6 reasons why your business isn’t growing & how to fix it

We have worked with thousands of businesses over the years. We have seen periods of stagnation and unprecedented growth. You can’t always be up…and periods of slow or no growth do happen. This article will talk about the reasons for poor growth and how to fix them in the future.

1. A lack of specific goals

If you are looking for your business to grow you need to visualise and understand how and where that growth is coming from. Without a clear and communicated strategy to achieve a specific goal, it won’t happen. Growth comes from the execution of a solid plan. A specific goal might be to increase market share by 5% in the next two years. Or to increase profits by 10% in the next year. By conducting monthly review meetings you will keep the company accountable and move forward. Without specific goals you will be in the same place next year as you are now.

2.Not building business connections

Entrepreneurs are often of the ‘do it yourself’ mentality, relying on themselves to get things done however businesses do not operate in isolation. Establishing mutually beneficial business connections either with partner businesses or business networking groups is a great way to increase awareness and referrals to your business. However, this does not only apply to business owners. Employees could be one of the best resources for your business if they have permission to bring business in on their own. Sales isn’t the job of the sales and marketing team alone, it’s a company-wide culture.

3.Refusing to spend money

Businesses are rightfully cautious about investing either in employees, assets or anything that is not absolutely necessary to the operations of the business. There are structures in place in larger businesses to avoid risk at all costs. However, in order to grow it is necessary to take calculated risks and spend money to acquire new customers, clients or sales. Not spending money can in fact be more damaging to your business in the long term rather than investing in something that costs you in the short-run.

4.Not knowing the numbers

If you don’t have a digital presence nowadays you are missing out on a myriad of online opportunities to find and engage with new clients or customers. If you do but aren’t measuring the success of your activities online, you need to start to use the medium more effectively to drive growth in the business. Tools such as Google can help you understand your target audience better and provide hard date to support growth decisions.

5.Not automating business processes

Large companies can sell at lower prices due to economies of scale and…automation. Being able to automate time consuming processes in your business, hiring new employees, tracking inventory, creating reports…all saves time and allows you to spend it focusing on growing not operating.

6.You’re selling based on low pricing

If you take a position in the market as the ‘low cost option’ this can be a dangerous strategy. When Tesco launched ‘Every little helps’ and focused on low prices, look what happened when Aldi and Lidl came along…you are vulnerable to someone undercutting you when you’re competing on price. Give your audience a reason to choose you, whether that be a method, process or skill that is different to the rest, better more personal service or something unique to your company...make sure you stand out for the right reasons.

If you are struggling with growth in your business and would like to talk with one of our partners to see where we could help, please get in touch with our managing Partner Melanie Richardson using the details below:

Email: melanier@swindellsaccounting.co.uk

Tel: 01825 763366