Book: Outgrow

Briefing Document: The Outgrow Selling System

Executive Summary

This document provides a comprehensive analysis of the "Outgrow" selling system, a methodology designed for business-to-business companies to generate predictable, organic revenue growth. The system, developed by Alex Goldfayn, is built on a foundation of systematic, proactive communication with current and prospective customers. Core to its philosophy is a significant mindset shift, moving customer-facing staff from a reactive, problem-solving posture to a proactive, confident approach centered on "helping, not selling."

The Outgrow system reportedly enables clients to achieve 20-30% annual sales growth by implementing a simple, scalable, and trackable process. It focuses on expanding wallet share with the 80% of customers who are often neglected, rather than the 20% who receive the most attention. Key tactics include specific, scripted communication techniques such as the "Did You Know" (DYK) and "Reverse Did You Know" (rDYK) questions, which have statistically predictable success rates.

Implementation is structured around a weekly cadence of assigning, executing, and logging proactive "swings" (efforts), which are then analyzed to provide leading indicators of sales health. The system emphasizes CEO-led cultural change, manager-driven accountability, and regular internal meetings to maintain momentum. By focusing on controllable behaviors (efforts) rather than outcomes (sales), Outgrow aims to remove pressure from staff, build confidence through positive customer feedback, and create a sustainable culture of growth.

1. Core Philosophy of the Outgrow System

The Outgrow system is defined as "Systematically and proactively expanding your business with customers and prospects, especially those you don’t talk with regularly." It directly addresses the common business problem where sales teams are effective "order takers" and problem solvers but struggle to generate new, organic business. The system posits that approximately 90% of B2B companies are almost entirely reactive in their customer interactions.

1.1. Proactive vs. Reactive Engagement

• Reactive Default: Most customer-supplier communication is problem-based. Customers call when something is wrong, and salespeople call to deliver bad news (e.g., price increases, stock issues). This creates an environment where customers expect problems when a salesperson calls.
• Proactive Selling: The core of Outgrow is "Communicating with customers and prospects when they aren’t expecting you (unscheduled), and when nothing is wrong." This proactive stance allows a company to stand out, build better relationships, and show they care more than the competition.

1.2. A Culture, Not a Project

Outgrow is positioned as a permanent cultural shift, not a temporary project. This is critical for long-term success, as projects tend to lose energy and fizzle out, whereas culture endures.

• Key Tenets of the Outgrow Culture:
  • Helping, Not Selling: This central belief reframes the sales function, making it easier for staff (especially non-sales professionals like engineers) to engage in proactive outreach.
  • CEO-Led Initiative: The top executive must visibly lead and energize the initiative, demonstrating its importance to the entire organization.
  • Manager-Driven Success: Mid-level managers are identified as the single most important role for successful implementation, as they oversee team buy-in and accountability.
  • Tracking and Accountability: The system relies on logging all proactive communications ("swings") to generate analytics and hold staff accountable for their efforts.

2. The Foundational Mindset Shift

Approximately 60% of implementing Outgrow is dedicated to mindset work, based on the principle that "behavior follows mindset." The system aims to shift the default sales mindset from one of fear, pessimism, and reactivity to one of confidence, optimism, and proactivity.

2.1. Overcoming the Default Mindset of Fear

The document argues that the sales profession is dominated by fear of rejection, failure, and stress. This fear is a "brick wall for sales growth" that prevents salespeople from engaging in proactive communication. The Outgrow system addresses this directly through a three-step process:

1. Show Staff Their Value: Marinate customer-facing people in the positive, glowing feedback of their own happy customers.
2. Focus on Wins: Constantly elevate, analyze, and recognize the successes generated by proactive efforts.
3. Sustain the Positivity: Continuously share customer testimonials over the long term to combat the daily negativity of problem-solving.

2.2. The Power of Interviewing Happy Customers

A cornerstone technique for shifting mindset is to conduct and record 20-minute phone interviews with happy customers. These are not surveys but structured conversations designed to elicit positive feedback.

• Process:
  • Selection: Target happy, long-term customers who are often not contacted regularly precisely because there are no problems.
  • Method: Conduct a recorded phone call (with permission) asking questions designed to elicit positive feedback, such as "What are some of your favorite things about working with us?" and "How does that help you?"
  • Purpose: The recordings and transcripts are used to "marinate" staff in customer praise, shocking them out of their default fearful mindset and building the confidence required for proactive outreach.
• Key Mindset Shifts Achieved:
  • Confidence over Fear: Confident staff proactively offer additional products, follow up on quotes, and ask for referrals.
  • Optimism over Pessimism: Optimists believe customers need their help and expect success, leading to more proactive engagement.
  • Bold Proactivity over Meek Reactivity: Bold teams take more action, take market share, and are not afraid of "bothering" the customer because they understand their value.
  • Relationship/Value over Products/Services: Staff learn that customers buy because of the relationship and experience, not just the product.

2.3. Perseverance as a Superpower

Perseverance is identified as the single most important mindset and behavior for a salesperson, being "twice as important as talent." The system provides a method to systematize perseverance through:

• Regularly sharing perseverance success stories.
• Reviewing "Perseverance Opportunities" in meetings.
• Discussing deals requiring perseverance in one-on-one reviews.
• Potentially incentivizing sales that require a high number of efforts or overcame multiple rejections.

3. Participants and Roles in the Outgrow System

The system defines five key roles for successful implementation. For smaller companies, these roles may be consolidated.

Role	Metaphor	Key Responsibilities
Owner or CEO	Head Coach	Leads the initiative, infuses energy, reviews scorecards, communicates importance, and generates buy-in.
Group Leaders	Offensive Coordinators	Organize and manage next-level managers, conduct monthly and quarterly meetings, and monitor data.
Administrator	Analytics Manager	Creates and shares scorecards, collates success stories, and manages data inputs/outputs.
Team Managers	Position Coaches	Ensure team understanding and buy-in, lead weekly huddles, and work directly with frontline staff.
Customer-Facing Staff	Players	Execute the proactive communications. This includes outside sales, inside sales, customer service, counter staff, and potentially drivers and technicians.

4. Strategy: Customer Lists and Wallet Share Expansion

The Outgrow system's strategy revolves around focusing proactive efforts on specific, high-potential customer segments and systematically expanding the business done with them.

4.1. Outgrow Customer Lists

A key competitive advantage is the creation of organized, revenue-producing customer lists that go beyond a simple address book. These lists are used in weekly huddles to assign proactive calls.

• Lists Based on Revenue Activity:
  • Zero Dark 30: Customers with significant annual spend but zero revenue in the last 30 days.
  • Revenue Autopilot: Customers with consistent but flat spending who have room for growth.
  • Decreasing Annual Revenue: Customers who are quietly moving business elsewhere.
  • Customers Who Used to Buy, But Stopped: Past customers who can be re-engaged.
• Lists Based on Pipeline Position:
  • Customers with Outstanding Quotes/Proposals: Requires a follow-up to close business.
  • Customers with Pending Opportunities (Pre-Quote): Requires a follow-up to advance the deal.
  • Large Customers Who Can Buy More: Top accounts with expansion potential.
  • Small/Medium Customers Who Can Buy More: The often-neglected majority with significant growth potential.

4.2. Expanding Wallet Share

There are three primary methods for expanding business with existing customers:

1. Expand Products/Services: Systematically un-niche customers by making them aware of other offerings through DYK questions and product lists.
2. Increase Quantity/Volume: Sell more of what customers already buy through inventory programs, automatic delivery, or preventative maintenance plans.
3. Sell to Additional Buyers: Use the Internal Referral Request (iREF) to identify and engage with other buyers within the same customer company.

5. Core Tactics: Proactive Communications

The system provides a toolkit of simple, fast, and effective communication techniques ("Outgrow Asks") to be used during proactive calls or other interactions.

Technique	Purpose	Stated Success Rate	Example
Did You Know (DYK)	Inform customers about other products/services.	20% add a line item	"Did you know we also offer product X?"
Reverse DYK (rDYK)	Let the customer name what else they need.	80% name additional products	"What else do you need quoted?"
Pivot to the Sale (Pivot)	Ask for the business now.	25% say yes	"When would you like this delivered?"
Pivot to Next Convo (Pivot-C)	Schedule the next interaction.	75% schedule next interaction	"When would you like to talk again?"
Percent of Business (%Biz)	Learn how much business you have and ask for more.	40% uncover new opportunities	"What percent of your business would you guess we have?"
Internal Referral (iREF)	Get connected to other buyers at the same company.	66% provide internal referral	"Who else do you work with who I should be helping?"
External Referral (xREF)	Get connected to prospective customers.	66% provide external referral	"Who else do you know, like yourself, who I can help?"

All proactive calls follow a simple three-part structure: 1. The Opening (personal connection), 2. Shift to the Business (using DYKs and rDYKs), and 3. Pivot (to the sale or next conversation). A critical instruction is to always leave a voicemail and immediately follow it with a text message, a combination that reportedly yields a 66% response rate.

6. Implementation and Management

The Outgrow system is executed through a five-step weekly feedback loop and a cadence of internal meetings.

6.1. The Five-Step Weekly Process

1. Assign Target Actions: Leaders assign a specific quantity of actions for the week (e.g., "5 proactive calls to Zero Dark 30 customers").
2. Team Does the Work: Staff executes the communications in short bursts (5-10 minutes per day).
3. Log the Work: Actions and opportunities are logged in real-time via a CRM or the Outgrow Tracking System (OTS), capturing opportunity details, proactive actions taken, and estimated sales value.
4. Share Scorecards & Analytics: Weekly scorecards tracking "swings" (efforts) are shared. This data serves as a leading indicator of sales growth.
5. Share Success Stories: A weekly internal newsletter recognizes top performers and shares their wins, which teaches best practices and motivates the team.

6.2. Cadence of Internal Meetings

• Daily Mentions (2 mins/day): Leaders provide brief, encouraging feedback on logged activities.
• Weekly Huddle (OWH) (20 mins/week): A fast-paced meeting to review metrics, share success stories, and use customer lists to plan the week's proactive calls.
• Monthly Review (10 mins/person): A one-on-one between a manager and each team member to review the past month's results and set priorities for the next.
• Quarterly Planning (90 mins/quarter): A team-wide meeting to review top performers, address underperformance, and set strategic priorities for the next 90 days.

7. Overcoming Challenges and Resistance

The document anticipates resistance to change and provides strategies for managing it.

• Expected Buy-in: Typically, one-third of staff will be enthusiastic adopters, one-third will be hesitant ("wait-and-see"), and one-third will be unlikely to ever participate. A 50-60% participation rate is considered typical and sufficient for significant growth.
• Common Resistance Points & Responses:

Resistance Statement	Rationale	Recommended Response
"I'm already doing this."	Defensive justification; misunderstanding of proactive vs. reactive work.	"That's great. Now we will all do these things, together, in a systematic way over time."
"I'm too busy, I don't have time."	The feeling of being overworked; belief that this is a time-intensive program.	"I know how busy you are, which is why we selected Outgrow. It only requires a few minutes of attention per day."
"I'm doing it, I'm just not writing it down."	Avoidance of accountability and the minor extra work of logging.	"If you are doing the work, you deserve the credit... If you don’t log the opportunity, how can we follow up on it?"
"Do you want me to log notes or sell?"	A confrontational attempt to frame logging as counterproductive to selling.	"Actually, logging proactive actions is a part of selling."

8. Case Studies and Testimonials

The source context is rich with praise and data from companies that have implemented the Outgrow system.

• Michael Meiresonne, COO, DSG Supply: "doubling our revenue over the past three years."
• J&B Supply: After 13 years of flat sales, experienced seven consecutive months of double-digit percentage growth.
• Engineering Services Firm (Anonymous): The division running Outgrow achieved 143% growth over two years, while the two "control group" divisions grew a combined 38%.
• UCC Environmental: Charts show a direct correlation between the number of monthly Outgrow actions and the number of proposals and quotes generated, demonstrating that actions are a powerful leading indicator of sales.
• Derek Houston, Salesperson, East Coast Lumber: Grew personal annual sales from $2.5 million to $40 million over seven years, attributing 95% of sales to Outgrow techniques.

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