When your business takes off, the initial high can quickly turn into a low as you scramble to meet demand and create more capital. Growing pains can be uncomfortable and can make successful small start-ups flounder. To successfully ride your initial wave of success, you need to be able to sustain your growth spurt without losing focus.
Here are some of the things that you need to know in order to maintain the health of your business, as told by Brooke Chaplan in collaboration with North Avenue Capital.
Customers come first
Good customer service is essential to the survival of your business. It can be tempting to let customer service slide when you’re feeling overwhelmed or when you’re trying to acquire new products and services. This would be a huge mistake that could cost you more than just a few clients. You don’t want to get bad press from your existing customers right as you start gaining new ones. Make sure to pay attention to them because they’re the ones that got you where you are today.
Consider reaching out to your existing customers and thanking them for their support, while explaining that the new growth of the company means that certain services may have temporary difficulties. Treat them as the valuable contributors they are, and the open and honest connection will soothe tensions and build up your greatest support.
Infrastructure is key
Keeping up with your infrastructure is another important component of staying on top in the business world. Update your software and maintain your computer systems. This is vital to you being able to operate in an efficient manner and satisfy customers. Once you start to fall short, it can be difficult to catch back up. Find what areas of your system are weakest and try to reinforce those if possible.
Money is available
Of course, the biggest issue with rapid growth is that even though your company’s value is skyrocketing, you might not currently have the funds to support your customer base and infrastructure. However, there are many options for small businesses to take advantage of their existing capital and worth to generate funding. Look into asset-based lending from a reputable company like North Avenue Capital so that you can make the improvements that you need to maintain the flow of your business. This will allow you to control the amount of growth that you require while still managing your debt load. Many businesses fail because they take on more debt than they can handle. Mitigate your risk by using lending wisely.
Remain Flexible
Rolling with the punches and adjusting your business plan as needed will help you to stay afloat. This may mean that you need to give up on a certain idea because it’s not panning out the way that you hoped. Let your employees and customers offer you feedback on the programs that you’ve implemented. This will give you a more objective means of measuring the success of your ideas. Flexibility can also help you to maintain your sanity during a time of rapid expansion.
Any business needs to keep an eye on the bottom-line in order to be successful. Remember these key areas so that you can survive your business’s growth spurt.
More on growing your business and customer service whilst growing your business.
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