The top 4 challenges to executing your growth strategy

Most businesses hope for growth. They are seeking to compound previous results in order to generate more income, more presence and ultimately enjoy the freedom that comes with success.

To create that growth the business needs a strategy, but that does not mean there won’t be challenges along the way.

With that in mind, here are the top four challenges for executing your growth strategy, and how to overcome them.

Growing pains

Every business has growing pains. These are the obstacles you encounter along the way that need to be overcome in order to achieve your aim.

While every business is different, often these obstacles for growth are surprisingly similar, revolving around core areas like business culture, the need for additional resources, attracting more customers and staying cashflow positive at a time when your business requires investment.

So let’s look at these in depth…

More resources

As a business grows it will need more resources, including additional staff, equipment, perhaps larger premises, and also systems and procedures that will help guide the consistency of the business.

For business operators, this presents one of the biggest challenges. All need to be managed with careful strategic planning that encompasses things like:

• Staff roles and responsibilities
• Hiring procedures
• Processes and procedures that set out how things are done, by whom, and when
• Plant and equipment required
• The chain of authority
• And more

More customers

In the meantime, the business will be seeking to attract more customers, and to do so it will need a clear understanding of who that ideal customer is, where they ‘hang out, and the unique value the business provides.

This will then be channelled into the advertising and marketing campaigns that target the right customer, at the right time in the right way.

Behind the scenes, the business will need to ensure this growing customer base is served to the same high level, each and every time.

Again this comes back to the systems and procedures that help create consistency, even at a time when the business is ‘scaling up’.

Shifting culture

As a business grows, its culture inevitably shifts. And this too will need to be managed carefully. In a growing business, the culture rests less on the individual business owner, but rather on the ethos that has been instilled in the team.

This team will need to have a similar appetite for growth as the business operator.

Creating this involves clear communication, stringent hiring policies, excellent training and communication, and processes and procedures that define their responsibilities and roles.

Staying cash flow positive

Resources, culture and customers might be the keys to business growth, but on the flipside the business will also need to be mindful of its cashflow position at a time when the outlay is likely to be high.

It will require careful budgeting and forecasting, along with measuring to manage the growth that’s occurring.

A strategic growth plan is a necessity

While all of the above are common challenges for a growing business, they can be overcome. And it starts with planning.

Growth can be managed by anticipating what will be required, when, and creating the right plan to provide the right resources at the right time.

Without this plan, challenges are likely to become major obstacles that will see the business owner constantly putting out spot fires, rather than concentrating on the big picture.

This plan takes time but considers the ultimate business goals, how they can be achieved, and what needs to occur for that to happen.

It ensures the path to growth is less rocky and more predictable, while providing clarity for staff, customers and the business as a whole.

If you’re seeking to create a strategic plan for growth, why not reach out for a chat and we can discuss your growth strategy or join me this November as we take a deep dive into strategic planning for 2023.