Knowing when to push for growth in business is very difficult and it is a move which certainly carries with it a lot of danger. I watched the brilliant Bryan Cumby, CEO from the Cumby Group discussing this at a business seminar last year and he of course is an expert, as someone who took his business to higher and higher levels of growth. Bryan was discussing the tools needed for growth and what business owners needed to recognize as to when the time to grow has arrived.
Even those businesses who do reach for growth in the right way, can make big mistakes as they do so and these are the dangers which must be avoided when a business does decide to to try and expand its operations.
Growing Too Soon
Of course one of the biggest dangers for so many businesses is that they aim to grow too soon. The result of this will be that the business invests money in additional staff, premises and many other areas of the company which it then is not able to afford because the business was not at the point whereby it could have pushed for growth. his is a dangerous game to play in business and one which will certainly cost money.
Not Moving Fast Enough
In an ideal world there would be a fine balance between being proactive with the growth of a company, perceiving the need and then going after it, and reacting to a great increase in sales and success. The reality however is that more often than not a business will have to react to a spike in popularity and sales, and that is absolutely fine. The key however is to make sure that when you are reacting to something like this that you do so quickly and swiftly so that you are still able to meet demand. This may cause a few headaches for a little while but as soon as you have identified the need to grow, you have to get right on with it.
Alienating Your Customers
When you begin to get bigger and seek bigger challenges for your business there is a clearly defined need for you to find new customers in order to keep everything going and to keep things moving. This then presents a clear danger that you may end up focusing so much on those new customers that you inadvertently alienate your old customers. If there are promotions and incentives for new customers then be sure to bear in mind how this is going to make your older and more loyal customers feel. This has to be about all of your customers and that is why it is essential to always keep them in mind when you are pushing for the growth of your business.
These mistakes are common yet they are very easy to avoid as long as you are aware of exactly what the dangers are when you are seeking to grow.
