How one company created 900 percent growth

How would you like to create 900 percent growth for your business?

As I was writing my newest book, Radical Relevance, I had the opportunity to interview many successful business owners, producing tremendous results.

One of my clients who has used the strategies in Radical Relevance went from 100 to 1,000 high-value clients in seven years. That’s 900 percent growth. Nancy MacKay, founder of MacKay CEO Forums, has built an extremely successful enterprise that brings CEOs of privately held businesses together in forum groups where they help each other solve their biggest challenges.

In her first five years, Nancy built her company up to 100 members. Her business was thriving, and her CEO clients loved the experience and results. Nancy wanted more, though. She wanted to scale her business; she wanted to go from incremental to exponential growth.

When she contacted me to help accelerate her business growth, I could tell immediately that she was smart, hardworking, and driven. I knew I was working with someone who truly believed in the value she brought to clients, was a sponge for new ideas, and was someone who would actually implement those ideas. For a business-growth consultant, that’s the perfect storm!

I’m proud to say that at the time of this writing, using the concepts, strategies, and methods put forth in this book (and my other books), MacKay CEO Forums has grown 900 percent in seven years – from 100 CEO members to 1,000. I don’t know about you, but I’d call that exponential growth.

In a recent conversation with Nancy, she told me that our initial conversations were “a real game-changer.” And let’s give credit where credit is due. Yes, I provided ideas, guidance, and even specific word tracks to Nancy and her team. But she did the work! She applied the ideas in a way that produced these outstanding results.

Create a culture of referrals

Initially, we worked on creating a culture of referrals for MacKay CEO Forums with such things as:

1. Installing a specific process for approaching CEO members for introductions to prospective members.
2. Adapting that same process to generate introductions to new forum chairs who could build and run their own forums.
3. Providing video-based training and telephone coaching to all MacKay CEO Forums staff and Forums chairs.
4. Brainstorming rewards programs for referrals – for both the members and the chairs.

Communicate Relevant and Compelling Value

More recently, we’ve been working together on the principle, strategies, and tactics necessary to communicate a marketing message that attracts only ideal members. and compels (moves) them to take action to join one of her CEO Forum groups.

One of the many things MacKay has done is to identify the bullseye in her target market. Nancy and everyone one of her chairs are crystal clear on who fits and who doesn’t. The communicate their value in a way that immediately resonates with their Right-Fit Client™ and “repels” the rest. By communicating their value in this way, they are only signing on right-fit members. Therefore, the CEO Forum experience has made MacKay CEO Forums even more referable and reinforces the referral culture they have created.

Do you know what your bullseye looks like? Are you clear about your target market and crystal clear about who a Right-Fit Client is for you?

In subsequent articles, I’ll be going deep into the concept I call “Radical Relevance.” So, stay tuned for more principles, strategies, and concepts designed to help you go from incremental growth to exponential growth.