I have been in business for just a few years and have hit a plateau, any ideas on how to get beyond it?

November 24 2004 - Syracuse Post Standard

Ann Marie: If you are looking to beef up sales, take a closer look at the things you already do to see if you can improve the process. Offering your clients an enhanced version of your service or product and thus giving them a better value, could help drive up sales. You could look into expanding into different but related markets. A wedding photographer could think about shooting school portraits. An interior designer could connect with a Real Estate Broker and stage homes for sale. Try aligning yourself with another business. If you are a florist, connect with a place like a hair salon or bridal shop and give them a weekly arrangement with your business cards. Sometimes just thinking on the ?rim of the box? could net you a higher return.

Tracy: Entrepreneurs hit plateaus from time to time. It?s a natural part of developing a business. You mention you?ve been in business a couple years so this might be a good time for you to go back to your business plan and re-examine your short and long term goals. Examine where you wanted your company to be in the two ? five year period. Are you on track with what you projected? Sometimes we get so busy running our businesses that we forget to look at the ?plans? that got us going. A business plan is a road map to be referred to often. If you can?t work through the plateau after reviewing your plan, you might need outside help. A business coach or advisor might help you identify problems and push you through the plateau to the next level.

Julie: Before you work on increasing your sales, make sure that your business is prepared to handle the higher volume. Examine every aspect of your business to be sure you have adequate systems in place. It?s even possible that you can increase your profit margin without adding sales by purchasing more effectively or cutting expenses. Work on fine tuning the way you operate so you can maintain the quality of your product, but produce it faster, easier, and more consistently. Creating an operations manual can be a useful tool to achieve this, particularly when you transition from doing everything yourself to hiring outside help.

You might take minute to define what the ?next level? means to you ? it doesn?t necessarily have to mean higher sales. The next level might mean achieving a better balance between your business and personal life, or carving out time to volunteer for cause that?s important to you.