Business Growth: Where is Your Business?
Business growth is essential for survival. If your business is not growing, it is in decline. The chart to the left shows what happens to every business, big and small. The years might be longer for some, and the turnover will vary, but all businesses follow a growth curve like an upside-down bowl.
Where is your business on this curve? At different times, you will have different business needs.
When you understand where your business is in its life, you will understand its development needs.
Click on the links below the chart to find out more about where your business is and what you should do about it.
Start-up Businesses
Prior to Start-up the focus of the Business Owner should prepare a Business Plan. A detailed plan will ensure that the owner will understand the risks of their new venture and have strategies to manage them, to make sure that their business has a flying start. Empower Business Solutions provides a Business Consulting service to prepare business plans, or you can do it yourself with our Business Plan Template.
Once the business has commenced operations, the owner has two big areas of concern:
- Survival
- How to get more Customers
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From the owner's perspective the best chance of survival is by bringing in more customers. Empower Business Solutions has a very affordable programs designed for Start-up Businesses:
This low cost programs is guaranteed to produce quick results utilising smart marketing strategies which require little outlay.
Businesses in Youth
Businesses enter this phase when the owner no longer needs to look over their shoulder all the time. The business is not just surviving, it is growing. They know the business of basics that no degree will prepare you for. But now they are impatient. The owners ask:
- How can I accelerate my sales growth?
- How can I make my business more efficient?
At this stage of a business' life, the owner understands not everyone can be their customer. And even more importantly, they don't want everyone to be their customer! But, how to choose? The answer is to have a Marketing System- not just ads that get the phone to ring. And they are now starting to look at how they can improve the operational aspects of their business. In the past this was not an issue, as they weren't that busy with customers. But it is an issue now!
The business is growing quickly, even if somewhat eratically. Year on year, business is good, although there seem little consistency and predictability of profit. Marketing efforts produce good results, but are volatile. What is missing is a systematic approach to producing and managing sales.
Empower Business Solutions has a number of programs designed for Young Businesses:
These programs are longer term programs, but are designed to change the way you do business. The focus in these programs is working on your business, not in it.
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Businesses with Growing Pains
All business reach a stage where they are victims of their success. They don't want any more customers. They are struggling to handle the customers they have. Until this time, inefficiencies in their business could be handled because they had spare capacity. But now they are operating flat out. The owner is working extra hours just to cover the gaps. Customer service is starting to suffer. They are making a lot of money, but not that much profit.
At this time growth slows. The focus now is on business systems that will allow the owner to take back control of their business. They need to be able to delegate to others or outsource non-core parts of their business. But without business systems, they would be unable to do this and maintain quality.
Empower Business Solutions has a number of programs designed for Businesses with Growing Pains:
These programs are longer term programs, but are designed to change the way you do business. The focus in these programs is working on your business, not in it.
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Businesses at Maturity
Maturity is a very dangerous time for a business. This is the point at which the owner is comfortable with their achievements. Their business is running smoothly. While sales have started to plateau, their profits may still be increasing, because they are getting better at doing what they do. The owner has decided that their business is at the right size, they don't want it to grow larger. The owner is in their comfort zone. They see opportunitites to increase their profits incrementally, but they see no need to make significant changes in their business.
The reason this is a dangerous time is that the owner has taken their foot off the accelerator, and is starting to coast. You can never coast in business. The success of your business is dependent on constant renewal. New products and services, new customers, new ways of delivering your service. If you don't invest in constantly rejuvenating your business, your business will be in decline. At first it might still appear to grow (from the momentum of earlier efforts). But after a time, the sales start to plateau. You start to lose some of your older customers. It becomes more difficult to get new customers.
But in your sector, some seem to survive and prosper- what have they done? They have made a commitmet to take make their business survive. This does not necessarily mean to grow. But if they do nothing they would decline. They are looking at ways of keeping their business fresh and replenishing their assets.
Empower Business Solutions has a number of programs designed for Businesses at Maturity:
The focus in these programs is working on your business, not in it.
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Businesses in Decay
Businesses start to decay while they appear to be on plateau. However, at some point, significant and consistent falls in sales start to occur due to the owner ceasing to invest in the renewal of their business. At some point the business starts to lay off staff and reduce their services, until they only have a few customers and staff remaining. Friends really. They may even continue for some time while making losses, out of habit, and perhaps, pride. The owner may start to look for someone to buy their business, but there is nothing to sell. They are their business.
They start to blame the economy, the government, imports, staff, even customers. Turnaround at this point is rare. Although not impossible. Business Coaching can help, but the type of changes necessary are radical, and can be costly. Such changes require a commitment that most owners at this stage no longer have. After all, if you believe someone else is to blame, you also believe that its up to someone else to do something, not you. So all their efforts are focused on the impossible task of making everyone else change, rather than the simpler (if not easy) task of changing themselves.
Empower Business Solutions advice is to recognise the symptons at Maturity before reaching this phase.
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Businesses at the Moment of Truth
Once a business has overcome its Growing Pains, and started to implement systems that take out some of the stress, the business owner reaches a zone of comfort. Their business is running smoothly, and is generating reasonable profit. They have reached the cusp of their comfort zone, and a Moment of Truth. They can continue as they are ("My business is just the right size for me, I don't want it to grow any larger"), or they may choose, after consolidating their business, to take their business to the next level in size and profitability.
If they choose to "keep things as they are", they move into the so called Maturity phase of their business which has its own risks.
When seeking a Second Youth for their business, significant changes in strategy are required. Although they have achieved much just in reaching this stage, the business has started to plateau and different approaches and skills become necessary. What has worked in the past, will only deliver more of the same, at best. At this stage, the owner is looking for advice in driving their business forward. The plateau has become a ceiling.
Empower Business Solutions recognises this is a critical point in the life of any business, and works with many owners at this stage. The areas of our focus for owners at the Moment of Truth are:
- the development of a new marketing strategy that will refocus their business and
- management systems that enable the business to run without the owner, an essential step for an exit strategy.
At the Moment of Truth, Business Coaching for skill development in all aspects of business, but with a particluar focus on busiiness strategy and management systems provides the right solution. The owner understands the business fundamentals at this stage and wants to learn what businesses they admire have already learnt.
At the Moment of Truth, business strategy is more important than at any other time of a business' life, apart from business start-up. Empower Business Solutions tailors programs for this specific stage in the life of a business.
Further information about programs for Businesses at the Moment of Truth is provided here.
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Businesses in Second Youth
For business owners who have decided to continue to grow and acted to obtain the knowledge to break through the ceiling, their business achieves a Second Youth. This is an exciting time for any business. Profits start to soar. But the owner is now playing in a whole new league. Major industry players will start to notice the emergence of a new competitor, and start to take appropriate market action. The investment is now at a higher level, and there are more stakeholders in the business. The owner in this phase is also aware the business cycle will repeat itself as the Second Youth gives way to new Growing Pains and approaches a higher Moment of Truth.
Owners in their Second Youth don't claim to know everything, but they now know what they don't know. And they know the importance of advice. From mentoring to specialist advice as their business expands into new areas. As the value of your business grows, so does what is at stake. The need to protect this investment becomes critical.
Empower Business Solutions provides advice and support to owners who have reached this stage. However, we don't claim to know everything, and will readily refer you to our network of specialist advisors when necessary.
Further information about programs for businesses seeking Second Youth is provided here.
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