As every business owner and manager knows, continuous business growth is the key to success, especially for the small business. Sustaining adequate growth, however, can be challenging at certain times in a business’ lifecycle. Despite our very best efforts, sometimes our business growth stabilizes, plateauing somewhere between the start-up and profit line.
Whether due to market conditions out of our control, improper business planning, or insufficient processes in our control, a lack of growth can lead to significant trouble for small and newly formed businesses. In fact, in many cases we have heard, this lack of growth eventually contributes to the shutdown of the business altogether. In order to prevent that from happening to your business, we have compiled a list of the top 4 roadblocks to business growth. See if you can identify with any of the following:
1. Failure to listen to customer concerns and opinions – and adjust products/services accordingly. In the business world, the customer is king; however, many businesses still are not operating fully on this principle. If your customers are consistently providing feedback on a certain product or service your company offers, you shouldn’t ignore it. Listen to your customers concerns and address them accordingly. Introduce the products and services they want, and be available to service them. Customers who feel unheard or shutout will turn to other companies who can better address their concerns, leaving you with the loss of an important customer, business opportunity and future recommendation.
2. Hiring the wrong people. Listen – if you don’t have the right people working for your company, your business will never take off the way you imagine. Your employees will literally make or break your business, so choose them carefully. Hire people who are aligned with your business goals, who are capable of doing the job well, and who have a passion for serving your customers. Anyone else will only get in the way between you and your business dreams.
3. Complacency. Complacency is the number one destructor of businesses around the world. We often refer to business complacency as a lack of drive. If your business has lost its drive, complacency will be directly around the corner if you’re not careful. Consider making changes to combat complacency. Introduce new products. Reinvigorate your employees with new training opportunities. Meet with key business personnel to identify new business goals to boost your business out of its current rut.
4. A lack of technology. Business leaders love to hate it, but the fact is technology is crucial to your company’s success. If your company is relying on old or outdated technology, you are doing yourself (and your customers) a disservice. The inefficiencies that result from outdated software and hardware can eventually result in the plateau of your business. New technologies, however, can give your business the boost it needs to start steadily increasing its profit and reach.
ERP: Putting You in the Driver Seat toward Business Growth
As we referenced above, your business technology is often the culprit of your business growth problems. It can be the hidden source of your customer service and hiring frustrations. It’s capabilities – or should we say lack thereof? – can directly contribute to your company’s complacency in both operational and strategic procedures. With the right solution and technology, however, you can eliminate each and every roadblock that gets in the way of your business’ growth and success.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is designed to support your business’ growth and progress, not hinder it. If your company is uncertain about where to go from here, ERP is not only the roadmap to your success – it is the life support you for today. Whether it’s something as simple as increasing productivity or as complex as expanding into new geographic territories, acquiring a company or adding new product lines, ERP software can be a significant driver of growth.
Find out how ERP can remove the barriers to your business growth and guide you to the fast line.