What’s holding you back? 4 reasons your business isn't growing.

Business is a fickle beast, and many seemingly small decisions do in fact affect the bottom line. If you’re reading this article, perhaps your business has run into some obstacles, or you’re seeking to break into the next level of success.

Let’s just assume you have a good product ready with customers waiting to purchase your products. Here’s are 4 common reasons why some businesses find it hard to grow, and some tips on how to tackle those issues.

Your unforeseen cost is way too high

Your product might be selling like hot cakes, but do you know exactly your costs and your expenditures? Regardless of how fast you grow, cost is something that will always be an issue you’ll have to manage constantly. Ask yourself a few quick questions: Are you doing things very inefficiently? Or hiring too many employees that are not productive? For small companies, employee costs often make up the bulk of the overall costs.

Don’t hire unless necessary, and don’t rush the hiring process. There is often a multitude of ways that can help reduce inefficiency such as software products, outsourcing, or even just focusing on what’s important.

Your sales team is not proficient

As a business owner, you might have intimate experience with both the product and the sales channels, but your sales teams might not have the same knowledge. Unless you are selling a commodity or else your sales team has prior experience selling similar products, you need to invest time and effort to educate them on the nitty gritty of the product and its benefits.

Let’s just assume you have an over average sales team. A solution would be to teach them in the method they learn best and not how you teach best. Often these two are vastly different. Most sales people learn faster through verbal training rather than long written documents. They prefer power phrases and reading micro-expressions. Teach them these valuable skills, and they will almost certainly power your business to the next level.

Your positioning is incorrect

Know exactly the position your company is taking when approaching customers and lead. Don’t invest time and money into a specific lead generation channel without knowing you can achieve your desired results. For a small business, this difference could mean life and death.

Instead, ask your current customers for exactly how they want to be approached and find out where are they spending their time on, who they are talking to, and seek to be on the same page as them. Invest in building a strong relationship with your existing clients so they are comfortable with conversing with you without reservations.

However, be also aware that the ultimate decision on how the company is position lies with you. Take the road that brings you the most value, even though it might not pay off in the short term. Talk to others to seek their wisdom, and you can move your business confidently in the right direction.

You are not selling based on value

Unless you are selling a commodity, you should not be selling based on price. Instead, focus on the value of the problem you’re solving. How important is this pain point to your customers? How willing are they to pay to solve this issue? This questions will ascertain your product value. If your product is a valuable solution, chances are that you’re pricing your product too low. Don’t be afraid to increase your price.

Instead, do some A/B testing on prices on specific channels, such as your landing page, through resellers and even paid ads. Use the data you gather to find out how receptive audiences are to your perceived value, and then put a price tag on your product accordingly.

In conclusion, the above reasons are just the more common ones we’ve heard since starting up EMERGE App 5 years ago. This is assuming your product is unique and  superb with existing customers. If these reasons don’t apply, other possible reasons could be to do with supply chain shortages, the cost of production and more.

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About Ben

I'm the Founder and CEO of EMERGE App, a workflow and inventory management software that we developed to solve our issues when we were a trading and distribution company. Check us out at emergeapp.net. Feel free to drop me a personal email at ben.yee@emergeapp.net or blog@emergeapp.net and I will be more than happy to have a chat with you.