Questions

What are some criteria I should look for when searching for a business coach to help me grow an inherited plastics manufacturer? The business is now run by my brother and I. We have over 25years in business but we feel the company needs to take the next step. We need help with corporate info, growth hacking and strategy.

The first thing I recommend is understanding that more advertising is not the best idea. You can quickly waste a lot of money on mis-targeted advertising. Better focus will produce better results.

Second, learn the problems of fast growth. These are:

> loss of focus
> a struggle with communication
> shock from increasing cash flow.

It's very easy to get off track and start trying to be a bunch of different things to different people...leading to trying to produce too many things.

Internally, with fast growth, communication can fail as departments spin off and start doing things that split resources or even conflict with one another.

And while low cash flow is a commonly known problem, quickly increasing cash flow can lead to a number of problems in supply chain & vendor management, WIP, and more. Getting more sales is not necessarily the recipe for success--you can literally sell your way into oblivion if your margins are out of whack.

Beware of a single panacea for success. More marketing, more sales, more production in isolation and without analysis can drive the company into extinction.

You really need to understand the conditions you're operating under now, and then the target for where you want to be. Just wanting to grow is not enough. The target needs to be specific.

I was a plant manager at 25 and have turned companies around. Let's book a call if you'd like to dig further into your business.


Answered 8 years ago

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