Pay-What-You-Want” pricing strategy to increase purchases
In recent years, firms like Panera Bread, Priceline have been moving away from “Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW)” pricing. New research into this trend shows that it might be a better option for a business to choose the “Pick Your Price (PYP)” strategy. Customers want to get the benefit of pricing control but still want to avoid spending time deciding on an exact price. PYP strategy allows customers to “choose a price from a set of options”. This simplifies the customer’s decision-making process and improves the chances of new purchases!
[4] Double down on your ‘greatest asset’ to drive the future when your core market flattens
The popular articles or case studies around Walmart are all about logistics. Therefore, it should be no surprise, that Walmart sees “reach” as its single greatest asset. With retail sales not substantial enough to power growth in the next few years/decades; Walmart wants to leverage its reach to “chase new business opportunities, from bulking up its ad sales to becoming a major health-care provider”.
[5] Shift an elaborate buying/selling process to ‘just-in-time’ to uncover new customers
The iBuyer business model made popular by Opendoor and Zillow eliminates hassle and uncertainty in buying and selling homes. Let’s look at the selling part for example – “Before Opendoor, a house would sit on the market for months waiting for a willing buyer at a particular price. Opendoor bridges the time divide, gives cash to the seller, warehouses the home, and resells it when demand surfaces”. What convoluted, elaborate, rigid buying/selling process in your markets can you shift to just-in-time?
[6] “Democratize Access” to create secondary markets or tap into a traditional non-customer base
There are so many startups in the consumer fintech space offering access to markets that were closed off to the average consumer. Few examples – (i) Firms that make private assets (like pop culture collectibles, sneakers) publicly tradable – ex: Rally, Otis, Mythic Markets, (ii) Firms that let you “fractionally own” high-value assets – ex: Cadre, CrowdStreet.
[7] Constantly reduce the gap between ‘desire’ and ‘delivery’ to avoid losing your current demand
A lot of consumer behaviors groomed in this COVID-19 era will be the norm whenever we officially make it out of the pandemic. One of them will be the thirst for instant gratification in many non-traditional situations. Irrespective of the product or industry, it’s worth asking these three questions: “(1) What are the barriers standing in the way of immediate delivery of physical value and what can you do next to remove one?, (2) What elements of the value your customers appreciate could you separate from their current physical vessel and deliver virtually instead?, (3) How can you attach emotional value to your brand so that people immediately feel it when they choose you?”
[8] Smarter employee offboarding to create valuable future customers, suppliers, ambassadors
The lack of attention given to employee offboarding vs. onboarding may point to a failed opportunity to create long-term value. Consulting companies seem to do a better job in this area since they appreciate the incentive of former consultants turning into future clients. A range of improvements in the current offboarding process might very well be a strategic necessity for your company.
INTERESTING READS OF THE MONTH
[9] “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need” by Bill Gates
Key Takeaways: The debate over greenhouse gas emissions often turns into finger-pointing, name-calling, vilifying of essential industries. Understanding the scope of the emissions problem means adopting an ecosystem mindset to comprehend the landscape of the issue. I like the approach of Bill Gates in this regard where he breaks down the emissions problem into 5 areas:
How we plug-in – producing electricity is a major contributor
How we make things – producing cement, steel, plastics
How we grow things – raising animals, production of fertilizers, deforestation
How we get around – multi-payload vehicles, airplanes, trains, marine vessels, etc.
How we keep cool and stay warm – A/C units, furnaces, water heaters
A growth question: how do you grow the market share of green technologies (innovations)?
Expand the supply of innovations by (i) quintupling clean energy R&D over the next decade, (ii) making bigger bets on high-risk, high-reward R&D projects, (iii) working with industry from the beginning
Accelerate the demand for innovations by (i) using government’s procurement power, (ii) creating incentives that lower costs and reduce risk, (iii) building the infrastructure that will get new technologies to market, (iv) changing the rules so new technologies can compete
[10] “If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future” by Jill Lepore
Key Takeaways: The story of “Simulmatics Corporation” further reaffirms the theory of companies failing when they sometimes engage with ideas that are not ‘suitable for primetime’ yet. Simulmatics served as the pre-cursor for many modern-day tech company offerings. For ex: Simulmatics
pioneered the use of computer-run simulation, pattern detection, and prediction in American political campaigning, segmenting the electorate into voter types and issues into clusters to advise candidates about strategies for voter-targeted issues
introduced what-if simulation to the advertising industry, targeting segmented consumers with custom-fit messages.
became the first data firm to provide real-time computing to an American newspaper to analyze election results
simulated the entire economy of a developing nation to halt the advance of certain ideologies
conducted psychological research as part of a larger project of waging a war by way of computer-run data analysis and modeling
The legacy of Simulmatics endures in predictive analytics and our ongoing efforts to simulate human behavior.
BONUS GENERAL BUSINESS READS
Walmart wants to become a top 10 US ad business in the next 5 years
8 unconventional ways to generate qualified B2B sales leads
Is Technology a new asset class?
The Relentless Jeff Bezos
Smartphones are a $500bn annual TAM. The mobility market is $10 trillion.
Shortage of semiconductor chips can cause car companies to lose $61 billion this year
The simple principles of good management
Carta is trying to build Nasdaq for private markets
6 lessons that powered Amazon’s success
2021 business trends: the 10 strategic shifts that will shape your industry
Cleantech valuations are widely out of sync with company profit
How to build products that don’t suck
7 key business lessons from Peloton’s breakout year
Ikea’s ambitious plan to make its cheap furniture last forever
Snapchat shares new insights into Gen Z consumption and engagement trends
Tech start-ups that stay private for extended periods “allow for a buildup of bad choices”
Why Peloton might be worth $36B for a company like Apple
McDonald’s: “Burger is their side business, charging rent is their cash cow”.
Why an animated flying cart with a pop-tart body sold for almost $600K
Keep Learning and Carry On!
Sign up for my free MONTHLY NEWSLETTER to get the best B2B product marketing content from around the web – 8 mini case studies / 2 books & their top 3 insights / 10 curated business think pieces