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Are you struggling to grow your business? Has your business been stuck at a plateau for sometime and do you find yourself asking “Why isn’t my business growing? If so, you are in the right place. Identifying why your business isn’t growing is the first step to being able to address the issue and breakthrough the plateau. Keep on reading to find out the 11 reasons why your business isn’t growing and how you can fix it.
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11 REASONS WHY YOUR BUSINESS ISN’T GROWING AND HOW YOU CAN FIX IT.
1. You don’t have a growth strategy
Let’s start right at the beginning. You want to grow your business, but have you decided on what your current growth strategy is or are you just trying to sell more? if you haven’t already identified your growth strategy do that now.
How you can fix it: Use the Ansoff Matrix to work out which of the 4 possible growth strategies you are going to focus on for the foreseeable. You can find out more about the Ansoff Matrix and choosing your growth strategy in ‘How to choose a growth strategy for your small business’.
2. You don’t know your ideal client well enough
A very common reason why businesses don’t grow is because they don’t know their ideal client well enough. Maybe you created an ideal client avatar when you first started your business, but when was the last time you reviewed it, and more importantly when was the last time you updated it. Creating an ideal client avatar is usually a hypothetical exercise when you first start your business, but as you start working with real clients you should be expanding on your ideal client avatar. The more you understand your ideal client the easier it will be to offer something they want to buy, share the right messaging in your marketing and ultimately sign clients.
How you can fix it: Get to know your ideal client better by talking to your ideal client and paying attention. Expand on your client avatar until you know your ideal client as well as you know your best friend.
3. You are trying to sell too many different things
Do you offer multiple services and / or products? If so, it might be that you are selling too much and that is what is slowing your growth down. It might sound counterintuitive, because you think that the more you have to sell the more you will sell as you will have something for everyone. However, when you are trying to sell multiple things you are making your job harder. When you have multiple things to sell it makes your marketing more complicated and it means that you aren’t known for one thing.
How you can fix it: Review your product/service suite and look at the numbers. How many have you sold of each over the last 3,6 or 12 months. How much do they contribute to your overall turnover? What is the profitability? Once you’ve answered those questions you can see whether it is possible to streamline what you are offering whilst still keeping in mind reason 4 (see below).
4. You aren’t maximising the income you are generating from each client
It is easier to sell to an existing client than it is to sign a new client (as long as you deliver a good service that is). So you want to ensure that you are maximising the client lifetime value. If clients currently work with you once and it doesn’t make sense for them to work with you again then it is likely that this is the reason you aren’t growing.
How you can fix it: Is there a natural progression amongst the services/products you offer? If not, what can you create to exist to current clients to generate further revenue.
Learn more about having a service/product suite that maximises the client lifetime value in ‘What is a value ladder (and why you need one)‘.
| FED UP OF BEING STUCK AT A PLATEAU AND WANT TO FAST-TRACK YOUR BUSINESS GROWTH?
I offer 1-to-1 business and marketing mentoring for coaches, consultants and online service providers. If you are a business owner that is small in team size, but big in ambition then I’m here to help. My 1:1 business and marketing mentoring programme will give you the training, ongoing support and accountability to help you breakthrough your current plateau and help you achieve your business growth goals (and in a way that truly works for you). For more information check out my 1:1 business and marketing mentoring programme here. |
5. Your messaging isn’t right
If you are confident in what you are selling, but aren’t able to drive interest for your service then the next thing to review would be your marketing. and you should start by checking the performance of your marketing. If your messaging isn’t raising interest and a desire to work with you then something is wrong.
How you can fix it: Test your messaging. The only way to find out what works is to run tests and then measure the performance.
6. You aren’t consistent with your marketing
Your messaging might be right, but if you aren’t marketing your business consistently then you won’t see growth in your business. You need to ensure that you are consistently marketing your business. If you are running paid advertising this is fairly easy as you can ensure that adverts are running consistently. However, if you are relying purely on organic online marketing such as email marketing, social media marketing and content marketing then you need to ensure that you are publishing content frequently enough and that you keep to your schedule.
How you can fix it: Create a marketing plan and stick to it. If you are focused on using organic marketing methods (content marketing, email marketing and social media marketing) then my content marketing plan will be perfect for you.
7. You don’t have a clear buyer journey or sales funnel
If you are consistent with your marketing and got messaging that works then the next thing you should review is your buyer journey or sales funnel. As a business owner (and marketer in your business) it is your responsibility to take people on a journey. You need to have a way for people to first become aware of you and then go on a journey to become a buyer. If you are increasing your visibility, but not increasing sales that could be a sign that you have a problem with your buyer journey or sales funnel.
How to fix it: Go step by step through your buyer journey or sales funnel and ensure there is a clear route for individuals. Then go back and optimise the conversion in each part.
Don’t have a sales funnel yet? Learn how to create your first online sales funnel here.
8. You aren’t selling enough
Super consistent with your marketing, but not making sales? If so, your growth problem might be because you aren’t selling enough. Marketing and sales are different and it is common for business owners to focus on marketing rather than selling.
How you can fix it: Set yourself the challenge of selling every day. This means directly offering your product or service to one person whether that be via a DM on a social media platform, an email or on a call.
9. You don’t have any more time
One of the reasons why your business isn’t growing could be because you have reached full capacity (time wise). Have you got to the point where you physically do any more work? This is very common with service-based business owners who are trading time for money. There comes a point where you can’t physically take on more clients. So what can you do?
How you can fix it: You have a few options. Firstly, you should look to see if there is anything you are doing manually that could be automated. Next, you can look at outsourcing some non client-delivery activities so you have more time for more client delivery. Finally, you can look at adding in some scalable offerings that allow you to leverage your time.
Find out more about moving from a one-to-one model to a one-to-many model here.
10. You aren’t focusing on the right things
As a small business owner there are a lot of tasks that you have to do to keep your business running and there are seven more activities that you can do to fill your day and keep you busy. It is easy to fall into the trap of being busy, but not productive. If you want to grow then you need to focused on the activities that are going to help generate income and support growth (not spending hours on social media unless it is truly a great lead-generator for you)
How you can fix it: Focus on income-generating activities. Identify what tasks are supporting generating new clients and focus on those tasks. Everything else goes to the bottom of the to-do list.
11. You aren’t growing (personally)
I’m a big believer that when you are a solopreneur or small business owner your business can only grow as much as you grow. You are having to perform so many roles in your business that you need to ensure those skills are good enough. And then it is important to also focus on your personal development too.
How you can fix it: Set aside time and money to ensure you develop as a person. Read books (I’ve got some great recommendation in my book blog, Charelle Reads ), attend events, take courses and start journaling so you are capturing all those lessons as you grow your business.
That’s it! You know now the 11 reasons why your business isn’t growing and how to fix it.
Being stuck in a rut with your business is not a fun place to be, but you can break through your current plateau. You are now aware of 11 possible reasons why your business isn’t growing. The hardest part is self-identifying what is causing the problem. When you are in a business you are often too close to be able to properly assess, which is where hiring a professional, like myself, is worthwhile. Find out more about how I can help you here.
| WANT TO GROW A THRIVING ONLINE BUSINESS THAT YOU LOVE
As you’ve seen there are multiple reasons why your business might not be growing right now. I can help you identify what is stopping your growth at the moment and then help you break through this plateau and continue to build a business you love. Using my 5P Method I’ll ensure that not only do you start to grow your business again, but that you are prepared for the growth and grow in a way that works for you. To find out more about my 1:1 business and marketing mentoring programme click here And to discuss your precise needs book a free, no-obligation, introduction call to discuss your business here. |
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