Why every leader needs a revenue growth goal

Customer service is far too important just to be left to the customer service representatives.

Likewise, quality is everybody’s responsibility. But what about revenue growth you might be asking?

My proposition is that every leader should have as one of their goals a revenue growth target.

It is simply far too important to be left only to the sales, marketing or business development areas.

There are three reasons why I believe this proposition will become the norm for all leadership teams in the future.

Firstly, in times of hyper-competition and dwindling consumer demand in most industries, creating new revenue growth opportunities is extremely difficult.

Hence the more people who are thinking about this challenge the better.

In fact, can anyone think of a more important goal?

Secondly, every leader contributes either directly or indirectly towards revenue anyway. This suggestion just formalises it.

What about the human resource leader you might suggest?

Well the HR leader is responsible for the overall skills, engagement and culture of an organisation which surely has an impact on the motivation of a sales force for example.

If the account managers, for example, are not willing to take a risk then this would have a direct influence on potential revenue growth.

And lastly, having every leader with a revenue growth goal will change their attitudes dramatically. 

It might mean, for example that the finance director, rather than only looking at the numbers, has a broader view and will be more alert for new business opportunities.

Suddenly, the entire leadership team is proactively looking at the market, industry, competition and consumers, rather than just their portfolio.

Can’t be done?

Consider this example. I suggested this approach to a hotel leadership team and after some consternation they decided to give it a go.

The head of security for example, thought differently about his portfolio and suggested that because they had a team of security staff not being fully utilised at night perhaps they could outsource these to other nearby businesses.

He tested this approach and within 12 months had raised an incremental $50,000 straight to the bottom line.

What was important was not only the extra revenue raised but his mindset had changed forever.

This in turn will mean that leaders will have to develop a broader range of skills which will benefit the business in the long term.

Imagine the power of every leader having a revenue growth goal.

If you can imagine it, why not give it a go?

Your leadership team and your business will out-perform your rivals.