Developing a growth playbook before initiating growth activities is essential, yet it often goes overlooked.

In a recent conversation with the MD of a subsidiary of a European company, they shared their approach to entering new sectors: hiring experienced professionals or appointing established channel partners from the target sector(s) and let them run the market. They saw little value in dedicating time and resources to creating a market development playbook to share and drive the efforts of their hires and partners.

While this approach may seem straightforward, the reality is far more complex.

A comprehensive growth playbook involves identifying the target customer base, developing lead lists, defining the specific offering, establishing the optimal go-to-market strategy, analyzing the competitive landscape, refining the unique value proposition and few other things. These components are vital to ensuring sustainable and successful growth. Some call it an unnecessary waste of time and resources, other call it planning for success.

There is another critical reason to create your own market development plan, which is related to the risk of losing control over essential parts of your business, which will happen if your employees and channels follow their own plans as opposed to implementing yours. Delegating such essential responsibilities can ultimately put at jeopardy the business itself.

Always maintain control of your business’s strategy and direction, and ensure your market expansion plans are solid, documented and shared within the organization and with relevant partners and hires.

If you are planning market development initiatives, we can help you in developing a detailed growth playbook as part of our Market Entry and Market Growth offerings. We have learned the best practices in large MNCs and can bring valuable insights into your organization. Please feel free to reach out to start a conversation.