This week I want to talk about something which I think we have all seen at times - The Growth Plateau.

We start a business. Get some customers. Improve things, get some more customers. Perhaps go a bit more.

I’ve seen this happen with my clients and even in my own business journey. We all hit that wall at some point, but the key is knowing how to break through it.

That's what I call - The Growth Plateau.

So why does this happen?

Perhaps you can't find any more leads? You have leads coming in, you have some marketing that works, but for some reason you can't scale that any further.

Perhaps you've found an internal constraint? You can't do any more appointments. You can't handle any more customers with your current staff level. You can't produce those widgets quick enough.

Or maybe you don't have the systems and processes in place to facilitate growth? Relying on spreadsheets and bodging things together will only get you so far.

Whatever it is that brought you to where you are now might not be the thing which gets you to the next stage.

So like our guy in the sketch above - can you push past the plateau?

To make a start at this, I would first look at a few things in your business.

1. Which marketing pillars are working for you? And which ones aren't? Get some proper data behind your answer to this question. Scale the pillars which are working. Tweak or stop the pillars which aren't.

2. Identify your constraint. Are things always getting stuck with a particular part of the business (or person?). Are YOU the constraint? Have a think about this. Fix the constraint and then scale 'til you hit another. Reset and go again.

3. Do you know your numbers? Many business owners don't spend enough on marketing. That's because they haven't worked out what a customer is worth. They don't know their gross margin. They don't know their breakeven point. This couldn't be you - could it?

Hitting that growth plateau is normal. It's how you push past it and on to the next stage which is what will set you apart.

Are you spending your time focusing on the right things? Because thinking about things like this is what will truly change your business. Then taking action.

Have a great week.

Dan

P.S. My eBook talks about solving exactly this topic in even more detail - you can check it out and download for free here.