Hitting the Growth Plateau: 5 Alternative Strategies for Breaking Through

Managing growth is often top of mind with business owners. Healthy business growth is crucial to the company’s long term sustainability. However, often times small to mid-sized business owners reach a plateau in their ability to drive new business due to both manpower and financial resources.  The challenge for businesses in this lifecycle stage becomes how to grow the company while simultaneously

• maintaining solid financials and
• minimizing significant investment in additional infrastructure and resources, until financial growth supports it

This often becomes a vicious cycle, as one can be dependent upon the other. Following are several alternative strategies that small to mid-sized companies should consider as options for breaking through that growth plateau.

1. Saturate existing client base and target profile

Before pursuing new prospects, small to mid-sized businesses should attempt to fully saturate their existing client base and narrow, targeted audience. Have you pursued all possible sales options for upselling or cross selling your services to your existing clients? Client retention and repeat sales are less expensive growth strategies than driving new business and pursuing new leads.  New leads need to be educated on the value your company delivers to them.

2. Offer complementary products and services

One of the best ways to increase growth is to offer complementary products or services which are a natural fit and which do not require much additional training or a substantial initial investment. Assess your primary services, and evaluate what additional options would provide a more robust solution to your clients. For example, if you design websites you could offer clients a maintenance plan for those sites. If you run a car wash, expand service to include interior auto detailing.  If you sell vacuums, sell vacuum bags as well.

3. Explore partnership opportunities

Partnerships can be one of the most efficient ways to expand service offerings and subsequently position your business for growth. Consider partnering with a company that provides complementary services or products. For example, as a wedding planner you may decide to partner with a photographer or a specialty bakery.

You can offer these services as an extension of your own business while relying on the expertise of the partner to deliver these additional services. This allows you to function as a reseller of that good or service while simultaneously profiting from it AND mitigating the risk of investing in developing new offerings on your own. Leveraging partnerships also will allow you to compete with larger companies.

4. Pursue referrals

One of the most effective sources of new business is from existing clients and customers who are pleased with the service you provided.  Remind existing clients and customers that you appreciate their referrals, and consider offering them an incentive or thank you for referrals that result in new business for you.  Prior to expending time and internal resources on growing your business via new lead acquisitions, put positive client relationships to work and maximize a referral strategy.

5. Establish a niche market presence

If possible, identify a distinct market for which you company’s product or service provides a specific solution or modify your product or service slightly to address this market’s “pain points”. Penetrate that market deeply so that you become the “go to” provider.

When attempting to overcome that growth plateau, small to mid-size companies should test some of the above strategies for growing the business as they do not require a significant shift in existing operations or resources.

The team of professionals at Analytix Solutions has expertise to help strategically guide small business in managing growth.  We are currently offering a free analysis of your business processes and accounting system.  If you would like to learn more on how Analytix Solutions can help move your business forward, please call us today at 781.503.9002 or email us sales@analytix.com.

Analytix Editorial Team