I’m currently vacationing in Holland and found some inspiration from a local farmer. His existing business is dairy farming. Cows graze his lush grassy fields, and he sells their milk. But he’s also found a way to build on his core. He leases long-term boat moorings along the canals that surround his property. So locals can enjoy fresh dairy products AND easily access their boats from the raised dykes surrounding his pastures. In addition, he offers Boer Golf (farmer golf), which is basically a larger scale version of croquet. Business teams or family gatherings have a lot of fun playing in a great pastoral scene, and yet again, Mr. Farmer has found another way to monetize his core asset—pasture land—at little cost, and in a way that doesn’t sacrifice the strength of his core.
The businesses that I’ve been part of have all found ways to build a great core. But some have been better than others at finding low cost compliments to their core. Services are the most obvious choice that are offered from a software business, but services aren’t low cost, and they’re often focused on filling gaps in core product. Not great. Requisite Technology’s catalog management software, eMerge, was a great compliment to the core product finding engine, BugsEye, and it helped the business sell into new markets on the coat tails of SAP and Oracle who bundled the finding engine. Better.
So if you’re looking to grow your business, one way to orient your thinking may be to look for non-core growth strategies.
• Criteria: Low cost and complimentary to core—but not filling gaps in core necessarily
• How: Can be found by looking at ways to meet an alternative market need
And don’t forget to have fun, since creativity is essential in finding the right complimentary growth strategy.
