March 28, 2023

The Productized Operations Pyramid: The Zone, The Engine & the Machine

How do you grow with leverage instead of labor so you are able to multiply your earning capacity with multiplying labor. The Productized Operations Pyramid of the Zone, the Engine and the Machine.

The Productized Operations Pyramid

Core to the productized philosophy is the desire to grow with leverage instead of labor so you are able to multiply your earning capacity with multiplying labor.

So how do you actually build leverage? The Productized Operations Pyramid.

When it comes to the new model for peaceful, predictable growth, think of the model as a pyramid with the following three foundational pillars:

  1. The Zone (Focus)
  2. The Engine (Motivation)
  3. The Machine (Execution)

But before we dive in, I'd like to summarize this concept with a Meme:

The Zone 

The Zone is your company’s and team’s unique zone of genius that sets you apart from everyone else and allows you to authentically inhabit your “Market of One”. 

Inside the Zone are the 20% of highly leveraged strategies that create 80% of all results. These strategies involve initially creating (and later optimizing) your unique, differentiated niche, positioning, offer, messaging, customer experience and other core systems.

When done correctly, the outcome of an effectively optimized Zone is to achieve Resonance with your target market.

The Engine 

The Engine is what moves and inspires both your company and customers. An engine produces energy and runs a machine. Without an engine, a machine can't run. 

The Engine is made up of your company’s purpose, mission, story, product offerings and core team. 

When implemented properly, the Engine and its elements produce energy and act as the “gasoline” that moves your company and customers into action. 

The Machine 

Unlike the Engine which produces energy, the machine consumes energy.

The Machine is made up of all the systems and technology required to make execution happen. Think of the Machine as your assembly line which includes all marketing, sales, business development, customer acquisition and customer fulfillment operations.

When implemented properly, the Machine will predictably drive traffic, leads, sales and referrals to your company.

The Productized Operations Pyramid

Core to the productized philosophy is the desire to grow with leverage instead of labor so you are able to multiply your earning capacity with multiplying labor.

So how do you actually build leverage? The Productized Operations Pyramid.

When it comes to the new model for peaceful, predictable growth, think of the model as a pyramid with the following three foundational pillars:

  1. The Zone (Focus)
  2. The Engine (Motivation)
  3. The Machine (Execution)

But before we dive in, I'd like to summarize this concept with a Meme:

The Zone 

The Zone is your company’s and team’s unique zone of genius that sets you apart from everyone else and allows you to authentically inhabit your “Market of One”. 

Inside the Zone are the 20% of highly leveraged strategies that create 80% of all results. These strategies involve initially creating (and later optimizing) your unique, differentiated niche, positioning, offer, messaging, customer experience and other core systems.

When done correctly, the outcome of an effectively optimized Zone is to achieve Resonance with your target market.

The Engine 

The Engine is what moves and inspires both your company and customers. An engine produces energy and runs a machine. Without an engine, a machine can't run. 

The Engine is made up of your company’s purpose, mission, story, product offerings and core team. 

When implemented properly, the Engine and its elements produce energy and act as the “gasoline” that moves your company and customers into action. 

The Machine 

Unlike the Engine which produces energy, the machine consumes energy.

The Machine is made up of all the systems and technology required to make execution happen. Think of the Machine as your assembly line which includes all marketing, sales, business development, customer acquisition and customer fulfillment operations.

When implemented properly, the Machine will predictably drive traffic, leads, sales and referrals to your company.

Table of Contents

The Productized Operations Pyramid

Core to the productized philosophy is the desire to grow with leverage instead of labor so you are able to multiply your earning capacity with multiplying labor.

So how do you actually build leverage? The Productized Operations Pyramid.

When it comes to the new model for peaceful, predictable growth, think of the model as a pyramid with the following three foundational pillars:

  1. The Zone (Focus)
  2. The Engine (Motivation)
  3. The Machine (Execution)

But before we dive in, I'd like to summarize this concept with a Meme:

The Zone 

The Zone is your company’s and team’s unique zone of genius that sets you apart from everyone else and allows you to authentically inhabit your “Market of One”. 

Inside the Zone are the 20% of highly leveraged strategies that create 80% of all results. These strategies involve initially creating (and later optimizing) your unique, differentiated niche, positioning, offer, messaging, customer experience and other core systems.

When done correctly, the outcome of an effectively optimized Zone is to achieve Resonance with your target market.

The Engine 

The Engine is what moves and inspires both your company and customers. An engine produces energy and runs a machine. Without an engine, a machine can't run. 

The Engine is made up of your company’s purpose, mission, story, product offerings and core team. 

When implemented properly, the Engine and its elements produce energy and act as the “gasoline” that moves your company and customers into action. 

The Machine 

Unlike the Engine which produces energy, the machine consumes energy.

The Machine is made up of all the systems and technology required to make execution happen. Think of the Machine as your assembly line which includes all marketing, sales, business development, customer acquisition and customer fulfillment operations.

When implemented properly, the Machine will predictably drive traffic, leads, sales and referrals to your company.

The Client

World class product with massive ambition
SteelCon is an innovative family-owned engineering firm based in Canada. Their proprietary product is up to 30% lighter weight than traditional steel allowing for higher cost effectiveness and faster project implementation while minimizing the carbon footprint of commercial development projects.

The Problem

Struggling to grow beyond local network
Despite having a revolutionary industry and world-changing product, SteelCon was seeking to expand internationally, however, they struggled to generate business outside of their local network.

The Solution

Managed business development
SteelCon realized they needed to create a predictable growth engine that allowed them to generate qualified leads and sales opportunities outside of their existing network. With Predictable Growth, SteelCon hoped tocreate a predictable B2B growth engine from managedgrowth that allowed them to expand their client base internationally.

The Results

S10M+ sales pipeline from scratch in 26 days
Within less than 4 weeks of launching their business development campaign, we generated a sales pipeline worth well over $10,000,000 by converting 2% of prospects we reached out to into sales appointments on the calendar.

Business Development Process

Develop Your Avatar

As always, we began by defining the ideal client avatar in detail, including both demographics and psychographics, to craft a story-driven message that resonates.

Pictured: Our Customer Avatar Template

Develop Your List


Develop Your ListAfter defining our client's avatar, we produced a high quality, pre-vetted list of 500 perfect prospects that matched our client's targeting criteria.

Pictured: Prospect List from SteelCon's campaign

Market of One Research & Strategy Development

We researched our client's industry and competitive landscape in order to identify the opportunity gaps for them to make the competition irrelevant.

Pictured: One of several positioning exercises we use for developing our client's Market of One strategy

Develop Your Market of One Positioning, Messaging & Copywriting

After research, we refined our client's positioning and messaging from "a market of many" to a "market of one" and wrote a hyper-personalized sales outreach sequence designed to stand out from the crowd and generate responses from qualified leads.

Pictured: Our campaign messaging map, inspired by Donald Miller's storybrand framework.

Launch Your Business Development Campaign

We launched a a multi-step business development test campaign to a small list of 500 targeted prospects in order to generate interest in our client's service offerings.

Respond to Leads, Follow Up & Set Appointments

After prospects responded, our team responded, pre-qualify leads based on our client's criteria and set warm discovery calls on our client's calendar.

Pictured: Real life example of a prospect conversation that led to a $3M+ opportunity for our client. Click the button below to get the full email sequence!

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