Covid has done some crazy things to a lot of businesses. Some are wondering how to pivot to make a living. But others are experiencing wild highs of incredible demand. So for those of you in that boat, here are a few warnings you may want to heed if you want to keep the ball rolling after ‘the new normal’ subsides.
Not Marketing
Yup, marketing to get new clients is the first thing to go in an upswing. Especially if you can’t even keep up with demand. The reason for that is that you don’t have existing funnels and strategies as an ongoing thing. So if your marketing efforts are entirely reactive, once the lull starts, you won’t be in position to continue to grow.
Not Tracking Leads Coming In
Yeah, sure the leads are flying in faster than you can service them. But are you pausing long enough before you count their money to analyze where each lead is coming from and how you can repeat the cycle if referrals slow down? My bet is ‘no’. And that’s going to hurt you once the lull arrives.
Not Having a Renewable Strategy
A business owner I had as a guest on my podcast told me that during the last economic crisis when his target industry went bust, that he guessed at picking another industry to focus on and it went nowhere. Of course, he used everything he knew and his best judgement when throwing spaghetti at the wall but he still didn’t know a strategic way to choose a new niche. If you don’t know how, figure this out while the iron is hot and the money is rolling in. Then hire strategists like me to help you find that super-niche in every market condition.
Worrying Less About Quality Output
If you’ve got more business than you can handle, you’re hiring anybody with a pulse and you care less about the quality of the output and more about the fact that it actually gets done and delivered on time. Well, sadly this hurts companies in hyper-growth. But I’m not going to tell you to slow the sales and your processes down while the fury is on. On the contrary, hire subject matter experts for quality of product, service, communication…you name it. They will keep you accountable and keep an eye on the area they’re tasked with so that you’ll never have bad output again.
Not Investing in Retention
Retention of existing customers and staff goes right out the window during hyper-growth in most companies. After all, the business is on fire and they are hearing the sweet sounds of ‘chi-ching’ in their cash registers every day. Again, my advice is to hire this out to professionals to handle and support while you have the cash. That way, not only will you have happy customers and staff, but you’ll have built a lasting growth for your company.
Happy Trails to you hyper-growers out there!
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