6 Tips for Handling Rapid Company Growth

There is nothing more exciting as a business owner than to see the fruits of your labor start to develop. Your sales are increasing, there’s money coming in, and you are finally seeing that success you’ve always dreamed of. As fun and profitable as it can be, rapid growth can also be a challenge. Big-time growth usually means big-time changes, and if you are not prepared or do not manage them correctly, this period of growth could lead to disaster down the road. Here are some tips for handling rapid company growth so that you can continue to flourish. 

Understand the Source of Your Growth

One of the keys to managing growth is to understand where it’s coming from. Is there a certain product that’s overproducing? Is there a marketing technique that seems to be bringing in lots of customers? You should also examine your sales and see if the growth is sustainable. For example, if your growth is attached to a seasonal product, or if you seem to have captured lightning in a bottle for a short period of time. The key is to identify the causes and then strategize ways to leverage those causes for continued growth down the line. 

Develop A Strategy For Moving Forward

Once you’ve identified where your growth is coming from, you can then develop a strategy to move forward into your bold new future. For instance, if your recent success seems like it’s seasonal, then find ways to market to your new customers during other times of the year. You can develop new products, for example. If it’s a marketing initiative that is fuelling your sales, then you must lean into it and continue to produce content that is similar to what you were already doing. That could mean similar in personality, feel, colors, or SEO content. 

Be Careful With Your Staffing

With more sales and revenue, you will no doubt have more work to do. This is a tricky part of growth. No doubt, much of your success rests on the shoulders of your team. They have done the work to get you where you are. Now that you need to add people, you have to make sure not to upset the company culture you already have. Do not rush into hiring people as much as you might be tempted to. Hire the right people to fit with your team, and you will be more likely to continue your success.  In almost any case, you’ll want to look into hiring a personal assistant that can help with the day-to-day scheduling and communications–this will free up time to focus on the big picture ideas that will move your business forward.

Another option is to outsource certain tasks and skills so that you don’t have to take the time to recruit and train. You can have a built-in expert in no time. You can hire a virtual executive assistant, bookkeeper, freelancer, or pretty much anything you need. You won’t have to sacrifice company culture, and you will have an easy way to continue managing your growth. 

Don’t Forget About Your Customers

When you are running around and doing ten thousand things every day to keep things running, certain things can fall by the wayside. It might be hard, but make sure that customer service and experience do not. There’s nothing customers dislike more than being neglected, whether it’s waiting on a hold line, not getting a response to a question posed on social media, or getting the runaround in some way. Make sure that you take time out of your day to engage with your customers and answer their calls and concerns. That way you can build their loyalty and hopefully get more sales down the road. Remember, it’s more affordable to keep customers than it is to earn new ones. 

Have a Budget

It can be tempting to start making all sorts of new investments when revenue starts rolling in. Whether it’s new infrastructure, equipment, technology, or partnerships, you need to make sure that you keep to a budget. Try and project what your revenue will look like in the near and far future, and craft a budget based on that. There is nothing wrong with new investments that you think will help give you a leg up on the competition. You just need to make sure that your investments won’t break the bank because you’ve gone over budget. 

Be Flexible

Even if it’s a good change, change can still be hard. Growth is exciting for everyone at the company, but it will no doubt lead to changes in everyone’s job. It might be a bigger workload, or it could be a shifting in duties as new staff comes on or duties are outsourced. Make sure that you maintain a mindset that is open to adaptability, and try to get your team into this mindset as well. Be positive, provide incentives from your new windfall, and make sure that your team knows how valuable they are as their lives change. Being flexible and keeping your team comfortable with change will allow your growth to become a new normal of success down the road.