Small Business Growing Pains: What do I do when I have too much work?

on Friday, November 15, 2013 in Blog, Business Consulting by

As a small business owner, this is a great problem to have.  You need the right approach to grow successfully in your small business today.  The success or failure of your business is acknowledging who to grow correctly, and we have compiled the following steps to help you endure the growing pains.

1.Our first recommendation is this…. Stop.

It is imperative that you run home to your core competency.  Reevaluate where your revenue is coming from (ie. 80% of your revenue probably comes from the top 20% of your clients) — who are those clients? What services or products do you provide to those clients?

Example:  If you own a bakery and see the top 20% of your clients prefer to purchase a specific type of cake, the market is telling you they like your cake.  Don’t spend time or marketing dollars on cookies.

Oftentimes, a business owner must remove themselves from the process to see what is actually profitable and beneficial for their business.  They should not rely on perception, but instead on cold, hard numbers, which as any business consulting would hope you are gathering and verifying.

Do NOT be afraid to stop.

The most common mistake for small biz owners is to think that they can’t stop working.  That is wrong.  If you don’t stop, you can’t see or correct the problem(s).

2. Determine your profitably factor:  

Now that you know what your top 20% likes about your offering, are you profitable?  Many times, small business owners will offer a price based on what they think the market will accept. Often, business owners tend to price themselves below market, thus creating a greater demand for their offering.  In doing so, the business owner creates an artificially high volume, with a low profit margin.

Making matters worse, this pricing strategy is rarely based on fact.  But once again, the deadly act of perception can cloud sound business decisions.

 

3. Act on the research you have acquired:  

We must first consider that you have acquired some  basic research including:

  • Is your top 20% of your customers buying your most profitable item?

 

4.  Adapt and overcome:

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