Even leadership with the best intentions of revenue growth can face a tough road ahead. Read on to shine a light on potential obstacles you may face as you work to grow revenue.
Internal barriers to revenue growth.
Inside a business, many things can go awry for revenue growth, but one of the most-frequent offenders is the politics of an office. Departments will argue over whose responsibility it is to lead revenue growth and see to it that goals are reached. Is that marketing’s job? Is it sales’? Well, we know for a business to realize its potential, these barriers and silos cannot exist. For example, say sales does take the lead on revenue growth, but then they need information or supporting materials from marketing to pull off the plan. And marketing comes to the game late and says it is a no-go. That is a recipe for missed marks and lack of growth.
Another major issue is the mindset of your leadership and the status quo holding them back. Are you willing to invest to grow? Are you willing to invest in headcount or in market research or in product strategy to spark that growth? Or are you accepting bare minimum growth?
It is near-impossible to grow consistently without investing.
External barriers to revenue growth.
The marketplace can be your No. 1 outside obstacle to growth. Maybe the market share does not exist for your growth. Maybe the market is not growing as fast as you would like it to. But the competitive landscape is always on the move. While growth may seem far off, it may be a year or two of slow growth before the market is ready for your goals.
And while I called out mergers and acquisitions as a key strategy for healthy growth in a previous post, these can also become an obstacle. Is the other business even willing to be bought? Do you have a plan after the merger or acquisition takes place? Remember from my previous post, even well-meaning strategies for growth can have the opposite effect. There are a number of other things to be aware of too, including your geographies and the regulatory environment. The outside influences are plenty.
While revenue growth can sometimes fall victim to internal and external barriers, it is important to focus on what you can control and the opportunities available to you at present, in this marketplace, with today’s buyers. There are many other avenues to explore to uncover healthy revenue performance. If you would like to discuss these avenues further, contact me.