Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Regardless of the level of success a business achieves when it first starts, most companies eventually reach a point where their growth plateaus. Sales growth stagnates, customer feedback becomes less enthusiastic, and as a business leader, you get the sense that you are no longer progressing forward.
Left unchecked, complacency and stagnation can become extremely damaging to a business, keeping you from reaching your initial goals or hitting essential KPIs. By understanding why business growth plateaus and how you can overcome it, you can get your business back on track.
Related: What to Do When Your Growth Has Stalled
Why do businesses plateau?
Most businesses experience a plateau — or even a contraction — sooner or later. There are many reasons why this could occur. For small businesses, plateaus often occur due to a lack of resources, be they financial or personnel-related.
Changes in the market can also cause a business to plateau. New competitors, shifting customer needs, disruptive technologies and other factors that are largely outside of your control can stifle growth. Businesses in these situations must learn to adapt their offerings to survive and avoid losing their market.
Quite often, however, business stagnation is tied to those leading the organization. Without the right mindset, a leader whose business has currently plateaued won’t be able to get things moving in the right direction again.
1. Evaluate your systems and business model
Business models may not be designed in a way that allows a company to scale effectively. This easily leads to plateaued growth simply because the systems and processes in place aren’t capable of handling more customers or sales.
Unfortunately, the problem can become worse when poor scaling strategies are implemented, resulting in declining customer service, poor hiring strategies, burnt-out employees and other problems. Premature scaling has been linked with as many as 70% of startup deaths.
Evaluating your current systems and business model should be done in light of the unique value proposition you are trying to provide, your operational processes and the resources available to your team. Looking at these factors in the context of your marketplace can help you identify inefficiencies that you should change to serve your customers better.
2. Bring in the right people
For small businesses, in particular, getting the right people in place can have a major impact on overcoming growth plateaus. This is especially true for solopreneurs who have been trying to handle all the work themselves, including activities that are outside their area of expertise.
For example, in a case study by PMU Launch, a beauty education growth agency founded by Renato Fabri and Kyle Koschel, Brows By Carina had seen its revenue stagnate, plateauing at $1,200 per month over a seven-month period. After implementing strategic advertising and improving the sales call process, she grew her monthly revenue to $13,000.
However, this led to a new plateau, as the company was suddenly stretched too thin. Bringing in an appointment-setter helped reduce Carina’s workload, allowing her to increase monthly revenue to $18,000.
Finally, bringing in an operations manager to oversee day-to-day business activities enabled the company to focus on strategic growth initiatives and reach a peak revenue of $29,000 per month. Incredibly, only two personnel additions freed up such an immense amount of time that it completely transformed the direction of the business.
Related: 9 Reasons Why Your Business Growth Has Plateaued — and How to Fix That
3. Reconsider your marketing
Marketing is one of the most useful tools for driving sales and leads that help you grow your business. If you have the right people in place and efficient systems but are still stuck at a plateau, it’s worth looking into your marketing channels and messages to see if they are still reaching the right people in the right ways.
In addition to fine-tuning your messaging to ensure you are effectively reaching your target audience, you should also look into different platforms and promotional opportunities that would work in your niche. For example, Airbnb famously increased its booking and signup rates by 300% after it introduced its referral program that rewarded current customers with travel credits.
Marketing is all about optimization. Whether your issue lies with targeting, messaging, platform or other areas, testing different options and tracking results can help you recharge your growth efforts.
4. Check your mindset
Bold CEO argues that business stagnation is often a side effect of the business leader reaching a personal plateau. This is a call for self-reflection — if you’ve lost your own growth mindset, it can be hard to maintain the desired momentum for your business.
To address this, they recommend that entrepreneurs start by revisiting their vision for their company. Consider what you initially wanted to accomplish with your business and why — the sense of purpose that gave you enthusiasm and drive.
Assessing your personal status and reflecting on your original vision for your business can help you sense if you’ve lost your “why” and what adjustments you need to make on a personal level to regain your enthusiasm — even if that means changing your vision for your business.
Related: Do You Know These 6 Ways to Combat Stagnation in Business?
Just because your business seems to have hit a plateau doesn’t mean it has to stay there. By digging deep to understand the reasons why your business has plateaued and then addressing the specific issues that are limiting your growth, you can put yourself back on track to achieving your top business goals.
