Redefine Success to Grow Your Business

 

‘Success’ lights up eyes, fills hearts with pride, makes people happy, and celebrations are in order.

What is Success?

Success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.

In business, this aim or goal to accomplish is defined by the leaders. Most of the time, this aim is about revenues, profits, market share, affluence, and dominance.

In life, all aims, objectives, and goals change and evolve as we grow and mature.

Most 20-year-olds aim to have fast cars, big homes, exotic vacations, the latest electronic gadgets, good grades, dream jobs.

By the time, they reach their 50s, most of them are aiming to be present in the moment, spend quality time with friends and family, be physically fit, and desire happiness more than affluence.

We all are evolving to understand fulfillment driven from non-material activities and experiences enriches our lives more than material possessions.

In the same way, business success goals designed to attain continuous improvement in skill, productivity, team building, customer care and satisfaction, brand awareness, and positive impact on the society at large and economy result in sustainable long term growth in profits, revenues, market share, and goodwill.

Every business needs to be profitable to sustain itself.  But many times, there is a lot of emphases put on short term goals as indicators of success.  When an entrepreneur spends most time focusing on topline revenue growth, winning the ‘Business of Year’ or ‘Fastest Growing Business’ awards, being quickly ready to be sold for 4 or 5 times the revenue, the business may experience fast growth for a little bit but a crash or hard times are not too far behind.

Focus on long term goals of growth is the only way to sustainable success and profitability.

If you want to have a business that provides for your long-term needs and perhaps the needs of the next generations, you have to evolve your definition of success.

To grow your business for the long haul, you have to include some of the following goals in your definition of Success:

1. Learning new ways to inspire, lead, and manage: Read, listen, attend, and find mentors who encourage you to be a better leader and evolve as a person.

2. Improve customer satisfaction: Send out regular surveys to customers after completing a project or closing a support case. Listen to their feedback and work to improve their level of satisfaction from your work.

3. Grow Revenue and Profits from repeat Business: Repeat business has the lowest cost of acquisition (zero), shorter sales cycle, better close ratios, a steady stream of revenue resulting in higher profit margins (profit is what keeps companies alive and thriving).  Not to mention, a significant boost to goodwill.

4. Retain a great team: Work to provide job satisfaction, fair wages, career growth opportunities, learning, and skill development to people who are devoted to the success of your business.

5. Stay current with market changes: Succeeding in staying current with market trends and responding to the ones affecting your business is critical for the continued growth of your business.

The world is changing very fast, faster than ever before.  Five-year plans are no longer useful, even dangerous at times. It is tough (if not impossible) to predict how the forces of disruption will shape our market from year to year.

To grow your business, you will need the flexibility to adapt to sudden changes and resilience to thrive while dealing with change.

Shortsighted goals motivated by the pure desire for affluence will not grow your business for the long haul.

So how will you define success for your business?

Following parameters included in your success plan will grow your business beyond an aggressive and only revenue-based plan can.

1. Become thought Leader in your market.

2. Offer excellent value to customers.

3. Take excellent care of the team.

4. Satisfy each customer every time.

5. Stand out by providing a memorable experience.

6. Stay in sync with market changes and disruptions.

7. Be resilient with good profit margins and steadily growing revenues.

8. Learn and get better at the essential tasks of running a business. Track and monitor important indicators for your business.

Do not fall for the widespread hype about what is success for a business.  Take charge and define your own success just like you have taken your own path to earn a living.

I look forward to reading comments from you so please share your thoughts, perspectives, and reactions with me in the comments section.  Subscribe so we can notify you of new posts.

Remember, growing self will help grow business for long run…  Happy Growing!