Grow, Scale or Transform? Choosing the Best Support for Your Business

Need some business development support for your purpose-driven business?

Identify your business in one of the three scenarios below and discover some solutions for sales support.

Businesses go through many different stages in their lifecycle. From the challenges of starting up to weathering unexpected storms a few years down the line, there are always pivotal moments in every business’ journey that need customised support.

We know how difficult it can be to find a business development service that addresses the issues you’re currently facing. But because Ethical Sales has decades of experience of working with many purpose-driven businesses to help them grow through sales, we also know that whatever stage your business is at, we can offer you the right support. 

We’ve highlighted three key stages a business can go through, and matched these with our business development services that could help in each situation. Read on to see if you can identify yourself in these scenarios – and see how we could work with you to successfully take your business to the next level.

Are you… the purpose-driven SME going for growth?

You’re involved in a purpose-driven SME business that you’ve built from scratch. Over the years, you’ve developed a proven business model and are turning a profit. You’ve used your current customer base, referrals, word of mouth, events and partnerships to get you this far, and things are going well. You may have recently acquired B Corp status which embeds your company values and ethos for a long-term sustainable future. 

However, you want to do more. You have big growth ambitions but your sales have plateaued and you’re not able to generate any more profitability within the business. It’s taken a lot of hard graft to get to this point and it’s frustrating to have stalled.

You think a more structured approach to business development could be a good way to grow but you’ve never done this before, and you’re reluctant to bring in a full-time salesperson as it’s a lot of risk to take on. And as your business is mission-led, you don’t want to hire a standard ‘lead generation agency’ as you know in your gut that it wouldn’t be a good fit with your values and ethos.

If you see yourself in this scenario, we recommend our Grow service to help meet your business needs.

Grow is designed for businesses that want to create the foundations for sales success and build a long-term sales pipeline. In the first month, we’ll work with you to review and agree on a business development strategy as well as review all of your sales and marketing materials. We’ll then work with you to create a sales playbook, as well as map out prospect research and a messaging plan. Your dedicated expert consultant will then deliver a multi-channel sales campaign to reach new prospective clients. The result? A brand with improved visibility and presence that’s strategically nurturing a long-term pipeline of ideal clients.

Our Scale service is also ideal if you want to hit particularly ambitious milestones and targets. We’ll take a deep dive into your business to identify new opportunities, then work with you to set up a CRM for prospect research and data collection. You’ll end up with a set of fit-for-purpose business development materials, a playbook and messaging templates. Our expert team will then deliver these to a nurtured group of customers ready to take the next steps in the sales process with you.

Are you… the startup that’s transforming at speed?

You’ve created a brilliant product and secured funding, from seed to Series A+. It’s been a long and hard journey, and you’re rightly proud of the tenacity and drive that’s got you to this point.

But now the hard work really begins as you start to grow your team and work with your investors to reach ambitious targets. The innovative product you’ve developed is showing early signs of market favourability but because you’ve been so focused on product build and viability you’re behind on where you want to be sales-wise.

The team you have in place is great, but they already feel stretched. You also realise you have some skills gaps in the team, particularly in business development. Options you’ve considered are expensive management consultancies or bringing in a high-level sales director, but you feel that neither of these are the right solution, as you need action, not just words. Your priorities are increased brand visibility, new customer acquisition and proof of market viability needed in order to satisfy your investors.

Is this you and your business?

We at Ethical Sales totally understand this scenario, and we’ve worked with many startups in exactly the same position such as Foodsteps , Zedify and Payaca. So we know just how to help you scale your business and meet those all-important targets in a sustainable way.

In these circumstances, we would recommend our Transform service, which provides access to a dedicated business support team, from director to manager level. This highly flexible sales resource means you can develop a business development strategy that will hit all your targets and help take your prospects from qualified to ready to buy. It also gives you access to 1:1 sales and business development coaching for your leadership team, to upskill team members in your business for future sales growth.

Are you… the business that’s evolving?

Business goes well until it doesn’t. Unfortunately, you’ve found yourself in a place you never wanted to be. You’re now in a race against time to turn your business around and make it profitable, but you don’t know what you can do to buy yourself more time.

You’ve got some incredibly difficult decisions to make, which are also tied up with strong ethical values you’re not prepared to compromise on. You’ve never implemented an official sales function, and don’t know if it’s too late to start now – and even if it isn’t, you don’t have the time or money to recruit a big sales team. You need practical advice and support to grow your customer base as quickly as possible. A lot is at stake.

For businesses currently facing these issues, we recommend that you book a meeting with Corinne, our Managing Director to discuss your options and receive some friendly, honest feedback.

Our Sales Review and Roadmap service, delivered by Corinne with support from the team could be a good option for your business. We’ll work together to identify commercial growth opportunities and gain clarity on how to facilitate these from a sales and marketing perspective. We’ll draw on our decades of ethical sales expertise to make sure we create a plan of action that doesn’t compromise your principles and, most importantly, will help transform your business.

How Ethical Sales worked with Service Robotics to transform their growth potential

We know that we can make a big difference to your purpose-led business, just as we did with Service Robotics, an ambitious startup that creates assistive technologies to meet public health priorities. Its innovative GenieConnect digital companion helps reduce loneliness and improves health care in older adults and people with learning disabilities.

Service Robotics got in touch with Ethical Sales to find out how we could help them at a pivotal time in their business growth, with the target of building a geographical pipeline of local authority stakeholders to secure product demonstrations.

During our time working with Service Robotics, we have:

• Identified key stakeholders and multi-authority tender opportunities in the Midlands, South West and Scotland.
• Secured numerous product demo meetings with senior decision-makers.
• Positioned Service Robotics as a solution to the current social care crisis.

As a result of our work with the team, we’ve built an active sales pipeline worth £1.7m and supported the closure of over £200k worth of sales in the past six months.

Read the full case study.

We’d love to help you take your business to the next level. Book a free call with our Managing Director Corinne to discuss how we can help. Corinne enjoys talking to business owners, founders and sales directors about their challenges and will be honest with you about whether our services are a good fit. 

Book a meeting today to discuss your business development plans with Corinne and the team.