The Innovation Sprint is an intensive, 50-hour intervention which supports established SMEs develop a strategy, with operational solutions, for scaling up; stimulating a sustained period of high revenue growth by improving their dynamic capabilities to better use, track and allocate resources.
The majority of SMEs we support are focussed on a market penetration growth strategy – increasing the market share of existing products and services – however the programme can also be tailored to support product and market development growth strategies.
The Innovation Sprint is delivered 1-2-1 with each business, in an online collaborative environment with expert business consultancy facilitators. The role of the facilitator is to a critical friend and help each SME as the right questions.
The programme supports leadership teams in established SMEs, in all sectors, who demonstrate scale-up potential.
“The Programme has enabled us to develop a strategy that sets a bold path for 33% annual growth.”
James Gwynne, Managing Director
ITP Packaging
What types of challenges does the programme help you to address?
Many SMEs we work with face barriers in driving new customer acquisition at any significant scale or maximising the revenue potential from existing customers. With new revenue, growth will always be hampered.
The Innovation Sprint helps SMEs to rethink their value proposition, position in the market place and routes to market, addressing critical questions in which customer segments drive the greater profitability and revenue potential.
The customer segmentation and performance data analysis conducted during the programme provides real clarity on the buying patterns and behaviour of the customer base so SMEs can make informed decisions on which market segments to grow and how to go about it.
Many SMEs experience challenges in developing and embedding systematic, quality-driven, business processes. An over-reliance on individual know-how, informal processes and unstructured data can create risks and points of failure in service delivery. This can compromise customer experience, customer retention, efficiency and profitability.
The Innovation Sprint helps SMEs to critically reflect, review and reconfigure key business processes across the whole customer journey – from sales, service delivery, and relationship management – to ensure they are more robust and scalable.
The more effective use of digital technologies – for example in customer relationship management – and management performance data is also a key feature to aid strategic, operational and tactical decision making.
Data literacy across both strategic and operational levels is a major challenge for many SMEs. Firstly is the availability, validity and reliability of good quality data within the business. The second issue is the skills required to interpret and make sense of the patterns and insights of the data for effective decision making.
The programme helps SMEs gain clarity on the key data sets they have available, the quality of that data and how to use their customer and financial data more effectively. Many SMEs use these insights to make better decisions on how to manage their relationships with customers, where to increase their business development efforts, and more efficiency allocate their time and resources.
The more effective use of data ultimately leads to improved decision making which improves productivity, revenue generation, and profitability.
The Innovation Sprint Programme has held endorsement by the ScaleUp Institute since 2023 as an exemplar programme supporting SMEs to scale up.
Endorsement is based upon an independent assessment of the sustained growth impact achieved by SMEs who have been supported:
350+ SMEs supported
480+ jobs created
170+ new products and services launched
29% average growth rate
28-45% profitability increases
How does the programme work?
1. Diagnostic and productivity benchmarking
The first stage of the programme is conduct a detailed business diagnostic, which assesses the growth challenges, opportunities and growth priorities in the business. This is conducted with an experienced business consultant facilitator.
Data from the diagnostic is also used to conduct productivity benchmarking and growth projection modelling. SMEs are also asked to provide detailed business performance data for segmentation analysis. The results of this are discussed in the facilitated workshops.
Insights from the diagnostic and productivity benchmarking help to frame the focus of the Innovation Sprint for each business.
2. Innovation Sprint facilitated workshops
Following the diagnostic, eligible and suitable SMEs are invited onto the Innovation Sprint workshops, a series of 4 intensive workshops which delve deep into the performance of the business, its customers, key processes, systems and structures.
The 4 workshops address a series of themes:
- Customer performance segmentation
- Competitive comparison and market analysis
- Value proposition
- Objectives and financial targets
- Digital capabilities and processes
- Implementing change
Upon conclusion of the workshops, each SME will have developed a clear range of solutions to the challenges an opportunities identified. This will include a business development and relationship management plan, clearer sales and/or customer journey processes with standard operating procedures, financial and customer acquisition targets, and an action plan.
A summary report of all insights, decisions, solutions and actions is also provided.
3. Peer-to-peer implementation sessions
At 3 and 6 months post-workshop completion, each SME is invited to Implementation sessions. These sessions provide an opportunity to meet with and share experiences with other SMEs who have also been through the Innovation Sprint and are striving for scale-up.
Sharing experiences of growth with other SME leaders provides incentive and motivation to face down the barriers which arise in delivering cultural, strategic and operational change.
Where is the Innovation Sprint is available fully-funded for SMEs?
| Lancashire | Liverpool City Region |
| – West Lancashire – Preston | – Liverpool – Sefton – St Helens – Knowsley – Wirral – Halton |
“The results have been invaluable… started implementing them during the programme and the benefits were quickly apparent.“
Nick Small, Technical Director
Pali
“The Innovation Sprint has been nothing short of revolutionary for me and my business.”
Gary Sargent, Director
127 Media
“…the best programme I have ever been on… I now have a clear plan of action and feel confident in the direction I need to take the business to grow sustainably”
Paalan Sood, Founder
Sood Marketing
Innovation Sprint team
Contact us
If your business could benefit from support from the Innovation Sprint please get in touch with us and a member of our team will be happy to assist you.
