$2mm-$5mm - Feed The Beast
Congratulations if you’ve made it to this threshold!
Currently, this is the state of business that our company is experiencing and I believe that we are at an accelerated path to blow through this threshold. Some things that I’ve noticed from this 2 to 5 Million range is that it’s kind of a ‘feed the beast’ mode of operating.
By this time you have a great crew around you, lead by your main right hand person, and your sales and admin tasks are being handled by a capable team. What you’ve also found is that there’s this sweet spot in your business where things start to click; people around you believe in what you’re doing, and you’re all working together in great form.
Normal Path
During this stage of growth, normally SOP’s are the main focus because they are so much more evident and if they’re not solid and efficient then problems will arise. Mainly, you have zero time to work on your actual product anymore because you’re trying to keep up with the demand of getting it out the door.
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Sales have grown to a point where you need to add another sales person so you may consider ramping up via normal marketing efforts. A big detriment to business at this stage is that collections become a huge issue, and it’s natural because as you grow your top line, it grows the number of customers that you have to invoice and follow up with for collections.
Accelerated Path
On the accelerated path, instead of following traditional marketing efforts, I believe that you need to make use of an inbound marketing campaign with a sales and leads funnel which consistently brings in quality leads for your company. As a result, you put in less overall sales effort, because the customers that are coming to you already know about your business and product and are actively seeking to be a customer before the whole process has even started.
SCALING YOUR NICHE
To continue growth at this stage, you have to learn how to scale your niche to feed the beast. It’s the only way you’re going to come up with the efficiency you spend so much time investing in when you got your shop to the level of producing a reliable and quality product very quickly.
During this stage of growth, finding high quality employees is so important. Hopefully, you’ve learned how employees can change your business either for the best or worst. I look at it this way: If i’m trying to hire a $12/hour shop hand, I think that in the market there exists the best $12/hour shop hand. So if you don’t settle for someone who is not a good fit for your team, you can always find the best, regardless of the wage you are paying.
It doesn’t matter the function they’re doing or what the wage is, you can find people who are motivated, looking to commit to moving up an organization, and those are the best employees. I like a quote by Richard Branson that says “customers are not the most important asset to any company, if you hire great employees they will take care of your customers.” I live by that and it’s proven to work.
FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
Stay focused on the vision and don’t stray too far off the line. This stage should be fun as you’re growing, and implementing new creative strategies that you never thought possible before. You’ll notice that all the hard work you’ve put into your company from the earlier stages is starting to pay dividends.
Lastly, If you made it to this threshold, you’re not going to stop growing.
You probably have a pretty good grasp on what’s making your company successful to this point so start mapping out your accelerated path through the next growth thresholds. Our company is constantly making plans for what we’re going to look like and how we will operate when we’re a 10 million dollar company. I believe that in the near future based off our practices we will be that 10 million dollar company mark, and with that will come a new set of challenges for growth.
I’m so glad that you’ve been with us through this series of breaking through thresholds, and hopefully you’ve been able to isolate what path and practices your company would like to implement. Let me know in the comments about where you’re at!