Where Most Growth Strategies Go Wrong
Growth can mean different things to different businesses, and most importantly, it can be achieved in so many different ways.
Oya Mustafa, former Chief Growth Officer at Not Normal Group, recently joined us on our podcast OnBD with ALF to discuss growth, where businesses should start, and why intentionality matters.
Her message was clear: growth is not a strategy until you define what it is supposed to achieve.
Here is where growth plans often go wrong, and how to approach them more effectively.
The Activity Trap
The quick response to a slow pipeline is simply to increase activity. Hire a new business developer. Set a target for weekly meetings. Add more prospects to the database.
But more activity does not necessarily create more progress. Without commercial context, businesses can spend time and resource fixing problems they do not actually have.
“Growth” can mean increasing revenue, improving profit margins, diversifying the client base, entering new markets, or improving retention. These are all valid ambitions, but they require different strategies.
The mistake is jumping straight to the solution.
“We need a business developer” may be the right answer. But what does that person need to achieve? Are they expected to generate new leads, build key relationships, open a new market, improve conversion, create a stronger proposition, or establish a growth process that the wider team can use?
Those are not the same role.
Start With the Numbers
Before launching a campaign or setting a target for the number of meetings a team should book, businesses need to understand where they are starting from.
For example, Oya analysed 3 years of business development data at Not Normal Group before understanding what growth meant to them. She looked at where opportunities had come from, average deal value, the type of work being won, conversion rates, and the length of the sales cycle.
The findings changed the strategy.
In her case, the business believed its conversion rate was approximately 60%–68%. Once the data was examined more closely, including early-stage requests for information, the true rate was closer to 20%. The analysis also showed that 90% of the work came through referrals or direct approaches.
That meant the immediate challenge was not simply to generate more leads.
The more useful questions became:
- How could conversion be improved earlier in the process?
- How could referral relationships be nurtured more deliberately?
- How could the business diversify its sources of new opportunities?
- Which types of work and clients were most valuable?
This is the difference between a growth strategy and a list of activities. The data does not provide every answer, but it helps businesses ask better questions.
Sustainable growth comes from identifying the most important commercial objective, understanding the business’s current position, and choosing the actions that are most likely to move it forward.
Before asking, “How do we grow?”, ask a more useful question:
What kind of growth are we actually trying to create?
Do Not Fix What Is Not Broken
There is often pressure to demonstrate momentum quickly. A new hire needs to make an impact. Leadership wants to see more activity. But that pressure can lead to hasty decision-making.
A business may increase outreach when its real issue is poor qualification. It may focus on generating more leads when its existing pipeline is not converting. It may pursue new sectors when its strongest growth opportunity is deepening relationships with current clients.
Stopping to analyse the business first may feel slower than taking action immediately, but it usually creates a more strategic plan that connects to a defined commercial objective.
Growth Opens Doors. Sales Closes Them.
Growth and sales are sometimes treated as competing functions. Oya sees them as partners.
Sales may ask, “How do we win this client?” Growth may ask, “How do we build a business that clients are more likely to choose?”
Both questions matter. A strong sales team cannot compensate indefinitely for weak positioning, minimal differentiation from competitors, or a lack of market demand. Equally, a strong reputation and compelling proposition still requires a capable sales process to turn opportunities into revenue.
The important point is that tactics should follow strategy, not the other way around. If the only strategy is to increase outbound activity, the business risks allowing its sales tactics to define its commercial direction.
The Right Growth Hire Depends on the Job
Another issue Oya raised was the tendency to treat business development as one universal role.
In reality, business development professionals often have different strengths. Some are natural relationship-builders. Some are highly effective at opening new markets. Others are strong at developing existing accounts, creating systems, shaping propositions, or turning market insight into a clear commercial plan.
The right fit depends on what the business needs next.
That makes leadership alignment essential. Before hiring, the senior team needs to agree on what the role is there to deliver and how success will be measured.
Without that clarity, a business development hire can be judged against shifting expectations. Three or six months later, the business may conclude that the person “is not bringing in enough sales,” even though they were hired without a clear remit, proposition, or agreed sales cycle.
Growth without alignment creates friction. With alignment, it can create momentum.
Enjoyed this article? Listen to the full conversation with Oya Mustafa on OnBD with ALF, ALF’s podcast featuring the people shaping new business in media and advertising. The episode covers growth strategy, sales and growth personas, leadership alignment, pipeline health, and how businesses can become more intentional about commercial progress.
Build a More Intentional Growth Strategy With ALF Insight
At ALF Insight, we help sales and growth teams understand their markets, identify the right prospects, and make better-informed commercial decisions.
With access to market intelligence, decision-maker data, brand and agency insights, and pitch tracking, teams can move beyond broad activity targets and focus on the opportunities most likely to create value.