Being proactive in the approach to the market has been linked to higher business performance. It is still relatively unclear, however, exactly what market activities that a firm perform in order to achieve this proactivity. The goal of this research is to explore how successful proactive firms use proactiveness in their market strategies in order to achieve higher business performance. By using a qualitative case study approach, this study takes a starting point in five successfully proactive Swedish firms and how they develop their proactive market strategies. Findings indicate three proactive themes seen in the firms; proactiveness through customer engagement, through market shaping, and through innovation leadership. The main contributions of the study are (1) a description of how firms use proactiveness to achieve success, (2) a starting point for more detailed studies of proactiveness, and (3) insight for managers as to how to apply proactiveness in their firms.