The Four Pillars of SOARgrowth

Why Balanced Excellence Drives Business Breakthroughs

By Larry Goddard, Laurence Franklin and Jennifer Goddard

Why do so many capable businesses hit a growth ceiling? Not because they’re standing still—but because key parts of the business aren’t fully connected. Strategy and execution. Teams and goals. Insight and action. SOARgrowth™ brings them together.

In today’s complex and competitive landscape, the businesses that grow aren’t necessarily the ones with the best product, the lowest price, or the smartest team. They’re the ones that operate with a unified system— where strategy, people, data, and execution are aligned in decision making and action.

That’s the principle behind SOARgrowth, a business growth framework designed specifically for the middle market. SOARgrowth isn’t a theory or a buzzword-laden model. It’s a practical, proven system built around four essential pillars:
✅ Sales & Margins – Build a smart, profitable revenue engine
✅ Organization & Culture – Align people, purpose, and performance
✅ Accounting, Finance & Tech – Optimize decisions with clarity, data and resources
✅ Responsiveness & Execution – Turn strategy into momentum and action

Each pillar reflects a core part of business health. SOARgrowth stresses that it is not enough to focus on just one or two parts of the business. True, sustainable growth comes when all four pillars are elevated and aligned. That’s when business momentum becomes not just possible—but predictable.

Pillar 1: Sales & Margins – Fuel for the Journey
Sales bring in revenue. Margins determine how much of it you keep. Many businesses obsess over top-line growth while quietly bleeding cash or earnings at the bottom. Others underinvest in sales capacity, relying too long on a few relationships or a single channel. The SOARgrowth approach begins with clarity:

-Where is the market headed—and how you can best position your business for success?
-What are your optimal opportunities for growth?
-Who are your ideal customers?
-What offerings deliver the highest margin with the least friction?

From there, it’s about building a scalable revenue engine: one with a clear sales strategy; great sales leadership; a talented and well-trained sales team – performing roles suited to their skills and talents; comprehensive sales coverage; clear goals and strong accountability. Sales and marketing must work hand-in-hand—not in silos—so you’re not just chasing leads, but winning the right business at the right price.

Too many companies “grow broke”—spending aggressively on sales and discounting just to win work. That’s not growth. That’s erosion. SOARgrowth shifts the focus from hustle to health. But even the best sales engine breaks down without the right people behind it—aligned, accountable, and committed. That’s where the second pillar comes in.

Pillar 2: Organization & Culture – The People System That Powers Progress
If sales is the fuel, then people are the engine. And like any engine, misalignment grinds progress to a halt.
Top-performing companies don’t just attract talent—they secure buy-in. They ensure teams understand their role, feel ownership over outcomes, and are engaged and aligned with the company’s direction. This kind of buy-in fuels accountability, strengthens culture, and drives performance—not through pressure, but through shared commitment and purpose.

Key questions include:
-Does every person know what success looks like in their role?
-Are leaders building trust, leading by example and empowering action?
-Does your culture support ownership, learning, and healthy tension?
-Does your team feel empowered and engaged?

Buy-in is the multiplier that turns good strategy into consistent execution. When people believe in the plan and see their role in it, they bring more energy, creativity, and urgency to their work.

SOARgrowth helps businesses make culture tangible—not just through a values chart on the wall, but through behavior, leadership cadence, and the way teams collaborate. Culture isn’t just a feel-good metric. It’s a competitive advantage.
Companies with a strong organization and culture pillar retain top talent longer, respond faster to change, and execute strategy with less friction. Without this, even the best ideas stall out. But even the most committed team can’t succeed without the right data, financial discipline, and tools to guide their decisions—that’s where the third pillar steps in.

Pillar 3: Accounting, Finance & Technology – The Brains and Backbone
No business succeeds without discipline—and that starts with financial clarity. Unfortunately, many companies operate with delayed, incomplete, or unclear data. Leadership makes decisions on gut feel, not facts. Growth plans are pursued without understanding the cost—or cash impact.

The SOARgrowth model insists on financial fluency:
-What’s your true margin by customer or product line?
-Are you forecasting cash and working capital in real time?
-Can you access the operational data you need to make weekly decisions?
-Do you know when to double-down, pivot or retreat?

It also emphasizes intelligent investment in technology. Too many companies overpay for software programs (or multiple software programs) that create redundancies or do not address the business’ need for timely and accurate information. Or they underinvest in the tools that could simplify collaboration and improve decision making speed.
Technology should support—not complicate—growth. Whether it’s a CRM, ERP, or custom dashboard, SOARgrowth helps teams align their tools to their goals. Finance and tech aren’t just back-office functions. They’re strategic enablers.
Still, insight and infrastructure only matter if they lead to action. Turning plans into measurable progress is the work of the fourth pillar.

Pillar 4: Responsiveness & Execution – Where Growth Becomes Real
Ideas are cheap. Execution is what turns ambition into outcomes. That’s why the fourth pillar—Responsiveness & Execution—is where so many businesses either rise or fall. Execution means making consistent and efficient progress on the right priorities. Responsiveness means doing it fast enough to keep up with customer needs, competitive threats, and market shifts.

Symptoms of weakness in this pillar include:
-Goals that shift weekly, with no clear follow-through
-Teams that are busy but rarely finish what they start
-Customer complaints about delays, errors, or poor service
-Strategic plans that never make it out of the binder
-Unclear or non-existent value proposition and brand or business positioning

SOARgrowth introduces execution systems designed for real-world teams:
-Clear priorities based on a clear definition of where the company is heading
-Ownership and due dates for every action item
-Structured check-ins to keep momentum without micromanaging
-Feedback loops so customer signals turn into process improvements
-Agility and flexibility when circumstances, needs or conditions change
This pillar is where leadership earns trust—and growth becomes self-sustaining. Execution brings strategy to life—but only when it’s supported by strong sales, empowered people, and informed decisions. That’s why all four pillars must work in concert.

Why All Four Pillars Matter—Together
Think of a table with four legs. Remove one, and it becomes unstable. It might hold temporarily. But any pressure—new growth, a sudden crisis, a key employee departure—can send it tumbling.

The same goes for businesses that excel in just one or two areas:
-A company with great sales and culture but no financial controls? It scales chaos.
-One with tight finance and execution but no sales engine? It stalls out.
-A business with great people and great margins but no follow-through? It stays stuck in planning mode.

The real power of SOARgrowth is in integration. Each pillar reinforces the others:
-Sales provides fuel—but only if finance can manage the runway
-Culture creates alignment—but only if execution turns it into progress
-Technology enables speed—but only if people know how to use it
-Execution creates results—but only if sales and strategy are clear
That’s what makes SOARgrowth different from other growth frameworks. It doesn’t just optimize departments. It strengthens the system.

What Balanced Excellence Delivers
When all four pillars are strong and aligned, businesses operate in a different gear. They move with more speed, more focus, and more confidence. Here’s what that looks like:
1. Strategic Clarity:
Leaders and teams know where they are heading and what matters most—and what to
say no to.
2. Growth Focus:
Clearly defined growth opportunities known and understood by all.
3. Scalable Systems:
Growth doesn’t overwhelm the team or require heroics. It builds on structure with an
ROI focus.
4. Faster Execution:
Priorities move from whiteboards into action—and from action into results.
5. Team Buy-In:
People feel ownership because they helped build the path. Engagement soars.
6. Resilience:
The business doesn’t fall apart when one person leaves or one market shifts.
7. Customer Confidence:
When responsiveness and reliability rise, referrals, retention, and loyalty follow.
8. Insight Driven:
Action and decisions are based on timely data, KPIs, and analytics.
This isn’t hypothetical. Companies using SOARgrowth report significant improvements in profitability, decision speed, team alignment, and customer satisfaction—within months, not years.

SOARgrowth: A System for Real-World Businesses
Most middle-market leaders aren’t looking for fluff. They’re not trying to become academics or consultants. They want real tools that work in the trenches.

SOARgrowth was designed with this in mind. It meets businesses where they are—scrappy, complex, constrained by time and talent—and gives them a way to drive change without stopping the work. It’s not a silver bullet. It’s a blueprint.
Through guided assessments, ROI-prioritized action plans, leadership coaching, and intuitive software, SOARgrowth makes business growth something you can see, measure, and lead—across every pillar.

It’s Not About Perfection. It’s About Progress.
Few companies are firing on all four pillars at once. And that’s okay. The point isn’t to be perfect—it’s to get clear on where you’re strong, where you’re stuck, and where to focus next.
That’s how you stop grinding.
That’s how you start scaling.
That’s how you SOAR!

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