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Managing Growth for Continuing Success
 Growth is good, when it comes to your business. After all, growth means increased market share and bigger profits. Right?
Not so fast. The reality is, the downfall of many a small, vibrant business is a fundamental failure fuelled by too-rapid growth. The risks of rapid growth can outweigh the advantages and, if you're not careful, cost you the success of your business. However, with proper planning and strategic forbearance, your business can enjoy healthy, stable growth now and in the future.
The Risks of Rapid Growth
If your business is growing at a rapid pace, congratulations! Be sure, however, to avoid falling into the following common pitfalls of rapid growth.
- When demand outstrips capacity: When demand for your product or service becomes greater than your ability to fulfill, you wind up with backlogged orders, frustrated customers, and lost sales.
- When product quality is compromised: Too often, rapid-growth companies will cut corners on production of their product or delivery of their service to keep up with demand. Don't forget that your reputation is at stake, and that your most valuable customer is a repeat customer.
- When cash is crunched: Growth might mean bigger profits, but it can also be expensive. Often, growth of your business will require bigger facilities, more (and more senior - and thus higher salaried) staff, additional equipment, and so on.
- When employees become disgruntled: The perfect management team for your 25-person company may not be so perfect for your 200-person company. Scalability requires appropriate leadership and experienced staff who can handle the more sophisticated operating needs of a larger company.
Depending on the nature of your business, there will be other traps you can easily fall into during a time of rapid growth. Let's have a look at the best ways to handle growth successfully.
How to Ensure Growth Is Good
How can you grow your business in a manageable, scalable, profitable manner? Start by employing the following key tips.
- Start with a strategic plan: The best growth is growth that is planned. If success catches you buy surprise, then sit down and make a plan as to how you are going to deal with this happy turn of events. The worst thing you can do is "wing it."
- Get your financing in order: Before you get ahead of yourself, be sure you have the funding to facilitate growth, and understand just how much growth you can accommodate. Remember that bigger doesn't always mean more profitable; your job is to find the right balance.
- People power is paramount: Successful growth is typically a team effort. If there are too few people at the helm, or your management team is inexperienced, now is the time to ensure you have the right crew in place to sail into success.
- Tighten up your processes: As your company grows, it becomes increasingly important to have air-tight systems and processes in place. Identify the weak spots in your technology, your sales process, your support infrastructure, reporting systems and financial controls. You may need to invest in new technologies to support growth.
- Ramp up piece by piece: Rather than invest now in a growth model you hope to achieve in the future, handle your growth in stages. If you don't need middle management just yet, don't hire yet. If you can put off buying an expensive new piece of machinery until you really need it, then do.
- Remain flexible: The best laid plans can go awry, and we can't always foresee the future. While solid planning is key, agility is also an important component of successful growth.
Managed properly, the growth of your business can be exciting, profitable and successful. Good luck and happy growing! |
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Agility Matters: How to Improve the Reaction Time of Your Business
 In today's fast-paced society, technology rules the world and life seems to speed up on a daily basis. So, too, does the business marketplace. Competition is more fierce than ever, combined with a topsy-turvy global economy that keeps us on tenterhooks from one month to the next. What's the key to succeeding in today's economic, technologic and competitive environment? Agility.
The ability to remain agile in the face of unforeseen changes to your industry, off-shore competitors undercutting your prices, changing financial climates or other unexpected occurrences can make all the difference in the success of your business. What follows are a few key tips to help you keep your business nimble, agile and on its toes.
- Know thyself. What does your business do best? What makes you stand out head and shoulders above your competitors? Knowing your core competencies will help you remain focussed and understand your best options when agility is called for.
- Understand your target market. Exactly who are your customers? Many business owners will answer this question with something like: "men and women between the ages of 25 and 65." That's not good enough, since it represents too wide a swath of the population to truly represent your target market. Determine who your market is and what they truly need. Understanding the value proposition of your product to your clientele will go a long way toward helping you remain agile.
- Simplify, simplify, simplify. If your processes are unwieldy, streamline them. If your systems are complicated, simplify them. If your organization chart is unruly, reduce staff where possible. Running a lean, simple organization means greater efficiency - and greater agility.
- Monitor key data. Keep close tabs on your business and your marketplace. Make sure you have proper KPIs (key performance indicators) in place and watch them closely. Become accustomed to spotting trends and deviations early in the game. Don't be distracted by that which doesn't directly concern your business.
- A policy of agility. Make your management and staff aware that agility is a necessary part of the framework of your organization. Show agility in your day-to-day operations. Remain open to ideas and encourage staff to think outside the proverbial box.
By keeping the concept of agility top of mind in the day-to-day operations of your business, you will be poised for quick response to changes in the marketplace, should the need arise. Remaining fleet-footed can only help your business be that much more successful. |
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Join With Crelogix and Win More Business
 Since 1974, we've been there, helping Canadian entrepreneurs to make their career ambitions a reality. We have the toolkit that savvy businesspeople need to attract and retain more retail trade. With our term financing solutions, we have what it takes to help our partners open up affordability at their businesses. By giving customers access to low, monthly payment plans and attractive interest rates, we make it possible for them to buy the items they really want, instead of settling for lower-priced items. When customers know they don't have to buy products in one lump sum, they can explore more possibilities and get the "dream items" they've always wanted. Fulfilling expectations and improving the entire customer service experience is really what partnering with Crelogix is all about...and the best part of it all is that we handle every bit of loan administration! When you partner with us, we give you access to the online www.MyCrelogix.com loan application system; this convenient Internet portal allows you to punch in basic data about a client, and then give that client an instant answer about whether or not they qualify for a consumer loan. Within minutes, you'll have the information you need to cut through buyer hesitation during a sales pitch, and the system is easy to learn and use! No one needs endless training to master our intuitive interface - it's programmed to be simple and straightforward. Using Crelogix online portal is all you need to do, because we take care of the rest. The endless phone calls, faxes, and unnecessary paperwork of the past will be just a memory when you embrace the future... with the power of Crelogix. Sometimes, sales pitches fall flat or spiral downward when customers start to get cold feet regarding the cost of paying for the items they want to buy; this "buyer hesitation" kills a lot of deals, when they were so close to crossing the finish line. With in-house financing in place, you can offer alternatives that soothe and reassure potential buyers, and it's all so fast and easy. Our cost-effective services pay for themselves over time, and they really do drive more business to your door. To find out exactly how easy it is to get started with our system, call us and speak to a member of our team. For over thirty years, we've been there, helping out entrepreneurs; now, we're ready to give you the benefit of decades of financial expertise and acumen. Call us today or email our offices to get started with a new partnership that propels your business into the future. |
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New Dealers ...
Crelogix Is Here To Help Grow Your Business!
Call or E-mail Us To Learn How:
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Call: 1-800-667-6640 English: Ext. 1705 French: Ext. 1706
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Kit Villalon
Supervisor, Vendor Support
The Crelogix Support Team is available to provide assistance regarding pending transactions, payment, payout values as well as all other credit
or funding related issues.
Toll Free: 1-800-667-6640
Press: 1 - English
Press: 2 - French
Next
Press 3 to reach our Support Team
Hours of Operation:
Monday to Friday 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Saturday 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Sunday 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Pacific Standard Time
Also, please feel free to contact me directly with any questions or concerns.
T: 800-667-6640 Ex. 2214
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Crelogix is Expanding
In an effort to better serve our valued partner relationships, we are asking you, our readers to recommend an exceptional achiever to be part of our team at Crelogix Acceptance. We seek to recruit and select the most competent, industry knowledgeable and expert professionals in the Power Product sales industry. Do you know a independent sales agent, a regular provider of services or supplies to your shop, someone that you feel confident in recommending to us? We would like to hear from that candidate.
More details are available on our website or click on the link below.
http://www.crelogix.com/positions.aspx
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