The Predictable Growth Checklist

The Predictable Growth Checklist

The plan to go from idea to automated, predictable growth.

Stage 1: Incubate

Purpose: Validate your offer as fast as possible.

Timeline: 2 to 18 Months

Milestones:

1. Unique Offer Created
2. First Hire Made (EVA)
3. Community & Content Created
4. First Sales Conversations Had
5. First Pre-Sales (Cohort of 3-30)
6. First Referrals Generated
7. First $10,000 Months
8. First Success Story Interviews

Process:

1. Differentiate Your Positioning

Enemy: One of many, convenience store positioning.

Solution: Create authentic, one of one, premium brand positioning.

Key Actions:

1. Ikigai Defined
2. Zone of Genius Defined
3. Alternative Solutions (& Past Clients) Analyzed
4. Positioning Table Created
5. Niche Market Hypothesis Created
6. Resonant Story & Advantage Created

1. Create Your Productized Offer

Enemy: The typical high ticket agency and 1:1 services model is unsustainable for bootstrapped, minimalist founders who want more impact and time freedom.

Solution: Create an enjoyable, high ticket offer that can scale profitably by productizing.

Key Actions:

1. Offer Ascension Ladder Hypothesis Created
2. Niche Problem/Solution Matrix Created
3. Productized Offer Roadmap Created
4. Offer Fulfillment Machine Mapped
5. Offer CRO Analyzed & Scripted
6. Beta Offer G Doc Created

1. Create Community Pre-Sales Funnel

Enemy: The typical go to market approach (spend money and months of time building BEFORE finding customers) is the costliest, dumbest and riskiest way to go to market.

Solution: Validate your offer without risk fast by pre-selling it BEFORE you build it.

Key Actions:

1. Growth & Community Assistant(s) Hired
2. Rapid Market Research Completed
3. Pre-Sales Course & Onboarding Content Created
4. Automated Pre-Sales Funnel (Magnet/Waitlist/Optin/TY/Checkout/Onboarding) Setup
5. Social Media Profiles Optimized for Growth
6. No Brainer Offer Scripted & Posted
7. Dream 10 List Created & Outreached
8. Generate Leads, Set Appointments & Close Deals
9. Review & Role Play Live Sales Calls Weekly

Iterate Positioning, Offer & Funnel Until All Milestones Reached

Stage 2: Accelerate

Purpose: Streamline operations to create predictable, profitable growth.

Timeline: 1 to 12 Months

Milestones:

1. First Case Studies Created
2. Right Hand Man Hired
3. Fulfillment Automated
4. First Week Vacation
5. First Outbound Deals
6. First One Call Close
7. First $100,000+ New Business

Process:

1. Delegate Offer Delivery

Enemy: Most founders have 0 leverage making them the bottleneck to their own growth.

Solution: Delegate your delivery so you can improve client experience and focus on growth.

Key Actions:

1. Project-Based Contractors for Delivery Tested, Proven & Vetted
2. Past Client Data (Experience, Results & Financials) Analyzed
3. Positioning, Offer and Funnel Assets Optimized
4. Client Journey Visualized and Documented
5. Offer Delivery Visualized and Documented
6. Right Hand Operator Trialed and Hired

1. Create Case Study Sales Funnel

Enemy: Most companies over-invest in acquiring the 3% of in-market prospects and under-invest in educating and marketing to the remaining 97% of the market. This results in increased headcount combined with desperate, sleazy marketing and high pressure sales to reach quotas.

Solution: Create a case study funnel that educates, nurtures and converts perfect fit prospects over time.

Key Actions:

1. Project-Based Content Team Tested, Proven & Vetted
2. Core Case Study Article & VSL Created and Edited
3. Low Ticket Downsell Offer Created
4. Automated Case Study Sales Funnel Created
5. Outbound Growth A/B Sprint Tests Launched
6. Inbound Growth A/B Sprint Tests Launched

1. Optimize Retention & Conversion Rates

Enemy: The average sales cycle for B2B offers is 5 months long (Klipfolio).

Solution: Create a revenue engine that converts strangers to clients in under 60 minutes.

Key Actions:

1. Client Experience Optimized
2. Client Expectations Optimized
3. Sales Process Optimized
4. Sales Funnel & Assets Optimized
5. Inbound Marketing Optimized
6. Outbound Marketing Optimized

Stage 3: Automate (UNDER DEVELOPMENT)

Purpose: Automate operations with 80% tech and a dedicated team.

Timeline: 2 to 18 Months

Milestones:

1. Predictable Referrals (1 in 4)
2. Predictable Quarterly Growth
3. First 2-4 Week Vacation
4. First $1M New Business

Process:

1. Delivery Automated/Delegated

Delivery automation/delegation should cover the following areas:

• Client Expectations
• Client Experience
• Client Retention

For productized services, this step should involve visual process mapping, thorough documentation and potentially custom development with or without code (ie. Google Apps Script, Make, Zapier, etc) to streamline the delivery process.

1. Growth Automated/Delegated

Growth automation/delegation should cover the following areas:

• Content Creation & Production
• Inbound Growth Marketing
• Outbound Growth Marketing
• Audience & Community Management

1. Sales Automated/Delegated

In my experience, 100% commission based sales attracts killers and aligns incentives. I have experimented with hybrid base plus commission for sales reps, but commission only has always delivered the best results and is the most common practice among leading high ticket offers.

That said, sales talent is expecting MINIMUM $200,000 Post-Tax income based on a 10-20% gross commission within 3-6 months and progressively more afterwards.

If they do not see a path to this compensation, they will not want to work with you or quickly lose motivation and end up finding a better offer / churning within a few weeks.

In addition, hiring too early and/or mis-hiring for sales can very quickly become a 6-7 figure mistake so you must only hire for sales when everything is ready and risks are as low as possible.

Here’s a few example scenarios to illustrate when it makes sense to transition from founder-led sales to delegating sales to closers / sales reps:

• GROSS REVENUE — COMMISSION % — COMMISSIONS @ 30% TAX RATE — READINESS / RISK TO HIRE
• $83K/Month | $1M/Yr — 10% — $8.3K/Mo, $100K/Pre, $70K/Post — NOT READY / HIGH RISK
• $83K/Month | $1M/Yr — 15% — $12.5K/Mo, $150K/Pre, $105K/Post — NOT READY / HIGH RISK
• $83K/Month | $1M/Yr — 20% — $16.6K/Mo, $200K/Pre, $140K/Post — MAYBE RDY / MEDIUM RISK
• $100K/Month | $1.2M/Yr — 10% — $10K/Mo, $120K/Pre, $84K/Post — NOT READY / HIGH RISK
• $100K/Month | $1.2M/Yr — 15% — $15K/Mo, $180K/Pre, $126K/Post — MAYBE READY / MEDIUM RISK
• $100K/Month | $1.2M/Yr — 20% — $20K/Mo, $240K/Pre, $168K/Post — MAYBE READY / LOWER RISK
• $150K/Month | $1.8M/Yr — 15% — $22.5K/Mo, $270K/Pre, $189K/Post — MAYBE READY / LOWER RISK
• $200K/Month | $2.4M/Yr — 15% — $20K/Mo, $240K/Pre, $168K/Post — MAYBE READY / LOWER RISK
• $250K/Month | $3M/Yr — 12.5% — $31,250/Mo, $375K/Pre, $263K/Post — READY / LOW RISK
• $300K/Month | $3.6M/Yr — 12.5% — $37.5K/Mo, $450K/Pre, $315K/Post — READY / LOW RISK

As shown above, with the traditional sales call model, founder-led sales should be consistently generating ~$250K/month to attract & incentivize A-player hires. Anything less poses significant risk to the business.

1. Management Delegated

Depending on the founder’s preference, they may wish to serve as the strategic director for all, some or none of the business departments.

Regardless of their decision, the following things should be in place for true management delegation:

1. Central Dashboard / Wiki
2. Vision, Values, Mission
3. Scoreboard - Metrics
4. OS - Standards/Systems/Processes
5. How/When to Communicate
6. Internally (With Advisors/Team/Contractors)
7. Externally (With Community/Customers/Clients)
8. Recurring Feedback Loops to Assess & Optimize Performance
9. Delivery
10. Growth
11. Sales
12. Ops
13. Identifying Highest Priority Items
14. Client Experience / Product Priorities
15. Growth Marketing Priorities
16. Sales Priorities
17. Operational Priorities