Running a small business can be a different adventure every day. As a leader, you’re juggling a lot. Some days, you’re working on a deal or partnership to bring your company glory and newfound growth; other days, you’re putting out fires and preventing disasters. Turning a good idea into a billion-dollar company requires hard work, but small business owners and entrepreneurs are a determined group.

Recently, we surveyed over 300 small business leaders to find out their goals and challenges in the next 12-18 months. One of the first findings: 70 percent of businesses expect to see revenue growth this year, with 38 percent of those expecting to grow by more than 10 percent.

With expectations set so high, we looked to the rest of the results to discover how small businesses are aligning sales, marketing, customer service, and IT to take their companies to the next level. This quest for growth always keeps the customer’s journey in mind, and revolves around creating deeper customer relationships in order to differentiate from larger competitors and demonstrate real value.

What's this e-book all about?

We created the e-book The Quest for Growth: How Small Businesses Are Taking it to the Next Level to share the results of our research. We surveyed 339 small business principals to discover their most important goals, how each department is helping to contribute to those goals, and the challenges they face.

What exactly is in it?

This e-book is divided into three parts, delivering our findings on what small businesses care about most and how they are looking to reach the next level in the next 12-18 months. Survey takeaways include:

The Pressure Is on Sales to Create Growth

All eyes are on sales to grow the business, so it’s no wonder that the No. 1 sales priority is “acquiring new customers.” However, the increasing expectation for providers to “solve business problems and measure value based on outcomes” ranked highly as a challenge that sales teams encounter when engaging with customers and prospects.

Marketing Is Joining the Pursuit of Growth

Just as sales has shifted goals and tactics to adapt to a savvy customer base, small business marketers have also adapted to business challenges. Principals ranked new business development as the most pressing challenge when executing a total marketing strategy. This shift to align with larger company goals also means that marketers must develop quality metrics to measure their success.

Customer Service Is Becoming the New Competitive Advantage

When asked about key business drivers of their customer service teams, small businesses ranked “increased sales/revenue” followed by “customer retention” as most important. To achieve these goals, companies are taking steps to align around creating a single, comprehensive customer experience from sales to service.

How do I get one?

Learn how small businesses are driving growth in 2015, and beyond. Click the button below to read The Quest for Growth: How Small Businesses Are Taking it to the Next Level.