Business growth carries with it a certain amount of risk. To avoid potential pitfalls, consider the following tips for successful growth.
- Find your key
focus. It is important to select and stick to a key focus, particularly
in times of an uncertain or slow economy. Do what your company is good
at. Produce the products that can be delivered consistently and
successfully. It’s harder to add new services or venture too far
outside your scope during a recession.
- Don’t become
overconfident. Like a favored team that lets down its guard and loses
to an underdog, an attitude of overconfidence can bring about business
loss. Owners who have had success in the past must guard against
gaining a sense of omnipotence. Overconfidence is unrealistic and can
spell disaster.
- Don’t define your
business by your products or services. Virtually any product or service
can become obsolete over time. Don’t define your business by your
product, but rather from your customer’s needs that you are able to
satisfy.
- Make your marketing
message consistent. If you want to grow your company, marketing is
essential. How you market is important. A key way to grow your
business is to have a consistent marketing message. In today’s complex
world, marketing messages have to be very simple, direct and constant.
- Practice what you promise. Customers will be the most intolerant of mistakes when money and time are tight. For example, if your marketing campaign promises a certain turnaround time, you need to live up to that promise. Otherwise, you risk reducing your customers’ satisfaction or possibly losing customers altogether.
Kathi Koenig, CPA
Partner - McGowen, Hurst, Clark & Smith, P.C.
