In the B2B world, there are three elements that will enable the realization of sustainable predictable profitable growth (SPPG), the holy grail of goals for any B2B organization.  In Sean Geehan's book, The B2B Executive Playbook, he identifies the three fundamental elements for B2B organizations: Market Driven Strategy, Customer Engagement and Internal Alignment.   In the past I’ve covered the overview and connections for these elements – today I’m focusing on the Market Driven Strategy component.

Market Driven Strategy
Many companies begin to develop their annual “strategy” by starting with a budget and a target for growth.  That’s an inside – out approach.  A market driven strategy is an outside – in approach, where insight about the market’s direction, velocity and changing needs are the critical components in the planning phase.   B2B organizations are in the unique position to capture insight into their strategies and market direction by engaging with their top customers to gain qualitative market insight (for example, in customer advisory boards and account based executive sponsor programs).  This insight can be relied upon to provide directional market guidance.  Other market research based customer insight can be conducted to capture further quantitative evidence of market movements, direction and needs.

Here are the four keys I've found to developing market driven strategy:
1) executive sponsorship by the CEO or BU head
2) alignment by the leadership team to the top priorities the market demands
3) insight from top customers and key growth segments
4) integration in to the strategic planning process

Case Study
When Springer Publishing engaged with decision makers in their markets, they uncovered growth opportunities in the e-publishing markets for research institutions.  Springer was able to identify the products, markets and customer segments where opportunities arose and weren’t being served today, and embed the opportunities in to their strategic planning process. 

Market Driven Strategy is dependent on two other key elements for success:  Customer Engagement and Internal Alignment.  Check out my other posts for more perspectives on these areas.