According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses comprise about
99.7% of all businesses in the country and employ about 56.8 million total employees.
Need for Speed? Not So Fast
Happy customers, a robust sales pipeline, and rapid corporate expansion—
what’s bad about your business’ speedy growth? As you celebrate
successes, remember that slow and steady often wins the race.
According to Entrepreneur, an organization can find their perfect rate of growth without
decreasing quality—an idea known as optimal enterprise velocity. This rate can help
businesses assess growth and determine if the growth is helpful or detrimental to the
overall company. In fact, many financial experts agree that building a strong foundation
and then focusing on slow but steady growth is the best philosophy.
Consider these questions to help assess your company’s growth:
Î Î
Is this growth sustainable
for the long term?
Î Î
Can the supply chain
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How is the company culture?
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Do we have enough cash
flow to support this rate
of growth?
support this growth?
"FUTURE PERFECT"
After assessing the growth
and deciding to increase
or decrease based on your
business, it’s time to plan
for the future. Notice your
company’s selling points, and
build on those aspects of
your business. Capitalize on
new technologies to gain an
edge on your competitors,
but don’t go all-in on
something new. Business
News Daily suggests being
careful about avoiding
trends in the marketplace,
instead focusing on how
to stay relevant without
investing in something that
will be out of style tomorrow.
Thinking long term about
where your business will be
in one, five, and 10 years can
help you plan for the best
financial future possible.
If you take the time to slow down unnecessarily
quick growth, your team can breathe and assess
what has been happening. If the answers to the
above questions are unsatisfying, purposefully
slowing growth creates the opportunity to make
the needed changes to sustain your business.
Beat the Burnout
Growing too quickly to meet an unrealistic
demand could cause undue stress on your cash
flow and your team. Avoid employee burnout
from the beginning and focus on hiring team
members with the right personalities, work
ethics and fit for your company. Bringing addi-
tional people to your team does mean you will
reassign profit to your payroll, but the invest-
ment in the right people pays off. Continue to
support your current employees with reviews
and performance incentives where needed.
Sterling National Bank strives to reach new goals with
clients as they design a future of growth. Reach out to
your relationship manager at 855.274.2800 to learn
more about how we can provide the financial support
needed to fuel your next innovation.
RANKED BY FORBES’ 2017 “AMERICA’S 100 BEST BANKS” // CONNECT INNOVATION SUMMER 2017 // SNB.COM | 7