Howard Schultz
Howard Schultz is everywhere lately promoting his new book Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul. (It also coincides with Starbucks new branding). He’s been in everything from Costco’s magazine to the McKinsey Quarterly. One of the topics he discusses at length is the peril of fast, unchecked growth. He says that after the tough lessons of the past decade, the company is now focused on “disciplined, profitable growth for the right reasons.” Starbucks has proven that unbridled growth can be a double-edged sword. We train companies to achieve fast growth and I think it’s key to understand that discipline to do it right. We don’t advocate growth for growth’s sake. We want you to stay in business! The Whale Hunters process is all about smart growth. Each phase of our process is designed to find the best fit, or most mutually beneficial sales opportunities. Even though this example is B2C, the lessons apply just the same to B2B businesses.
Take a few minutes to watch Howard talk about healthy, customer driven growth.
What are you doing to focus on best serving your customers? Do you view customer service as a means to drive growth? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
