Growth is good, but too much growth can leave you and your business crushed. As your company starts to make a name for itself and beat out competitors, you need to make sure that the growth you are experiencing remains sustainable. “…[Startups are] designed to grow fast… if you get growth, everything tends to fall into place,” states Paul Graham, CEO of Australia Post. But if you let your growth dictate your every move, you may find yourself quickly overwhelmed.
To keep pace, it is best to be proactive and meet the challenges head-on. If this sounds intimidating, worry not, we’ve reached out to business leaders across industries to hear how they have managed growth so that you can learn from the best.
Have Clear Objectives
“Companies need to have clear objectives in all phases, but especially during phases of extreme growth,” says Dylan Arthur Garber, Co-Founder of Audien Hearing. “You need to be very strategic when it comes to growth. Have your key objectives laid out in a clear and approachable manner.”
Develop a goal for the duration of the growth in addition to your long and short-term goals. These will act as stepping stones that will guide you as you expand. “Don’t let growth keep you from completing your goals. Too often, a fast-growing business will change their objectives without even meeting the previous ones,” notes Lauren Kleinman, Co-founder of The Quality Edit. “Make sure you have attainable goals while you are growing that will serve as checkpoints for your success.
Your growth strategies should be planned out ahead and evaluated with a set methodology that clearly lays out how opportunities for growth are accepted. Don’t let your company grow in all directions without restraint. Limit variables and be realistic about the success you are expecting to achieve.
Hire Right
“Your employees are the biggest difference-makers,” says Chris Vaughn, CEO of Emjay. “No one will influence your success more than the people you have hired. If you don’t have confident and capable employees that can handle rapid growth, you aren’t going to make it to that next stage of operations you are working toward.”
While your product and offerings are the reason you are experiencing the growth, it’s the people you work with that make it all possible. As the team expands to help handle the growth, make sure you pay special attention to the people you choose to bring on.
“Culture fits are key in this stage. Second only to skillset. You want these hires to be satisfied with the work they are doing and eager as hell to as objectives move and responsibilities shift. They should be comfortable wearing many different hats and managing a team that is growing on a regular basis,” commented Amaury Kosman, CEO at Circular.
The culture of your company is formed by its founders and is easily definable in the early stages of your company because the team is small and the relationships feel more personal. As the company grows and team members are added at a rapid pace, it can be easy to lose sight of the culture you started out with. Hire with culture in mind to make sure it doesn’t disintegrate.
“Hire people that are smarter than you are,” Kosman continued. “Make sure they are as excited about growth as you are.”
It is also important to resist the temptation to start handing out titles like VP and C—for no real reason. If everyone is a leader, no one is. Instead have clearly defined roles and people that fit in them comfortably.
Keep your old hires motivated and listen to their feedback. It can be hard to know how growth is affecting your people without asking them directly. Don’ trade growth for employee satisfaction.
Don’t Forget About Your Customers
“Angry customers may become detractors, dragging other customers and their profits along their way out,” Marwan Daya, Executive at BTC Networks points out.
You have to keep serving the people you set out to in the first place. “Customers give the most immediate feedback and are the ones who have relevant ideas. They will tell you they want to see from you and your product. Pay attention or pay for it in the long run,” adds Nathalie Walton, Co-founder and CEO of Expectful.
Servicing a growing customer base can become problematic quickly. As your company grows, there are going to be issues. Support systems are going to get choked, orders won’t go out on time, you will have trouble keeping up with deliverables; it’s a natural part of rapid expansion. Complaints from customers are going to start to pile up and profits are going to decrease if you don’t act fast. It is natural, but it can be curbed by good customer outreach and adept customer service employees.
On the importance of maintaining a good customer relationship, Sarah Pirrie, Brand Director of Healist Naturals says simply, “Don’t let your growth come at the expense of customer satisfaction.”
Watch Your Finances
“A growing business requires additional cash flow in order to keep up with increased demand. The financial implications of your growth are vast,” says Michael Jankie, Founder of The Natural Patch Co, don’t forget to take them all into consideration.
“You might consider collecting all outstanding debts fast and decreasing prices. Try to reduce your costs by making changes to the supply chain and refinancing where possible. Your budget is going to be everything in this stage so you need to understand your cash flow and plan for the costs of employees. Don’t hesitate to bring in outside financial help.”
Try to forecast cash inflow and outflow so that you can assess where the financial situation needs improvements. Convert unused assets into cash if you can. “You should consider utilizing working capital so that you can keep growing and maturing. A good loan will make it easier to build your inventory, expand your physical location, and update equipment, among other things,” says Luca Capula, CEO of Son of a Barista.
There are many loan options available to small businesses looking to move on to the next level. Consider your options and do your research so that you can find a loan that fits your business needs. Make sure that you are controlling your debt and your costs. Doing so will ensure that you have an easier time securing a loan. Refinancing might help you reduce your monthly payments if costs are starting to build up.
Don’t let your rapidly rising sales make you so excited that you forget to take into account any mounting overhead expenses. You might think it is okay to spend because you have more cash flow, but these rising overhead expenses will shrink profit margins and can put you in a difficult position if not controlled.
Scale
Scaling and growing go hand in hand. It is easy to get caught up in growth opportunities, but don’t let your company scale too quickly. “You need to scale to keep up with your business’s development. The things that worked when you started out may no longer apply now that you are beginning to thrive, so make sure you and your internal systems are well prepared,” says Schuyler Hoversten, Co-Founder and President of Swoopt.
Consider divvying up duties among your new hires while also redefining the managerial and organizational structure of your business. Make sure to pay attention to the changes and opportunities that your company is now presented with. And don’t forget to scale your marketing efforts to match your sales. Incorporate marketing strategies and remember to take advantage of any technology that will automate ad operations.
Do What You Do Best
As your company expands into the business you always knew it would be, you will need to remember to keep your focus on what makes it unique. Understand what exactly it is that sets you apart from the competition and focus on the needs of the people you are serving.
“Keep your customers engaged. Focus on the benefits your product provides and entice people with special offers, white-papers, and webinars. Connect customers to your product by highlighting what you do best,” says Matt Miller, Founder & CEO of Embroker.
“You should diversify, but only if compliments your current offerings. If you try to be a jack of all trades, you will wind up being a master of none. That money you sank into trying to develop a new service that is in opposition to your current list of offerings could have been used to make your core products better.”
Data and analytics are good tools for gaining insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your business and will help you make marketing, product, and sales decisions. Don’t forget to take into account customer feedback. Your development team should be on top of feature requests and be ranking them by importance.
