While there is no ideal growth pace for the development of your business, it is fair to say that there are alarming signs of slow growth processes, signs that despite your best efforts your business is not quite managing to grow. Ultimately, lack of growth could put the company at risk of collapsing if it doesn’t manage to align its activities with the evolutions of the market and the customer base. Whether it’s your brand that lacks support from your target audience or your teams that find it difficult to collaborate effectively, when your business has slow reactions, it’s as if it didn’t react to the market and competition fluctuations. In the end, even your most loyal customers or employees might prefer to look for a brighter alternative with a competitor. So before you reach such a dramatic conclusion, there’s still time to identify your key issues and plan the best strategy to deal with these.
Heavy workload at peak times
If your business struggles to maintain its turnaround during peak activity times, you probably need to find ways of increasing your workforce. However, for a lot of small companies, hiring new team members is a costly exercise, and it’s often the kind of decisions that require sufficient cash flow. That’s precisely why you need to approach your productivity shortage from a different angle. If growing the team is not possible or cost-effective, outsourcing remains the safest option. As a business owner, you need to understand the golden rules of outsourcing to guarantee that you can make the most of the extra skills that support your activities. At the end of the day, you might be able to provide your customers with a timely delivery when you need it most, without breaking the bank.
Your processes are clogged up
How long does it take to make a decision or correct an error? For companies with a complex internal structure, decisions can take up to several days if not weeks. Byt the time they are made, it’s too late; you’ve missed the opportunity. If you find that you’re struggling to react quickly and address time-pressing issues, you need to work with an expert such as Bourton Group, to establish a lean management culture within your company. Time is of the essence in a rapidly evolving market, so it’s only fair to make sure that you’re not wasting any in your day-to-day processes.
You’re missing out on innovative ideas
If you’re not familiar with blinkers, they are the pieces of materials that keep horses from seeing to the rear and the side. A lot of small businesses, unfortunately, operate with similar blinkers, in the sense that they fail to run market analysis and research. Contrary to the horse that is guided by a rider, businesses can only rely on themselves to define the best direction to take. As a result, lacking knowledge on the current trends means that you’re less likely to move where your target audience is going. For instance, businesses that are not yet made the move to mobile accessibility, are at risk of going bankrupt by 2020.
In short, don’t be slow to react if you notice that you’re struggling with workforce shortage, time management and market strategy. A business that doesn’t improve is a virtually dead business.
