Forrester’s State Of Customer Obsession Survey 2024 reveals that 83% of B2B decision-makers place commercial growth at the top of their business priorities. The gap between intention and outcome, however, is striking. Only 24% of these businesses are actually outpacing their industry’s average growth rate.
A disconnect stems from a misalignment between high-level aspirations and practical execution.
Companies often set broad growth targets without translating them into actionable strategies that address customer needs. Such a disparity shows that while growth ambitions are nearly universal, the failure to implement focused, customer-centric strategies limits most companies’ ability to outperform the market.
The four pillars you need for explosive growth
Turn lofty goals into actionable growth steps
Many companies set high-level goals like “grow revenue by 30%” or “become an industry leader.” While these ambitions are admirable, they are not actionable without a clear plan. Effective growth strategies must go deeper.
Companies need to break these aspirational targets down into specific decisions, objectives, and initiatives that drive progress. For example, rather than focusing solely on a revenue percentage, businesses should identify the exact steps required to achieve that growth, whether it’s through expanding into new markets, launching new products, or increasing customer retention.
The key is to translate broad goals into detailed actions that can be measured and adjusted as needed.
Align your leadership for smarter, faster decisions
For growth strategies to succeed, leadership teams need to align their assumptions and decisions. When executives codify their decisions into the strategy, it creates clarity at every level of the organization.
Alignment accelerates downstream decision-making because it removes ambiguity. Teams across departments, whether in sales, marketing, or product, have a unified understanding of the goals and can act faster and with more confidence.
Clear communication improves the overall quality of execution, as everyone in the company knows exactly what they are working toward and why.
Obsess over your customers and watch your growth soar
Traditional B2B growth strategies often fall short because they don’t prioritize the needs of the digital-savvy, self-directed buyer. In contrast, companies that fully embrace customer obsession see significantly better outcomes across several critical metrics.
Modernized companies enjoy higher revenue growth, increased profitability, better customer retention, and improved employee engagement. When focusing on solving real customer problems and anticipating buyer needs, customer-obsessed companies make sure that they are always one step ahead of the competition.
Make the hard choices and keep your growth on track
Resources are always finite, and businesses that succeed at driving growth know how to make tough decisions about where to focus their time and money. It’s invaluable to explicitly define what is in scope and out of scope for the growth strategy.
Clarity helps avoid execution drift, where resources are wasted on tasks or projects that don’t directly contribute to strategic goals. When maintaining discipline, companies can stay laser-focused on initiatives that directly drive growth, making the best use of their limited resources.
What high-growth B2B leaders are doing right
High-growth companies distinguish themselves by creating tight alignment between their marketing, sales, and product teams, all while placing customers at the center of everything they do.
Leadership teams consistently integrate customer feedback into decision-making, making sure that every strategic action is rooted in the buyer’s pain points and expectations. This customer-first approach drives both product development and sales engagement, making it easier to deliver value where it matters most: to the end customer.
In short, successful companies are aligned internally and must be outwardly focused, so that they are in sync with market demands and customer needs.
How to build a strategy that puts customers at the core
In the modern B2B market, where buyers are increasingly digital and self-directed, traditional approaches to growth simply fall short. Buyers today are more informed and independent in their decision-making.
A gap between the way businesses strategize and the way customers buy is widening, leaving companies that don’t prioritize customer obsession behind. Adapting to this reality involves reshaping growth strategies to focus not just on internal goals but on real-time customer feedback, buying behaviors, and market trends.
Creating a winning strategy means involving every team
A successful growth strategy requires more than just input from senior leadership. It must be a collaborative process that involves marketing, sales, product, IT, and other operational teams. These departments bring diverse perspectives and key insights that shape the strategy and make it executable.
Beyond the C-suite, roles like revenue operations, portfolio marketing, product management, and customer success are crucial in ensuring that the strategy is carried out effectively. Each of these teams plays a role in bringing the strategy to life, making sure that it aligns with both customer needs and market demands.
Without cross-functional collaboration, strategies often become siloed and ineffective.
Use this proven model to develop a customer-first strategy
The Forrester Customer-Obsessed Growth Strategy Model offers a structured approach to growth. It emphasizes that every strategy must be grounded in a company’s vision, mission, and purpose. This model encourages leaders to take a comprehensive view of their business context and market conditions, making sure that customer needs drive all strategic decisions.
Rather than making assumptions based on internal aspirations, this model insists that strategies be built from the outside in, informed by the latest data on customer behaviors, industry trends, and competitive dynamics.
Success demands a unified effort from every department
No growth strategy can succeed in isolation. It requires alignment and cooperation across all departments, marketing, sales, product, and IT, to make sure that execution matches the strategic vision.
Collaboration across teams helps to break down silos, making sure that every department is working toward the same end goals. Furthermore, departments like revenue operations, demand marketing, and customer success play a pivotal role in driving growth by making sure that the strategy remains focused on delivering value to customers.
Cross-team collaboration is the foundation of a well-executed strategy, providing the operational bandwidth needed to carry out a customer-obsessed approach.
Stop expecting big results from weak strategies
Too many B2B organizations fall into the trap of trying to balance growth with cost-cutting while simultaneously improving customer experience. A trifecta of goals is difficult to achieve when the strategy lacks depth and customer insight.
A strategy that doesn’t explicitly align with customer needs is destined to fail. The solution lies in co-creating a customer-obsessed growth strategy, one that’s not just a marketing plan but a comprehensive business model that spans marketing, sales, and product development.
When deeply embedding customer insights into all aspects of the business, these strategies deliver what the market demands. Organizations that don’t adopt this mindset will continue to face stunted growth, even if they maintain ambitious goals.
Clear strategy, efficient execution is the recipe for winning
A customer-obsessed growth strategy is only as good as its execution. When aligning internal capabilities with the external demands of the market, companies create clarity that allows them to act with precision and efficiency.
Alignment means the business can respond to shifting market conditions while staying true to its strategic goals. Executing efficiently doesn’t just mean doing things quickly, it means doing the right things at the right time. Clear strategy and execution provide the agility needed to navigate the complexities of the market..
Key takeaways
Centering your strategy around customer needs and creating cross-functional alignment is the key to unlocking growth potential. When companies align their internal operations with customer demands, they open up new opportunities for revenue, improve profitability, and increase customer loyalty.
Alignment means making sure every decision, from product development to sales, is built around what the market truly needs. Companies that succeed in the B2B market are the ones that continuously adjust their strategy based on real-time customer insights and industry shifts.
