4 BIG Mistakes To Avoid When Your Business Starts To Grow

Watching your business grow is a happy feeling. Nothing feels better than the sound of money flowing in your account after all the hard work you have put to bring all the pieces together, successfully creating a winning combination for your team.

If you thought getting your business up and running successfully was a big challenge, brace yourself for something even bigger. It does not end here. It’s just the beginning. When growth happens, you either make it or break it. And most entrepreneurs fail to successfully handle rapid growth. This is why more than 90% of all the startups fail.

But we are not here to talk about failure. We are here to talk about the reasons behind these failures. Simply put – we are here to talk about the mistakes entrepreneurs make when their business starts to grow, which ultimately leads to failure.

Let us have a look at them –

1) Baking that perfect plan
Bake the perfect plan

A plan is only as good as its execution. But most budding entrepreneurs are too busy gazing at the numbers that they forget this thumb rule. And this is the story of not just a growing business. I’ve been part of well established teams that still spend weeks crafting that perfect plan, leaving too little time for execution. As a result of this there is complete chaos.

According to Dan Vining, Business Lead at one of the Unites at SSOE, “Capturing a lot of detail doesn’t bring value.” He advocates the formula of sticking to the basics. In his own words, ”Stick with the fundamentals and don’t let it become a ‘science project.’ I like to follow the KISS principle “keep it short and simple.”

As they say, If you spend too much t’me thinking about a thing, you will never get it done.

2) Don’t blindly follow the masses, coz sometimes the ‘m’ is silent / Sticking to the ‘We’ll do it because everyone is doing it approach’
following

You cannot follow your competitors blindly and adopt a market strategy that they are using. Don’t forget you were able to set-up a successful business only because you were innovative enough to think out of the box and bring ideas that others could not. Staying updated with what the competitors are doing is one thing, and following them blindly is something you ought to avoid.

For instance, don’t run a television advertisement for your business just because your competitor is running one. Look at the bigger picture – your business requirements, your budget, your audience. Create a strategy keeping all these factors in mind. And then figure if running a Tv commercial fits within your requirements or not?

After all, each business has its unique set of needs. Rather than following your competition blindly, it is a far better idea to make the most of what you already have.

3) Going with the easiest hire
hiring

So your business has started to expand exponentially and you need manpower in huge number. Does that mean you will hire anyone who comes for the job? This is where even the smartest of minds can deviate from the path.

Hiring one wrong person could put the future of your entire business into doldrums. When your business starts to grow, you need to have people in the team who can take responsibilities. A smart leader must always look for self-starters, people who can take charge without you having to spoon-feed them about everything. This post on

Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony Corp., has some wise words to share about hiring the right people ,”No matter how good or successful you are, or how clever or crafty, your business and its future are in the hands of the people you hire.”

4) Neglecting what you have already acquired
customer value

Another unpardonable offense that businesses make more often than not, when they start to grow, is to neglect their existing customers. They are too busy on acquiring new customers that they tend to neglect facets of service like steadfast customer support, interacting with the existing customers and more. But this is nothing short of a SIN that you are making.

You might be amazed to know that businesses have to invest roughly 500% more resources on acquiring new customers than they do to retain the ones they already have. Looking at the statistic one can easily understand why it is important to focus on retaining the customers by giving them privileged service and support.