After all of your hard work pays off and your business grows, it seems counterintuitive that your newfound success could actually lead to new problems, right?
Rapid business growth can distract even the most organized teams from focusing on imperative tasks and long-term business goals. Likewise, when customers are flooding in, they can get lost in the shuffle and it's difficult to keep up with demand, customer service and upsell opportunities.
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The good news is that big growth doesn’t have to create big headaches. With a few simple strategies in place and some amazing business software to ride sidecar, you can enjoy your success with the assurance that you’re managing it like a pro.
What is Rapid Growth?
Rapid growth results from a successful business cycle arising from a fortunate turn of events or a well-executed growth strategy. Rapid growth can affect an organization's ability to deliver effectively to the customer as it may lack the infrastructure needed to operate efficiently.
1. Paint the Big Picture
The first step in managing rapid growth successfully is to know where your business is heading. What do you hope to accomplish in the next year? The next five years? What are your mission-critical goals and company growth strategies? Everyone in your organization should be aware of your collective organizational goals and should be able to articulate them clearly. Make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T.
Make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T.
- S-Specific and defined by numbers and tangible returns.
- M-Measurable and tracked in all stages of the process to ascertain success or a need for course-correction.
- A-Attainable by your team, but not too easy that they become complacent.
- R- Realistic enough to achieve with the time and resources you have.
- T-Timely, with targeted completion dates attached to each goal.
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Make sure your goals are helping you maintain and build on your success.
2. Never Leave Launch Mode
The biggest mistake that most new businesses make is losing sight of their original promise to customers—to deliver a quality product or service and to stand behind it. As the flurry of managing new business increases and your team is pulled in many directions, it’s easy to forget that real people are using what you’re selling.
It’s crucial to keep testing and improving your products and services and to incorporate customer feedback along the way. Interview your customers. Socialize positive and negative reviews from your team. Don’t let the euphoria of rapid growth in business sabotage your future. Stay true to the promises you made to your very first customers and never stop making improvements to your offerings.
3. Spend Money to Make Money
As your orders increase and you build a bigger team, your homegrown systems and software may not meet your needs anymore. While it’s tempting to “make do” with what you have in order to save money.
There are several types of growth that call for better systems and software. For example, an investment in a good HubSpot CRM system will pay for itself by helping your teams stay on top of customer needs and helping provide an excellent customer experience.
Likewise, as you build more teams and work with more vendors, a great project management platform will assist you in planning for those S.M.A.R.T. goals. Finally, as your organization grows, don’t forget about HR and IT systems to ensure that your reputation as a great employer lets you attract and keep good talent.
Over to you
Take a moment to celebrate your growth and success. 90% of startup companies fail, on average. It is an accomplishment to see quick growth and happy customers. Make sure you keep your long-term strategy in mind, continue to improve your products or services and invest in the right tools to manage (and bring more) healthy growth.