Commercial Impact

How employees deliver commercial impact

How much of the ‘grand vision’ that permeates the mind of a business leader gets reduced to a ‘budget’ in the mind of managers, a ‘task’ in the mind of staff members, and an ‘indifferent experience’ for customers… deflecting revenue and profits to competitors?

I think this is a fair question to ask in the context of the commercial impact people need to bring to a business’s Growth Chain Reaction™ because it reflects the reality, at least in part, of many companies, even though they might be currently ‘satisfied’ with their employees’ ‘engagement’. Losing sales and profits through hard fought competition is one thing, but losing today’s sales and profits while everyone ‘thinks they are doing a great job’, when they could be doing so much better, means  losing tomorrow’s sales and profits too… without the faintest idea that it is happening.

Customers who should have spent money with a company spend it with their competitors, usually without a second thought, because they were denied any distinguishing value they were seeking for the money they were spending. And this is not just about the sales team. It is about every person in a company and everything they do, every day. It takes the ‘whole person’ to see and capture the ‘whole opportunity’ that is unique to a business. This is what energises your business strategy… nothing else does. The extent to which this is a living reality for every employee in every role in a business, and in every part of its distribution chain, every working day, determines how much of the potential value of that business, projected towards its customers, is  actually experienced by them. What customers experience today will determine how much they spend tomorrow. This is what determines the pace of growth or decline of the business.

The scale of these daily losses and opportunities to companies and their investors cannot be read in the accounts, although they are most definitely reflected.

What is Commercial Impact?

Commercial impact is the lift in revenue in a business generated when employees propel it forward to new levels of performance through their collective drive and talent. 

This requires employees to reach beyond conventional skills, service levels and current experience by applying their unique ability and innovativeness in executing  a business’s mission that they consider to be their own. And this is only possible when employee activity and reward is linked directly to the revenue growth in a business. This requires a Growth Mindset where people redefine the value they produce by combining their conventional skill set with two additional components that often lie dormant and unrecognized – their unique ability and entrepreneurial drive.

It is this powerful combination that is the source of a business’s commercial impact, and the driving force behind that most elusive of goals… sustainable growth. While individuals who adopt this approach will make their own unique impact, its full benefit to a business is only felt when applied in a team context and ultimately throughout an organisation.

The theme of commercial impact is underpinned by five integrated and sequential concepts.

Skill Set is what usually defines a person’s conventional value in the workplace. It is a combination of their acquired knowledge, experience and skill. On its own, a person’s skill set usually does not add any unique value, but when applied in combination with that person’s unique ability and growth mindset in the context of unique teamwork, a new world of opportunity opens to them.

Unique Ability is the ability to do things in a unique way or have a unique perspective. This ability is the result of the special talent that resides deep within every person that is often not recognised by them. When coupled with that person’s skill set and ignited by their growth mindset, personal impact is produced that is unique  to them and the business in which they are employed.

A Growth Mindset generates the motivation in a person to take charge of shaping their economic future by working to create their own unique impact on a business. This motivation is derived from an understanding that personal opportunity and reward are entirely determined by how much their company and customers value what they do for them. For this reason, they are constantly alert to new opportunities to exceed the expectations of their company and customers, and constantly working to shape and refine their unique contribution.

Unique Teamwork occurs when a team works to create  synergy from the unique ability of each team member, thereby leveraging commercial impact to even greater value.
Corporate Community is the sense of belonging and shared purpose employees experience in a business that truly values people, and places a priority on their ability to deliver commercial impact. It is the key to a business’s sustainable growth.