What do you think?
Rate this book
The Inside Advantage: The Strategy that Unlocks the Hidden Growth in Your Business
Be the Driving Force Behind Your Company's Growth Robert H. Bloom has discovered that every enterprise has at least one strategic asset-one existing strength-that can form the foundation for future growth. He calls this an Inside Advantage. This strength usually lies unrecognized in an activity the business is currently performing or in a concept or an idea that the business already owns. Finding this hidden potential and becoming well known for it will grow the business. This strategy reflects Bloom's 45 years of experience in growing businesses and brands of every size and type, including famous companies such as Southwest Airlines, T-Mobile, T.G.I. Friday's, Zales, Nestlé, and L'Oréal, as well as not-so-famous B2B firms, not-for-profit organizations, and start-ups. Now, through his Growth Discovery Process, he is making his strategy available to all people who know their craft but don't know how to craft a growth strategy. Bloom's process is a plain-language path of discovery with only four steps. Whether you are a business leader, a manager, or an entrepreneur, this Growth Discovery Process will enable you to gain a profound insight into the core values of your enterprise. It will guide you to a clear understanding of who your customers are and what your special offerings to those customers should be. Finally, the process will stimulate a host of ideas-what Bloom calls Imaginative Acts-for highlighting your Inside Advantage and making it well known to current and prospective customers. Doing what you're good at and doing it better than anyone else will create growth. The Inside Advantage will help you capture that magic moment when customers will select your product or service over those of your competitors.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published September 26, 2007
6 people are currently reading
236 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 27, 2008
The Inside Advantage: The Strategy That Unlocks the Growth in Your Business
Robert H. Bloom with Dave Conti
Prentice Hall
Bloom takes a very specific and effective approach as he presents his material within a framework he identifies as “The Growth Discovery Process.” It has four separate but related sequential stages, each of which Bloom explains with rigor and eloquence:
1. Determine WHO is the core customer most likely to buy the given product or service in the quantity required with a margin that ensures optimal profit
2. Then determine WHAT is the uncommon offering that can be owned and leveraged
3. Next, determine HOW the persuasive strategy will convince core customers to select the uncommon offering rather than competitive offerings
4. Finally, OWN IT! by taking certain imaginative initiatives that celebrate the uncommon offering so that it becomes indispensable to core customers. Some of the most valuable material in this book addresses (In Part 4, Chapters 10-12) one of the greatest challenges all organizations now face: How to create and then sustain a critical mass of what Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba aptly characterize as “customer evangelists.”
As for the significance of his book’s title, “The best way to expand the size, scope, and profit of your business is to grow it from the inside, capitalizing on hidden strengths that already exist within the company or brand.” First, it is imperative to formulate an appropriate strategy because (like a hammer) it will be needed to “drive” decision-makers through the aforementioned four-stage process. Bloom invites those who read his book to embark on a similar journey and he then accompanies them each step of the way, illustrating key points with an abundance of real-world examples from his decades of experience working with hundreds of clients. I especially appreciate Bloom’s empirical approach and his relentless pragmatism. Although he has total confidence in “The Growth Discovery Process,” he reiterates throughout the book’s narrative is that it is merely a means by which to achieve and then sustain profitable growth…and do so with aggressive (i.e. “explosive”) and imaginative but prudent initiatives that are most appropriate to the given organization.
Robert H. Bloom with Dave Conti
Prentice Hall
Bloom takes a very specific and effective approach as he presents his material within a framework he identifies as “The Growth Discovery Process.” It has four separate but related sequential stages, each of which Bloom explains with rigor and eloquence:
1. Determine WHO is the core customer most likely to buy the given product or service in the quantity required with a margin that ensures optimal profit
2. Then determine WHAT is the uncommon offering that can be owned and leveraged
3. Next, determine HOW the persuasive strategy will convince core customers to select the uncommon offering rather than competitive offerings
4. Finally, OWN IT! by taking certain imaginative initiatives that celebrate the uncommon offering so that it becomes indispensable to core customers. Some of the most valuable material in this book addresses (In Part 4, Chapters 10-12) one of the greatest challenges all organizations now face: How to create and then sustain a critical mass of what Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba aptly characterize as “customer evangelists.”
As for the significance of his book’s title, “The best way to expand the size, scope, and profit of your business is to grow it from the inside, capitalizing on hidden strengths that already exist within the company or brand.” First, it is imperative to formulate an appropriate strategy because (like a hammer) it will be needed to “drive” decision-makers through the aforementioned four-stage process. Bloom invites those who read his book to embark on a similar journey and he then accompanies them each step of the way, illustrating key points with an abundance of real-world examples from his decades of experience working with hundreds of clients. I especially appreciate Bloom’s empirical approach and his relentless pragmatism. Although he has total confidence in “The Growth Discovery Process,” he reiterates throughout the book’s narrative is that it is merely a means by which to achieve and then sustain profitable growth…and do so with aggressive (i.e. “explosive”) and imaginative but prudent initiatives that are most appropriate to the given organization.
February 16, 2016
This book was highly recommended to me by a business coach however I honestly didn't get much out of it. I think it could have been summed up in one sentence: Know your customer and market to him/her exclusively. Maybe the book just wasn't my style.
September 14, 2016
More for established companies looking for an edge. No silver bullets, just tons of common sense that will absolutely disappoint those who don't appreciate simplicity or the basics and instead are seeking the next new thing.
March 11, 2018
A solid foundation to look at your organization from a customer-centric perspective. Excellent step-by-step by an author who has walked the talk.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews