Stagnation = Damnation

Thursday, August 31, 2006 at 05:58pm by Anthony Putignano in Life

As an entrepreneur, it’s an eminent fact that your business will change over time. That’s why it’s important to remind yourself how it all started.

For nearly any small business, the goal usually is to gain more clients, make more money, and grow the business to the point where “small” is not in the vocabulary anymore. Problem is, somewhere along the line, a lot of small business owners tend to forget what the catalyst behind their success was in the first place - usually some combination of excellent customer support, unparalleled service/product quality, etc.

Logic tells you that as your business grows, all of the elements that lend to that growth will only get better with time, like a fine wine. But in the real world, this is never the case. Small businesses without the right plan for growth tend to grow tremendously in certain areas (ie. client base) without quite figuring out how to support other areas, such as continued support and quality.

I am guilty of this, but knowing that is half the battle.

Recently, I’ve began looking through emails 1-2 years old. Here is what I found:

• Nearly instantaneous turnaround times on email replies
• Somebody was, apparently, available on the phone lines 9 - 5, everyday, without exception
• More articulate and well thought out advice for clients
• A lot of quality work for a very reasonable price
• Small projects/updates (10 minutes or less) were never invoiced and done as favors

Now, if you’re a small business owner who has not yet experienced a ton of growth, I know what your first reaction to this list of attributes is - “duh”!

But as your business begins to grow, you lose sight of these essential attributes. It’s harder to answer emails and phone calls 24/7 when you’re constantly on the phone with somebody else, in a meeting, etc. Furthermore, it’s hard to provide well thought out advice and suggestions for your clients when you can barely think about running your own business. And last but not least, it’s very easy to lose sight of all of the “extra mile” work your clients came to know and love you for.

Now, I understand that once a business grows, certain things just have to change. You can’t charge what you used to because you’re worth more, and you certainly can’t be doing free work. But that doesn’t mean you have to lose sight of the principles that brought you to success.

So, how do you stay true to your past while pushing on into future growth?

Well, read your old email, and analyze both your service and your clients’ reactions. This will help you remember why clients first flocked to you. Once you become more aware of how your business has fundamentally changed during that time, you can begin to decide which changes are for the better and which are for the worse. And once you identify the areas of your business that growth has negatively impacted, then you can begin to reverse the trend. For example, if you simply can’t handle the emails, phone calls, and overall attention that your clients demand, then it’s time to hire a competent employee who acts as a buffer, keeping your clients happy and you sane. It might seem like an unnecessary and overbearing expense, but it’s not.

I realize now that in the same manner I did not consider doing free/cheap work to be an expense or burden a couple years ago, I need to start looking at investing in my business now the same way. A couple years ago I didn’t worry about how much of my time was being spent doing work at dirt cheap rates because I knew it was an investment in my business’ future. Now, the only way I can move forward from here is to realize that an investment is required yet again, but this time around, it’s a different type of investment. This time, I need to invest in:

· Developing promising products & services

· More staff/labor to support existing + current growth

· Quality training to help ease this transition

· and the list goes on…

In business, stagnation = damnation. And despite all of the “rules” businesses must follow in order to be successful, I think one of the most important is:

Always analyze where you were, where you are now, where you want to be, and how you got to and will get to each of those places.

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