tomorrow your business could be affected by the “metaphorical bus” … there could be some catastrophic change, some change in the market, some impact that will mark the beginning of the end.
Happens all the time.
Companies become complacent; they become too dependent on a customer, a market, or a product.
Customers switch vendors, competitors become aggressive, disruptors enter the market, recessions occur, and key employees choose to leave … any of which can hurt a company.
For these reasons, it is critical that companies continue to evolve and grow over time.
They need to find new customers, hopefully enter new markets, and potentially add new products and services. Through this evolution, a company can grow and protect itself from “bus risk”.
The bigger it is, the less impact a “hit” will be.
The more diverse your customer base, the lower the risk of a change in a customer.
The more diverse your services, the lower the risk of an aggressive competitor or market disruption.
Some realities of growth:
1. Growth requires investment and patience. this business buys in Jefferson County, CO
2. You will make mistakes along the way and they will cost you.
3. Growth requires change … you need to change! You can’t do the same things today that you did yesterday and wait for a change to happen. Not only that, but your entire management team must understand the change that is expected of … and embrace that change.
“If nothing changes, nothing changes.” Tony Robbins.
4. Geographic growth brings different challenges … it is more difficult to manage what you cannot see every day.
5. Adding customers requires compelling messages, a great sales effort, and usually involves removing established vendors.
If you want to grow your business, consider this:
It takes something of value to invest time and effort in something new, when you would be more confident of the return on that same investment in your familiar business.
It takes faith and passion because you have to champion the cause, sell the idea to your team from the start, and maintain that belief and passion even when things don’t turn out the way you would like them to.
It takes a commitment to change. It means the willingness to change your work habits, change the way you do business, change the way you spend your time, and even the way you measure business. It takes a commitment to instill those same changes in your management team and gain buy-in from the entire team.
It takes a lot of work! You worked hard to start your business and this is no less burdensome. You will have to get out of your comfort zone, maybe travel more, learn new services / products, build new relationships, trust new people and all the effort it takes.
