Grassroots Strategy

A powerful yet practical guide to B2B strategic growth, it’s like a mini-MBA.

Accelerating profitable growth has been one of the long-standing challenges of business executives. Even today, with stock markets booming and M&A activity returning to record levels, organic growth is anemic for many companies. The root cause is a lack of strategy in the organization’s thinking, planning, and marketing. Many successful business leaders have built their careers on execution and efficiency but have relatively little experience making the strategic decisions that drive both the top and bottom line. Lean, Six Sigma, and other efficiency-focused methodologies are fantastic at answering questions on how to do things better. Still, they are not suited to answer strategic questions around what they should do and why.

Grassroots Strategy conveys what has historically been considered complex concepts in a simple to read and approachable way through stories, case studies, and a little humor. The book provides a framework for finding growth in the sweet spot between market needs and a company’s capabilities. Bennett and Fleming present practical tools and principles that can unleash growth potential and prove that the myth that the right strategies must emerge from senior executives, consultants, and mystical seers in an ivory tower is debunked. With the proper training and environment, they can come from almost anywhere in an organization.

The entire Grassroots Strategy process is designed to find a business’ strategic optimal plan where profitable growth is most likely. Making the right decisions relies on a few critical pieces of information:

• Market and Customer Needs:  What unmet and/or under-met needs exist within the market?

• Differentiation:  What do we, or could we do to meet those needs uniquely?

• Customer Value: How much is it worth to meet those needs?

• Target Segment: Which potential customers have those needs the most?

• Business Model: What is the best mechanism to serve those needs and make money?

Everything else in the book is designed to help answer those questions. Throughout these pages, Bennett and Fleming share years of experience and knowledge and take readers from strategy apprentice to journeyman strategic thinker. With diligence and discipline, this process will separate the best growth ideas from the also-rans. And it will enable you to redirect resources and accelerate the best approaches to deliver results more quickly.

In the words of two of the many Grassroots Strategy customers, “Grassroots strategy has created shareholder value in every business that I have led.”  And “Grassroots Strategy is the definitive guide to strategic marketing.”

Whatever your situation, this book is a convenient way to share these concepts with all teams and individuals seeking strategic growth. Start working on your business growth now, and enjoy the journey.

“This is the most powerful, yet practical, strategic growth framework that I have encountered. Over the last decade, Jeff and the Amphora team have trained more than 1,000 associates from my organization, and we have successfully leveraged the market-back principles to transform existing businesses and enhance the launch of new products and services. Grassroots Strategy is the definitive guide to strategic marketing.”
— Michael Stubblefield, President and CEO, Avantor®

“Grassroots strategy has created shareholder value in every business that I have led.”
— Pete Smith, Former CEO, Voltaix

“In Grassroots Strategy, Bennett and Fleming offer a practical guide to developing winning strategies for B2B companies. Their framework for finding growth in the sweet spot between market needs and a firm’s capabilities is compelling. This book is brimming with excellent tools and techniques for the strategy practitioner.”
— Cesare R. Mainardi, Adjunct Professor, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management; Former CEO, Booz & Company; Author, The Essential Advantage: How to Win with a Capabilities-Driven Strategy

“Innovative and proven pathways to driving organic growth in today’s rapidly moving B2B markets – building strategy around customer needs at the “grassroots level.” A focused set of practical frameworks, tools and principles – with cases and examples distilled from thousands of hours of work with B2B companies. Become a “growth champion” for your business: buy, read, and use this great book!”
— Ralph Oliva, Professor of Marketing, Penn State Smeal College of Business; Director, Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM)

Grassroots Strategy is practical and enlightening, and is a must read for every B2B company. It shows how to get your teams thinking differently about the value they bring to the market, and how to price products and services to capture that value for your company. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Jeff and his team in action, and his principles work!
— Tanya Fratto, Former CEO, Diamond Innovations

“Grassroots Strategy does a fantastic job of explaining a framework that I have used successfully at three companies.  Jeff and Darrin bring the concepts to life with great case studies and even manage to inject a little humor and wit along with their wisdom.”

— JoAnna Sohovich, CEO, Chamberlain Group

"I've read a lot of boopks on strategy and this is definitely the only one that 'goes to eleven.'"

Mike Foley, Retired Senior Executive, E*Trade and Barclays