True high-growth companies are often run by people who share some common characteristics. In a nod to Covey, here are seven habits that high-growth business leaders share:
1. They have a passion for selling. 
If you don’t have a passion for selling then you need a partner who has, but expect to reduce your potential gains significantly. If you don’t have either, your chances of success are virtually nil.
(Photo: Flickr)
2. They think of their customers as players, the game as redefining or dominating a market.
The greatest value is created by you when you create or redefine a market — that’s when you take the lead and your customers are your subjects.
3. They seek out the biggest people in the biggest organisations.
Decision-makers in large organisations have the most to gain, the most to spend and give you the most market leverage. Dealing with lesser players reduces the growth potential, unless you see an opportunity to help them leapfrog the current market leader.
4. They understand how to value innovation.
Only things that are innovative are likely to produce exceptional returns. This is a commonly ignored economic fact. Most companies rush to commoditise their innovations and rarely capture a share of the value they create for customers. Why is your product or service innovative and how does it create customer value?
5. They know that if they don’t change the way their customers do business they probably aren’t adding any value.
This seems like common sense, but mid-management decision-makers and technical buyers are threatened by change and many sales people are unable to make the high level contacts needed to drive change.
6. They base the value they deliver to their customers on advantage, not on cost savings. 
There is no upside limit on value from advantage. There is a downside limitation with cost savings. Executives are flooded with cost saving propositions, but rarely get advantage-based propositions.
(Photo: Flickr)
7. They base their returns on value to the client, not cost plus a margin, or competitive pricing pressure.
That’s how you get the top quartile margin necessary to buy your market advantage and outpace your competition.
