Are you implementing business growth strategies and watching them fall flat months or weeks later? Sustainable growth isn’t easy. Even the best and brightest business leaders experience stall periods.
But, if you’ve been stalling for longer than a year – or worse, moving backwards – it may be time to audit your people, processes and technology and try something new.
If you’re battling stagnation or recession, here are four things you must do to achieve sustainable growth:
If you’ve read our other posts, you know that when it comes to strategies for success, we are strong believers in people before processes. Truthfully, your processes and technologies mean nothing if you don’t have the right team in place.
Your team interacts with your customers and stakeholders on a daily basis. Don’t do your business a disservice by hiring for skill alone and neglecting the qualities that are most responsible for sustainable growth: discipline, commitment to success and innovative thinking. Your customer experience is more than just a means to secure revenue; it’s your reputation.
Ask yourself: Are your customers interacting with some of the best and brightest people in your industry? If not, it’s time to reshape your hiring strategy.
After people, think about what differentiates you. Your careful planning is wasted if your business is indistinguishable from competitors.
In 1997, start-up Netflix innovated and succeeded by offering online video rentals. In differentiating itself from competitors and providing customers with a better experience, Netflix not only grew exponentially, but also sped up the demise of an entire competitive industry – the video rental store. Seen any around lately?
Then, in 2007, Netflix again changed the way people enjoy media by making access to streaming movies and television easy, fast and affordable from anywhere in the home. Today, over 60 million people subscribe to Netflix, and more people than ever are cutting cords entirely and walking away from cable television (the current home entertainment gold) in favor of streaming-only offerings.
By focusing on the customer experience and investing in innovative ideas, Netflix managed to capture market share and do serious damage to big-name competition – twice.
When your people and customer experience goals are aligned, turn towards your resources and systems. Your business IT, when implemented and leveraged correctly, improves efficiency and helps drive revenue, further improving sustainable growth.
Think about it. Technology has completely changed the way your team collaborates, as well as the way in which customers interact with your business. Chances are you’re doing more business online than ever and leveraging software for collaboration. If your external and internal systems and applications aren’t optimized for your business, the customer experience is impacted, and efficiency suffers.
Having the right technology also helps you win in new markets and further separate yourself from the competitive crowd. For example: Does your company offer customers or clients mobile account access? If not, your competition might.
Unfortunately, with so many applications, programs and systems available, finding and implementing the right IT approach is more difficult than ever. Consider working with an experienced partner who is capable of providing insight and support that’s tailored to your business’ specific needs.
Finally, every process in your business must be audited and refined to ensure efficiency and contribute to growth. Continuous improvement is key; a process that might appear effective or optimal on the surface requires improvement as your environment changes.
Of course, it’s not wise to make big changes solely for the sake of changing things up. However, businesses that carefully review their operations inevitably fare better than those that charge ahead blindly.
Talk to your team regularly and solicit feedback on tangible improvements that your business should make. Remember, your employees are the ones in the trenches, and if you’ve successfully built a high-performing culture, their insight is invaluable.
Ultimately, sustainable business growth depends on a wide range of factors. Fortunately, you have control over the biggest growth drivers. To meet and exceed your goals, invest the time and resources required to elevate your people, technologies and processes.
Shooting for sustainable business growth and need a fresh spin on IT? Our PointManTM is ready to help your tech provide more value. Schedule a free consultation today.