Collaborating with the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Altus co-developed the first iteration of the Sales Growth Learning Curve, a proprietary methodology of market-driven strategy and sustainable revenue growth.
The 21-Elements of High-Performance Revenue is the modern edition and methodology to address the trends and changing world of sales and marketing. Evidence of change has occurred in cultural shifts, customer centricity over product, authenticity over transactional, high-value B2C experiences, and customers desiring to be understood, not just heard. All driving changes in the broad and tactical world of sales, evolving value props, positioning, and brand strategy.
The evolution of the 21-HPR Elements was born from the desire to address changes in these mindsets of real people over personas. Today’s client engagements are about determining what’s most relevant, what matters, and why to the specific customer and revenue growth opportunities.
The Brand Strategy & Awareness 21-HPR Element is often misunderstood. Common brand thinking is a symbol, demarcation, logo, and design expression. In actuality, your brand is your purpose and promise, which today are table-stakes.
Your brand purpose and promise are a foundation element to human need, not just the problem you solve. In addition to cerebral and rational reasons to invest in your brand, there’s an emotional and intrinsic connection that communicates shared values, beliefs, inspirations, motivations, experiences, understanding, design, and preferences.
This is about culture, your customer community, and your organization’s manifesto that both employees and customers can rally behind.
So brand starts with your audience, the culture, and the greater human need when refining your purpose, value prop, expertise, positioning, and ultimately your promise.
- What matters to your audience today? What are the world and cultural context they’re living in? How is their personal and career path shifting? Define your core audience’s mindsets, not demographic, not personas.
- After defining, root and reason yourself into the purpose and promise. Establish a firm foundation that’s specific and speaks to a greater human need.
- Carefully avoid chasing their wants and needs with every whim of culture change. Stay focused on the overarching theme of your unique activities that support your purpose and promise, the differentiators, expertise, and positioning—now not easily matched or copied.
Case Study / Airbnb
- Airbnb promises to “belong anywhere.”
- Airbnb understood a cultural shift in why people travel. Traveling is no longer relegated to the conventional “vacation,” the 1-week family escape to a catered hotel or all-inclusive resort. Instead, they found that most people want to feel a part of the places they travel.
- As evidenced by One Planet, people wanted to participate in the culture, travel to broaden their world view, and live like a local for a short time.
- Airbnb also found meaningful evidence that business travelers also had the same desire and interest in participating in an experience when traveling.
- Airbnb enables them to “belong anywhere,” and it’s not an empty promise. Their content and offering are foundational to this greater promise and have extended their services beyond ‘stays’ to “experiences.”
So the overarching conclusion is be your authentic self as an organization, know the cultural trends of your customer community, focus on providing the greater human need by allowing your value prop to evolve, and share the intrinsic reasons of why you do what you do.