Paul Riddle
Contributing Writer
Success Group International
5 Steps to Take Your Company to the Next Level
Every business goes through some ups and downs and some growing pains along the way, but even a successful business that’s growing at a brisk pace will come against a mighty force at some point in its history. This powerful force has slowed the progress of ambitious businesses and crushed many under its weight. It’s called the plateau.
The plateau is that point where you get in your business that you just can’t seem to get past. You may have been growing in the past, but now you’re at a point that you just can’t break through. Many business owners, especially contractors who are already stretched thin, stagnate at this point. They lose their momentum, and slowly their company crumbles. However, with the right mixture of determination and planning, you can break through the plateau stage and reach an even higher level of success.
Every company faces these plateaus, big and small. To push past them, you have to understand a little about what causes these plateaus to creep up on you.
Dependence on People
One of the big obstacles that cause plateaus is a dependence on people. You know it’s hard to find good people, and that very factor will limit a company’s growth. Good technicians, good supervisors, good managers, and office staff are very hard to find and keep all at one time. So if your company is lacking in one of these areas, it will be harder to continue your growth.
Stretched Too Thin
For an owner, running a business can be exhausting, especially in the contracting industry. Dealing with people issues and customers, performing sales and marketing duties, handling taxes, training and recruiting are just a handful of the hats the average business owner will be wearing at any given time.
Everything and everyone in the company has to be good, so for an owner it’s tough. He always finds himself at the breach in the dike, and as a result he loses a lot of time putting out fires. There is always adversity, and that adversity combined with a limited amount of time to deal with it can set up the plateau.
How does the average business owner overcome a plateau and take the business to the next level?
- Change Your Thinking. You have to start by changing your thinking, and you have to change the thinking of your team. Goals have to be set. Everyone needs to think outside of the box, and think outside of the business barriers that seem to be holding you back. In short, beating a plateau depends on change. That’s a problem because people hate change. When you decide to grow your business to a higher level, only the strong will survive because change will be necessary.
- Develop a Plan. You can ease the anxiety of change by developing a viable and workable plan that can be laid out, but all of your staff needs to understand and accept that plans change when conditions dictate. They can’t moan and groan when there is a change of plan or when you need to adapt. There are variables that will demand flexibility.
- Evaluate Your Team. Everyone needs to be strong when breaking through barriers, and everyone needs to be onboard. If you have doubters, you will ultimately have to get rid of them because they poison the well. Leaving them in the company is like leaving a saboteur in your midst. They sow dissent and kill morale with their negativity. Clean house slowly but surely, keeping those who are positive and loyal to you, the cause and the goal.
- Commit to Training. As your company grows, everyone’s responsibilities grow. One of the biggest threats to your success at that point is the quality of your service can suffer. You must not allow that to happen by diligently training your team each and every week—no matter how busy you are. You can’t allow bad work and callbacks to kill your momentum and sully your reputation.
- Motivate Each & Every Day. Make the decision that you want to break through the plateau, inform your team, and then prepare them for the challenge and the ride of their lives. As the leader, you have to be both a motivating force and the steady captain at the helm guiding the ship through the stormy waters of change. That means reassuring, building people up, and being the steady, positive influence.
The important thing to realize is when you think your company can’t grow anymore or can’t beat the obstacles you’re facing, you just have to push through. There’s no such thing as an impenetrable plateau. Follow these five steps and you can achieve the next level of growth you’ve desired.
About the Author: Paul Riddle, Vice President, Success Group International
Paul Riddle has over 25 years of hands‐on experience as GM, COO, CEO, and owner of service companies specifically in the mechanical and restoration segments. Throughout his career, he has personally trained the owners and employees of hundreds of businesses, including several turnaround situations. His hands‐on training for owners and their employees has been in the areas of business planning, sales & marketing, and company culture. Paul enjoys applying his knowledge and experience working directly with business owners and their employees to increase profits, improve the company’s present value, and unlock the intrinsic value of the business when sold. Paul joined SGI in 2009 as the VP of Operations.