Have you ever wondered how to achieve predictable business success? Is there a way to predict which businesses will be successful, and which will not? Have you wondered how to tell if today’s growth will lead to tomorrow’s success, or if it is just a lucky break? Do you know where your business is on its growth trajectory, and the predictable business success steps you need to follow to make it to the next level ?
If you’re like most business owners, you’ve probably asked these questions. Maybe you’re still searching for answers. If so, you’ll probably be interested to hear about “Predictable Success,” a book and growth system by business strategist Les McKeon.
McKeon divides business growth into three phases, and seven stages:
Acceleration: This is the time when a business is growing quickly. Sometimes that growth is happening smoothly. Other times, it might be more of a struggle. McKeon divides the “attain” growth period into two patterns. “Early struggle” is a time when businesses are just trying to get off the ground, find business and service their clients. Businesses that make it through “early struggle” move into the “fun” stage, where the business is starting to be more stable and profitable. The bills are getting paid, but the business is still pretty small. Many businesses never make it past this stage.
Peak Performance: The “peak performance” period is when the business is able to scale past the point of stability to any size that your industry will allow. You are able to expand to service more customers, or bigger customers, or expand geographically. This kind of growth sounds great, but most companies never make it to this level of success. Why? Because doing so is very challenging. McKeon calls this difficulty of transitioning to scale “whitewater.” At this point, business owners have to decide how to deal with these issues – some deal with the issues by scaling back to their “fun” comfort zone; those that will go on to be successful build systems and teams to punch through these barriers and grow. Once you do make it past these challenges, your business enters into what McKeon calls “predictable success.”
Reignition: Systems and processes are great, but sometimes they can cross the line into bureaucracy. When that happens, it can hamper growth. Businesses can become less able to innovate and try new things. When this happens, the business can become stuck on what McKeon calls the “treadmill;” going nowhere, unable to grow any further. Something has to happen to shake things up. Often, this comes in the form of losing customers to more innovative competition. The company has become stuck in “the big rut;” they begin shrinking instead of growing. Action must be taken to reignite growth and get out of the rut, or eventually, the company will go under, giving its final “death rattle.”
The challenge for most businesses is to identify where you are in this predictable business success pattern, decide where you want to be, and determine the actions needed to get you there. We challenge you to take the quiz on McKeon’s website to learn more about whether your business in on the path to predictable business success.
Let us know your quiz results in the comments! If you’re on the “treadmill” or experiencing “whitewater,” we can help you identify and implement systems and processes to take you to the next level of growth, or return to peak performance.
