Small businesses are the heart of the economy. They generate more than half of the nation’s job growth and contribute significantly to global financial wellness.
Notwithstanding the challenges that accompany entrepreneurship, small businesses are increasingly thriving. The secret to success is persistence. To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to know how to lead your team through the necessary stages of growth in small business startups.
By the end of this article, you will know and recognize the four stages of growth in small business management and understand how to lead your company through each.
Different stages of small business growth require different approaches. Innumerable variables are involved in the production, marketing, and sale of products and services, and it is impossible to manage them all without being overwhelmed.
There are tangible actions you can take to understand and predict a business’s behavior and growth. The Dynamic Growth Model (DGM) refers to a small business’s four discrete growth stages. Understanding the DGM will lend you the confidence to persist through difficult moments and the faith it takes to see a small business through to success.
How to Grow a Small Business into a Large Business
The first and most crucial step toward growing your business is establishing a clear and comprehensive vision. Once you have set the foundation, you’ll be ready to launch into the next phase: promoting growth.
The primary drivers for business growth apply to every business across all four stages of the DGM. For example, if you were looking for how to grow your gym business, you would want to connect with your customers and community, market your business well, and take tips from other successful entrepreneurs in your area.
If you don’t have an idea of where to start, however, here are a few tricks that can help.
Maintain Consistent, Effective Marketing
Marketing is the key to reaching your audience and driving sales. To ensure you are continuously promoting your business and inviting more customers into your community, you should make sure you’re keeping in touch with clients through social media, internet searches, and email.
Prioritize Growth and Quality
Growth and quality are often inversely correlated. Developing an understanding of growth and quality and when to focus on each is essential to last success. Alternate your focus between quality and growth to ensure that scaling your business doesn’t mean sacrificing the value of your product.
Plan Your Growth Strategy
To grow your business, you will need a firm understanding of the stages and strategies for growth. With your team, develop quarterly plans for growth, accounting for quality in the process.
Four Critical Stages of Growth in Small Business, When They Occur, and How to Survive Them
The four stages of growth in business often occur in consecutive order and require different responses from leaders. Why is an understanding of stages of growth useful to your business? Understanding the demands of each step can mean the difference between success and failure.
The Start-Up Stage
This stage represents the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. At this point, you are building and launching products and focusing on raising capital and developing marketing strategies. This stage consists of dramatic highs and lows, as you are still testing products and strategies.
Success during the start-up stage depends on your ability to acknowledge misconceptions and errors and adjust rapidly. You must maintain confidence and humility to defy the expectations of what your business is “supposed to be.”
The Grow-Up Stage
At this stage, your business gains momentum. Your focus will be primarily on sales as you seek to build a loyal consumer base and generate enough capital to justify the existence and operation of your business.
During the grow-up stage, the complexity of your operations is likely to reach new heights; you will need to delegate tasks and hire the right people. You will likely have to consider some fixed expenses as you work out potential flaws in your business model.
Again, you will need humility to navigate this stage and appropriately delegate tasks successfully. You must clarify roles and allow people to perform those roles with sufficient freedom and trust.
The Scale-Up Stage
At this point, your business is likely experiencing consistent growth. You have tested and selected employees, products, and strategies to identify what works for you. You have solidified systems and processes and have developed consistency in your operations.
Businesses face important decisions about their potential for continued growth during the scale-up stage. Your business will likely need to expand into new markets and develop a more robust sales infrastructure.
To succeed during this stage, you will need either financial understanding or the help of a finance expert. You will need to take risks and trust in the long-term potential of rewards. You must exercise flexibility and comfortably invest money in your business.
The Dominant/Enterprise Stage
The final one of the stages of growth in small business has two names for two conflicting considerations. At this point, your business will have widespread recognition and established employees, and you can comfortably depend on an influx of profit.
However, you must consider whether or not to continue expansion (typically by acquiring other companies) or rest on your laurels. You may also struggle with the sheer volume of employees, expenses, operations, and day-to-day tasks.
Continue to remain open-minded, humble, and flexible. Think towards longevity rather than short-term success. Don’t forget to keep quality front and center as you continue to grow. Remember that you will have to make short-term sacrifices for long-term gains.
Before You Go
Now that you know the different stages of small business growth, you can successfully lead your company through each discrete step to becoming a household name.
Remember that the essential characteristics of a good leader are not just management skills; they are one’s ability to remain humble, flexible, and open to others’ suggestions.
Click here for more details on financing options or call 214-629-7223 or email jthomas@fmconsulting.net for more information. Or, apply now.
An Outsourced CEO and expert witness, Jim Thomas is the founder and president of Fitness Management USA Inc., a management consulting, turnaround and brokerage firm specializing in the gym and sports industry. With more than 25 years of experience owning, operating and managing clubs of all sizes, Thomas lectures and delivers seminars, webinars and workshops across the globe on the practical skills required to successfully overcome obscurity, improve sales, build teamwork and market fitness programs and products. Visit his Web site at: www.fmconsulting.net or www.youtube.com/gymconsultant.
