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Inadequate sales are a common challenge for Stage 5 businesses

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A Stage 5 business has between 58-95 employees. Known as the Integration Stage, one of the top five challenges businesses of this size face is inadequate sales. A big reason why increased sales are so important at this Stage is the need to cover growing organizational expenses. The company can no longer expect to keep growing through word-of-mouth and must establish Business Development strategies and structures that are repeatable and can scale with the organization.

Typical Symptoms

The typical symptoms that can be found in a company that is struggling with inadequate sales include:

  • revenue is flat or below projections

  • the sales team is ineffective

  • too few new leads

  • there is a weak sales pipeline

Key Elements to Address the Challenge

The Organizational ReWilding framework is composed of 11 Elements. Each one is integral to the health and full functioning of a business. When a business is struggling with inadequate sales, there are four elements that should be implemented to address the challenge.

  1. Differentiating the company’s offerings by establishing a clear promise to the market through Brand & Core Values.

  2. Infusing Business Development Structure to create consistent, repeatable, and growing revenue.

  3. Critically thinking about the company’s Business Model to provide clarity around what the company does, for whom, and why. This clarity will improve the effectiveness of Business Development efforts.

  4. Establishing Key Performance Indicators for the three business development functions to measure the work and evaluate the outcomes of initiatives.

Why this Challenge Must be Resolved

Without creating a structured system to increase sales, a company of this size won’t be able to sustain growth. It will simply not be capable of keeping up with the increased expenses that go along with hiring more employees. While it’s possible for a business to grow to this size without a structured business development process, it won’t be able to sustain growth that is based on word-of-mouth or a handful of key individuals. Repeatable, scalable solutions are required for the company to continue to grow.

To get help with implementing the four Elements recommended in this article, contact The ReWild Group or check out our Element Guidebook Series. Not sure what Stage of Growth your business is in? Use the Stage Calculator to find out!