Business Feels Stagnant? What You Can Do to Reignite Growth
Your company is not in trouble. The bills are paid, the staff are doing well, and customers are still coming in. But deep down, you feel like something’s off. It feels like your business feels stagnant. Sales are flat, energy levels are low, you’re working hard, but the business isn’t really growing. Sound familiar?
If you feel like your business has reached the peak of a logarithmic growth curve and is experiencing stagnation, then this article can help you understand what’s going on and what you can do to reignite growth in your business.
Download the Free Business Growth Checklist
Simple steps to help reignite your business growth.
Identify the Type of Stagnation
Before you try to address the stagnation in your business, you need to understand what has stagnated. It’s important to figure out whether you have had a flattening revenue rate over the last 6 months or longer, a lack of new leads or customer enquiries, recurring internal issues of your business, or an increasing customer churn rate or complaints. Stagnation can also show up in other, more personal ways, such as team morale or your own motivation. These symptoms could reveal the root causes of your business stagnating.
Possible Root Causes of Stagnation
Now that you know where you are stuck, you need to determine what needs to change. Here are some common causes of business stagnation and suggestions on how to address them.
You’ve Outgrown Your Systems
Your business has come a long way and changed a lot. However, you may still be using the same systems, relying on basic tools, manual processes, or outdated workflows. As a result, your employees waste time fixing these obsolete things instead of being productive.
To address this issue, you should consider upgrading your systems by integrating CRM systems, accounting software, and task management tools such as Xero, Trello, ClickUp, or Notion into your workflow.
You’re Overrelying on a Single Product, Customer Segment, or Channel
Your business has a singular, very popular product, appeals to a very specific target audience, or delivers the products to customers from limited channels. If that sounds like your company, then you may be putting all your eggs in one basket. This situation makes your business vulnerable to market dynamics and limits its profit scalability.
You can try introducing a new product tier or service, offering B2B services, exploring online sales channels, or appealing to a wider audience. Providing more choices to the customers will ensure your business is able to attract and serve a wider market.
You’re Too Involved In The Business
You may feel the need to handle every decision and detail of the business yourself. However, this can slow growth, limit innovation, lead to burnout, and leave you with no time to think about the bigger picture.
You can try to set aside some time each month to focus on business strategy and long-term plans of the business instead of its daily operations. Developing or hiring a trusted second-in-command is also recommended, allowing you to delegate responsibilities and focus your attention on business expansion.
You’ve Stopped Listening to the Market
You have neglected trying to attract new customers in favour of maintaining the status quo. If you only focus on trying to solve the same issues that existed in the past, you are not focused on addressing the customer’s latest needs. Their needs evolve, and your competitors have already taken advantage of that. They provide new offers, smarter technology, or better experiences compared to your business. As a result, customer reviews and feedback are declining, signalling to you that your customers have left you for better options.
To become relevant again, you need to reconnect with your customers. The fastest way is to conduct a direct survey, simply ask customers about their needs, with questions like “What frustrates you most today?” From that, you can use the insights you gained to adapt and innovate your product based on your customers’ most recent needs.
Advice from an Accountant’s Perspective
“Stagnation is often visible in the numbers before it’s obvious in the business. Firstly, pull up the past 12 to 24 months of your monthly revenue and plot it out. If the line is flat, you’ve got an early warning sign of stagnation. Check your customer concentration too. If more than 35% of your income comes from one client, your business is in danger.
Create a cost breakdown structure to review the cost of the business. Check if you are overspending in areas like operations and underinvesting in marketing or R&D. Then, consider building a budget around the specific growth drivers, like new client acquisition, existing customer upselling, or new product innovation. This ties your spending to business expansion instead of maintenance. Having a quarterly financial review is beneficial in challenging your assumptions and adjusting your strategies.”
Ways to Reignite Growth
Now that you know what’s wrong with your business and how to stop the stagnation, how can you reignite your company’s growth? Launching new offers can attract new and existing customers to engage with your business again. This can take the form of new products or bundle deals, and additional price tiers for existing products. Collaborations with other businesses or individuals that serve the same target market as you can also help. This could be done through co-hosted events, webinars, or joint promotions.
Another way you can renew your business is through reactivating past leads, instead of finding new ones. It’s often faster and more cost-effective, since these customers are already familiar with your brand and are interested in your products. Investing in upskilling is also critical for sustained growth. Training your team or yourself in skills such as sales, digital marketing, or automation could prepare your business for the future as markets and technology evolve. As the leader, you should also delegate some responsibilities of daily operations to another trusted employee. This not only frees up time for the long-term growth of the company, but also trains and empowers your employees for administrative tasks.
Final Thoughts
Stagnation isn’t a sign of failure, it’s a signal that what worked in the past may not be enough for the future. Reigniting growth doesn’t require a complete overhaul. Often, it just needs to evolve to keep up with the times, so don’t settle, but reassess, re-strategise, and reignite. If you need help overcoming stagnation, consider reaching out to a business advisor for help.
Download the Free Business Growth Checklist
Simple steps to help reignite your business growth.
