|
|
Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! |  |
|
Entrepreneurs – Signs That You Have Expanded Your Business Too Quickly
Written by: Lee ListerArticle Overview: 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.
 |
Free Download - What Type of Business Should I Start? By Lee Lister |
Entrepreneurs – Signs That You Have Expanded Your Business Too Quickly
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!
Turn the browsers into buyers…
Signs
Exceptional Business Leaders Know How to Find and Read the Signs Do You
Top 10 Entrepreneur Trends for 2011
Business Opportunity Blossoms as Canadian Recession Starts to Recover
|
About the Author: Lee Lister RSS for Lee's articles - Visit Lee's website  From an early age she began an unparalleled journey through business consulting that continues to span across the UK, USA, Europe and Asia. She has consulted for a considerable number of companies all over the world. Specialising in business change management, start up consultancy and trouble shooting. Lee's experience in marketing and internet marketing is also keenly sought after. She is a prolific published writer of books, ebooks and articles and can easily be found on major search engine and Amazon. Her books include: FastTrack Bid Management, Proposal Writing For Smaller Businesses, How Much Does It Cost To Start A Business, Entrepreneur's Apprentice and a series of Start My New Business books that do as they say in the title! Her major web sites are: Click here to visit Lee's website   Entrepreneurs What Should Be In Your Business Plan Entrepreneurs Are You Writing A Tender Or Proposal And Want To Differentiate Your Company From The Competitor SWOT Analysis Swots That And How Can It Make My Business More Profitable Up Sell you way to a Better Turnover Are PQQs Getting More Complex To Complete |
Related Forum Posts
My entry
- 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read
- this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody.
2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto.
3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book
Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Elevator Pitch in 10 Words
- "Winning Business Design For Aspiring Entrepreneurs Based On Their Idea"
A ton of Great Women
- You might want to profile Teresa Cascioli of LakePort Brewery. She has an amazing story! I met her at at the celebratory luncheon for the Profit/Chatelaine Top 100 Women Business Owners. The Top 100 list is also a great resource for inspirational stories of Women Entrepreneurs.
Re: Hello EvanCarmichaelers, and Thanks!
- "Carmichaelers" ..nice.. Over at the Young Entrepreneurs I'm going to start calling my readers "DSilvelers" - I like the sound of that!
Welcome on board theFranchiseMarket. Do you run a Franchise Business or are involved in Franchising in anyway?
CEOs and Email - Slaves?
- I wonder if the emails they are responding to are filtered thru their assistants first 'cos they seem to spend a lot of their off hours responding to them.
True they are successful but I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay that price.
I'd be interested to know what's the in the typical day planner of Entrepreneurs on the Forum.
Entrepreneurs are a different breed than Paid Employees- so it would be interesting to view the contrast.
Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.
Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
by: 
Lesson #3: “Tell ‘em quick and tell ‘em often”
Searching for the Stars: How Yang and Filo Took Their Business to New Heights
Salesperson Wimp-Out: I Need Help 
February 2012 Top 100 Leadership Experts to Follow on Twitter
Please Stop Calling it Coaching!
Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Four Secrets to Earning Income as an Author
Build Corporate Credit for Your Small Business
An Intelligent Contact Sheet
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.