Entrepreneurs – Signs That You Have Expanded Your Business Too Quickly
Entrepreneurs – Signs That You Have Expanded Your Business Too Quickly
The biggest sign is that your internal systems are starting to creek a bit. Where you could rely on a paper or spreadsheet system or notes are left on yellow stickies that doesn’t work any more. Messages are missed, orders are forgotten so your customers are unhappy. Payments to your suppliers are late so they are not delivering as quickly as you would like. Worse still you don’t chase your debtors very often and they are taking advantage of this, so there goes your cash flow.
You are promising your customers things that you cannot deliver – because you are just too busy. Your company standards slip because you don’t have the time or staff to deliver to and look after your customers like you used to do.
You hire more staff to help but you don’t have the time to train them properly so your business standards are slipping and your customers are complaining. Your office or shop is creaking at the seams and there does not seem to be enough space for them all.
You order in more stock and the space seems to get even smaller. Not to mention the car park that is so full of staff cars that your customers can’t get in!
Lastly and this is what usually brings it home to you – your partner and family start to complain that you do not spend enough time with them.
So what do you do? Well dust off your business plan and discover all over again what you wanted to do with the business.
• Take the day off – lock yourself away in your office or your home and plan out how you are going to handle customers, staff, stock, accounts and systems.
• Call your staff together tell them what you are going to do to make your business more efficient and enlist their help.
• Take your most trusted member of staff and ask him/her to help you.
• Put your less trained staff with a better trained member of staff and start a mentoring programme.
• Contact your customers and tell them about the new improvements and offer them a discount on their next purchase.
• Contact your suppliers and apologise and make arrangements to pay any arrears and pay on time in the future.
• Ask your staff for ideas about improving your systems and install an accounting programme if necessary.
• Put a member of staff in charge of chasing your debtors with a vengeance. Ensure that all future invoices say that a % charge will be made for late payment. Ditch the bad payers if necessary.
Keep focussed and good luck!
Entrepreneurs a Signs That You Have Expanded Your Business Too Quickly - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Lister's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
You have been running your business for some time and things are going well, but you are starting to notice that you are getting some problems and maybe your profits and turnover aren’t so good. Could you be expanding too quickly? Here are a few symptoms and some suggestions as to what you can do about it.
The biggest sign is that your internal systems are starting to creek a bit. Where you could rely on a paper or spreadsheet system or notes are left on yellow stickies that doesn’t work any more. Messages are missed, orders are forgotten so your customers are unhappy. Payments to your suppliers are late so they are not delivering as quickly as you would like. Worse still you don’t chase your debtors very often and they are taking advantage of this, so there goes your cash flow.
You are promising your customers things that you cannot deliver – because you are just too busy. Your company standards slip because you don’t have the time or staff to deliver to and look after your customers like you used to do.
You hire more staff to help but you don’t have the time to train them properly so your business standards are slipping and your customers are complaining. Your office or shop is creaking at the seams and there does not seem to be enough space for them all.
You order in more stock and the space seems to get even smaller. Not to mention the car park that is so full of staff cars that your customers can’t get in!
Lastly and this is what usually brings it home to you – your partner and family start to complain that you do not spend enough time with them.
So what do you do? Well dust off your business plan and discover all over again what you wanted to do with the business.
• Take the day off – lock yourself away in your office or your home and plan out how you are going to handle customers, staff, stock, accounts and systems.
• Call your staff together tell them what you are going to do to make your business more efficient and enlist their help.
• Take your most trusted member of staff and ask him/her to help you.
• Put your less trained staff with a better trained member of staff and start a mentoring programme.
• Contact your customers and tell them about the new improvements and offer them a discount on their next purchase.
• Contact your suppliers and apologise and make arrangements to pay any arrears and pay on time in the future.
• Ask your staff for ideas about improving your systems and install an accounting programme if necessary.
• Put a member of staff in charge of chasing your debtors with a vengeance. Ensure that all future invoices say that a % charge will be made for late payment. Ditch the bad payers if necessary.
Keep focussed and good luck!
Entrepreneurs a Signs That You Have Expanded Your Business Too Quickly - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Lister's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|||
Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
|||
David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
|||
Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|||
Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
|||
Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
|||
David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
|||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Lee's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Quick Start Guide Networking To Get Results Take the Lead Great Sales Fallacies Business Emotional Intelligence |
|
 | ||
 |
Top Social Business Blogs
Top Social Entrepreneur Blogs | |
 |
Email The Reporters
Press Release Builder | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||