It’s natural to
strive to grow your business, but too rapid a growth can bring with it a host of problems. By taking on too many clients and ‘running before you can walk’ you might damage your practice in the long run.
“The fuel of persistence is patience, the ability to tolerate delays while persisting.”
Elite advisors all share an important trait – that of patience. It doesn’t matter how good you are at your job. If you don’t see that success requires time and effort, you will remain at a mediocre level.
Here are five consequences of attempting to grow your practice too fast.
#1. You risk to burnout if you grow your practice too fast.
If you try to achieve the impossible, you’ll fail, and develop stress-related problems into the bargain. If you can’t see an end in sight when it comes to work, recognize this as the problem it is.
Slow down and step back. Stop aiming to work with all and sundry and instead
create an ideal client profile. Once you’ve defined your target market, make a commitment to working only with this group of people.
Identify existing clients who don’t meet your specification and let them go. In so doing you are starting to take a measured approach to growing your business.
By only choosing to work with people you like working with, you’re also ensuring your job is less stressful.
#2. Growing your practice too fast might not leave you time to fine-tune your soft skills.
Nobody becomes a great golfer after just one golf lesson. Only new golfers who practice what they learned on the first day and build on that in subsequent lessons have any chance of becoming good at the sport.
If you want to run a sustainable business,
incorporating repeatable processes is key. Only by investing in your personal development – especially when it comes to your soft skills – will you become proficient enough to not only attract but retain clients for the long term.
#3. Your ability to personalize your service will diminish if you grow your practice too fast.
If you take on every new prospect you come across, you will sooner rather than later start to provide a lesser service to your existing clients. The excitement of welcoming each new client on board comes at a cost – that of the dissatisfaction of your prior clients.
If you are too busy to return calls in a timely manner or fail to catch up with clients, this demonstrates to them that you don’t care. They will undoubtedly start to look elsewhere. Nor will you win referrals. And
referrals are the backbone of your business. If your reputation starts to suffer, you’re very unlikely to make a success of your practice in the longer term.
#4. If you try to grow your business too fast, you will see setbacks as defeats.
Setbacks are an inevitable consequence of growing a business. If you have a ‘butterfly mind’ and change direction after every so-called defeat, your lack of persistence will let you down.
For example, if you decide after running your first ‘so-so’ seminar that seminars aren’t for you, this lack of commitment will hold you back.
Rather than constantly going off into tangents to attract new business, follow the example of elite advisors. Their dogged persistence to become better at certain tasks reaps them far more positive rewards in the end – despite the fact this requires patience and foresight.
#5. With too rapid business growth, you might lose track of important business tasks.
If you’re constantly running around trying to put out fires, you’ll be distracted from key business priorities. If you’re so wrapped up in the moment, you may be spending unnecessary money on your business without realizing the costing implications, or start falling behind with important paperwork around compliance, etc. All of which will be highly detrimental to your business.
The majority of new businesses fail. In fact
only a third of Inc. Magazine’s 5000 fastest-growing companies were still in business after 5 years. And this is often because they focus on short-term growth ahead of everything else.
When you’re growing a business, you need to be disciplined and organized. You need to prioritize tasks and have a scalable plan. If you pace yourself and focus on building your practice steadily, your business could well become one of the few long-term success stories.
Related:
Three Things Elite Advisors Love That Average Advisors Fear
