A Lesson from the All You Can Eat Buffet for Your Business Growth Strategy

April 8, 2019
Category: Business Tips

Have you ever gone to an all you can eat buffet? So much variety. So many different salads, entrees, and desserts! Everything’s so tempting that it’s easy to overeat! When I was a kid, I went to one of these buffets with my parents and I actually couldn’t stop eating. I ate so much that I finally got sick. It wasn’t pleasant! But I learned an important life lesson that day: “Just because you’re at an all you can eat buffet, doesn’t mean that you have to eat until you get sick!” Makes sense, right?

What I’ve noticed though, is that this same lesson isn’t being applied by many of my contracting clients’. Due to the strong economy (and to some great coaching ☺), many of my clients are experiencing an all-you-can-eat-buffet of leads flowing into their businesses. It’s gotten to the point where they’re complaining about being “swamped”, “scrambling” and “pedaling as fast as we can to keep up!”

When I’ve asked them “Why don’t you just say ‘No’ to some of those leads?” They all gave similar answers: “Oh, we could never do that!” That’s when I tell them my all-you-can-eat-buffet story and the life lesson that I learned.

Before you say “Yes” to all these leads…

Just because you have an unlimited buffet of leads doesn’t mean that you have to gorge until your business gets sick! Explosive, uncontrolled growth can expose your weak spots and hurt your business in many ways. Here are four possible negative consequences of uncontrolled growth, I’d like you to consider before you say “Yes” to all these leads and additional growth:

• Taking on more leads than you can handle, can increase the time it takes to respond to each call, shorten the time you spend with each prospect and reduce follow up after the proposal is delivered, which can tarnish your image and reduce your close rate.
• Explosive growth can hamper your ability to deliver. It’s harder to schedule your customers in a timely fashion and give them attentive service. It stretches your field managers and crews which can reduce oversight, lower quality and cause more problems and rework resulting in lower customer satisfaction, fewer referrals, and reduced profits.
• Too much business may force you to hire less qualified people and shortcut their training which will reduce productivity. It can also stress out your team, reduce your employee satisfaction and cause higher turnover.
• Finally, businesses that are stretched tend to significantly cut back on important, but not urgent, business improvement projects (such as strengthening your hiring process, finding ways to increase productivity or developing your team for the future) which can hurt future growth and profitability.

Growth is a choice. Choose wisely.

If you’re experiencing explosive growth due to an all-you-can-eat-leads-buffet, don’t just gorge on all this potential business just because it keeps filling up your plate. Before you say “Yes” or “No” to all of these leads and additional growth, I highly recommend that you meet with your team and discuss the possible consequences that I’ve laid out and the potential positives of taking on all this additional business. Then intentionally choose your growth strategy as a team. Choosing as a team will ensure that everyone is aligned around your growth strategy and prepared to implement it.

If you choose to say “No” to higher growth, you can raise your rates and implement screening strategies to reduce your lead flow which will increase profits and ensure that you are working with your ideal customers. If you choose to say “Yes,” to higher growth, choosing as a team will help identify the actions you need to take to successfully accommodate your higher growth rate and ensure that you don’t get sick at the all you can eat buffet!

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