When Eddie Speaks… Business Grows
I help companies grow. As a growth strategist, author and speaker, I look at business from a different perspective. A growth strategy is about more than just stealing market share from a competitor, which is what most companies do to grow. That leads to short-term tactics like discounted pricing, me-too innovation and benchmarking best practices that may work in the short-term by “renting” market share, but ultimately destroy industry profitability.
For companies with extremely high market shares, the only way to grow is by growing the category or, even better, creating a new category. My research shows that these strategies pay huge dividends: 1% of brands capture 80% of category growth, and category creators grow revenues four times faster with market capitalization that is six times higher.
Eddie’s Approach Reinvigorates Brands and Businesses
The Swingline stapler brand had flat growth, but grew 19% within 9 months of implementing our retail strategy. The Braun electric shaver brand was slightly declining, but grew 8% and 9% in consecutive years after implementing its growth strategy. The Ball Park hot dog brand had flat growth for years. Then our category growth strategy helped it launch a $100 million innovation and doubled the brand within five years. All of this was organic growth without any incremental spending or costly acquisitions.
Today, I work with smaller up and coming companies that are either category growers and/or creators. These companies don’t have a growth problem, but rather have a growth management problem. They are growing 50% plus per year and are constantly under-investing in the business because they can’t figure out “how high is high?”
An Expert in Any Time Zone, or On Any Continent
I’ve delivered keynote speeches in the U.S. and around the world, from Australia and New Zealand to Japan and Canada to Denmark and the UK. Whether the topic is growth strategy, 20-year consumer trends, category growth and creation, or information from my book, Superconsumers, I’ll deliver a blend of education, entertainment and authentic stories of brave execs who bet big and had big “wins” when meeting consumers’ needs.
Eddie’s Most Requested Speaking Topics
Make Expertise Your Critical Currency
Thought leadership is critical to achieving success and independence in just about every career and in every context. If you are a management consultant at a big firm, a solopreneur setting up shop or someone aspiring to shift into consulting, true expertise is the critical currency to make that happen. Every executive and leader can build thought leadership and expertise to advance their careers and achieve autonomy and pricing power. Let me speak to your company group to tell you how.
enhance my expertiseGrow Sales 4x and Your Stock Price 6x. How? With a New Category
Category creators — companies with a breakthrough product and business model innovations — grow their sales four times faster and their stock prices six times higher than comparable companies. Those that become “category kings” garner 76% of the total industry’s market capitalization. I will share eight specific ingredients and distinct recipes for becoming a category king.
become a category kingSuperconsumers: What are They? How Do They Help You Spot and Ride 20-Year Trends?
Superconsumers are the top 10% of consumers that drive 30% to 70% of category sales. Even more important — they drive category profit. They are the smartest and most strategically valuable consumers, whatever size your company. Identifying them is the best way to spot a great wave to ride or a huge risk to avoid. I will share with you five actions to take to make the most of your superconsumers.
discover my superconsumerLessons Learned from Doubling 8 Businesses In <8 Years for >$8B in Sales
Growth. It’s the top issue on every CEO’s agenda. Yet few companies truly know how to grow. In two decades of working on growth strategy, I’ve watched 8 clients double or triple their revenues in 8 years or less, for a total of $8 billion. And what I’ve learned is that there are a some common themes that can inspire anyone to grow.
grow my business