A Quick and Easy Guide to Scaling your Business

Are you ready to scale?

You own an amazing business. It’s been around for years, has a great product or service, generates millions in revenue, and is profitable. It's the kind of success most entrepreneurs dream of. For some context, only 4% of businesses generate over $1 million in revenue, and just 0.4% surpass $10 million. So, what's the concern? Recently, growth has slowed, or even dipped slightly. While the stagnation during COVID wasn’t surprising, it’s been a few years, and now you’re wondering why your business is still stuck on the same growth plateau.

I’ve seen companies across industries with this same story—something has shifted in the past five years since 2019, and COVID is no longer a valid excuse. Most business owners I meet are eager to start growing again or scale to the next level. Their reasons vary: reaching original goals, leaving a legacy, planning an exit in the next 3-5 years, stepping back to focus on strategy, or turning the business into a source of passive income.

How to Scale Your Business Beyond a Growth Plateau

I’ve worked with companies in your exact situation before, and the key to reigniting growth often lies in strategic adjustments to sales, marketing, leadership, and operations. Here’s a guide to how you can scale your company from stagnant to soaring!

1. Revisit Your Strategy and Define the Future

Before diving into tactical changes, the first step is to revisit your company's strategy. What do you, as the owner, actually want? More freedom from day-to-day operations? A larger market share? Understanding where you want the business to go allows you to build a plan to get there. 

A strategic review includes assessing what parts of the company are working and what is missing. Often, companies in this situation have grown through a mix of great products and long-standing client relationships but haven't adapted to the new opportunities presented by digital marketing or outbound sales strategies. Sometimes their sales teams are moving towards retirement, and so are their contacts in the organizations that traditionally buy from you. 

I use Vision, Mission, and Core Values to create 3- to 5-year plans, which then break down into one-year strategies and quarterly initiatives. To stay on track, I apply the Objectives, Key Results (OKR) and Initiatives framework, along with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and hold weekly leadership meetings to ensure the strategy remains effective and top of mind for all leaders. Learn more about to do strategic planning here.

2. Strengthen Your Sales and Marketing Processes

Many established companies rely on inbound sales from their Rolodex of long-term clients. But as your clients and their companies evolve, so too do the people you deal with. The clients who have trusted you for years may be nearing retirement, and new decision-makers may not even know you exist.

Re-engagement is key to keeping your foothold. You need to reach out to both the new players and the familiar ones in your industry. That’s where digital marketing comes in. By building a focused online presence, engaging in social and content marketing, and developing top-of-funnel campaigns, you can extend your reach beyond the clients you know while reinforcing your presence with those who already trust you.

However, to scale effectively, these sales and marketing efforts must be process-driven. Intuitive, founder-led selling doesn’t scale. Defining your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), building sales collateral based on value propositions, and creating repeatable marketing and sales systems will allow you to increase your outbound efforts. If you get all your leads from inbound calls and trade shows, a digital sales and marketing process that is focused on your ICP will show fast returns on its investment. 

I use a customer- and account-based sales and marketing strategy that focuses on ideal customer profiles (ICPs), buyer personas, and their specific needs. I then align each product to solve their problems with tailored value propositions and supporting collateral, such as landing pages, thought leadership pieces, one-pagers, case studies, leave-behinds, and tech specs, all written specifically for each ICP and persona.

3. Shift from Founder-Led Sales to a Scalable Process

Another common bottleneck in a stagnant company is the founder (or sometimes a single key sales person that's been there since the beginning.) You’ve probably been the face of your company for years. Whether it’s at trade shows or handling top-of-funnel inquiries, your presence has driven sales, However, this approach doesn’t scale. And you can probably point to  a long line of failed sales hires to prove my point. 

The key is to hire and empower a sales team—but not just any sales team - and not without planning. To be successful, they need clear processes, an ideal customer profile, and a well-articulated value proposition. Many founders have grown their businesses intuitively, but intuition isn’t scalable. You need to create documented systems that allow your team to take over top-of-funnel efforts, without relying on your decades of insider knowledge.

I use worksheets that help business owners transfer decades of experience into a scalable sales process. This crucial step must be completed before considering any sales hires!

4. Build Operational Efficiency to Handle Growth

Once you've improved your sales and marketing, it’s crucial to ensure your operations are ready to handle the scale-up. Growth can strain systems that worked well at a smaller size but may break down as demand increases. Assess your internal processes to determine if they’re as efficient as they could be.

Implementing tools like automated workflows and investing in better project management systems can help reduce operational bottlenecks. By streamlining operations, you ensure your business can meet increased demand without faltering as sales and marketing efforts ramp up.

I recommend looking at tools before hiring. Many software solutions can address bottlenecks, and there’s no need to reinvent the wheel—proven processes and tools already exist to help you scale efficiently.

5. Build a Strong Leadership Team

Growth also requires a strong leadership team that can manage the day-to-day operations while you focus on strategy and scaling. Companies at this stage often struggle to create leadership teams because founders are deeply involved in all aspects of the business.

Consider hiring or promoting leaders who can own key business functions—whether that's a COO to handle operations or a sales leader to drive the outbound efforts. A capable leadership team allows you to step out of the weeds and focus on the big picture. 

Potentially you've tried and failed at building a leadership team before, that's usually because the strategy, management tools, and cadence were not properly set up. You need to know that in the dark of night, while you are on vacation, that a leader is empowered to look at your vision, mission, core values, strategy and initiatives and make a decision that aligns with them without your input. With the right strategy to guide them, this decision will move the company in the right direction regardless if it is exactly what you would have done.   

I use a RASCI chart to ensure that everyone knows who is accountable and responsible for each aspect of the company, and to ensure there are no overlaps, or that any one leader isn't over burdened, this also helps identify gaps that could become new hires, new software, or fractional help such as finance or HR. To keep the leaders focused, I use ORKs, Initiatives, KPIs and a weekly cadence to keep track of everyone's progress towards the company's goals, inform everyone of issues or blockers, and empower leaders to succeed. This meeting gives you freedom - it becomes 30 minutes a week.

6. Financial Readiness: Plan for Scaling Expenses

Scaling often requires capital investment. Whether it’s hiring new staff, implementing new technologies, or expanding facilities, growth costs money. Assess your financial readiness for scaling. Do you have the capital to invest in growth? Do you need financing? How can you maintain cash flow as you scale?

Planning financially will help you avoid the common pitfall of overstretching resources and ensure that your scaling efforts are sustainable.

7. Attract and Retain the Right Talent

A growing company needs the right people to execute the plan. Scaling places new pressures on your team, and you need employees who are both capable and aligned with the company’s growth vision.

Make sure you’re attracting talent that fits both culturally and skill-wise. Investing in training programs will also ensure your current team can grow with the company and step into new roles as needed. Building a strong team will be the foundation for sustainable scaling.

8. Innovate or Diversify Your Product Offering

Another lever for growth is innovation. If your core product is nearing market saturation, or the competition is heating up, you may need to innovate or diversify your product offering. Growth doesn’t always have to come from selling more of the same product—it can come from solving new problems or meeting unmet needs.

Consider whether an investment in R&D or launching a complementary product line could help unlock new revenue streams.

I manage innovation with its own strategy, ORKs, Initiatives and KPIs, and then secure as much government funding and support as possible through grants and tax credits to help fund it. A company without innovation will slowly die on the vine. 

9. Leverage Data and KPIs to Guide Growth

It’s not enough to work harder—you need to work smarter. To do that, you must track the right metrics. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should guide your efforts. 

All my systems above are data driven - without data you don't know what is working and what isn't, but you also need to have the courage to cut what is not working such as firing troublesome clients, and underperforming products, and invest heavier in what is working, and the innovations you believe will become the future of your business. 

10. Focus on Customer Retention and Experience

Scaling isn’t just about acquiring new customers; it’s about keeping the ones you have. As you grow, customer retention becomes critical. It’s far cheaper to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one, and satisfied customers tend to spend more and refer others.

Ensure that as you scale, you’re continuing to invest in customer experience. From after-sales support to account management, make sure your existing customers remain loyal and happy.

Taking the Next Step

Companies that are profitable but stagnant typically have all the ingredients for success—they just need to tweak the recipe. By revisiting your strategy, improving operational efficiency, investing in leadership, and implementing a data-driven approach to marketing and sales, you can unlock new opportunities and grow beyond what you thought possible.

I've seen this approach work time and again, helping businesses transition from stagnant to scaling by making these strategic adjustments. Whether it’s a sales process overhaul, leadership team building, or financial planning, the path to growth is clear when you break it down into achievable steps.

Good Luck! If you'd like help, schedule a free Strategic Planning Assessment: 

Real-World Success Stories

I use the strategic planning and scaling methods from this blog with all my clients, so we can track and keep accountable to all the initiatives that will lead to the outcome we envisioned. Most progress is steady and mesuable, in some cases the outcomes are explosive. Here are a couples of success stories.

Scaling to 100x Revenue in Two Years

A manufacturing company had been trying to break into a new market but lacked a clear strategy, and spun its wheels for 2 years talking to traditional consultants that wanted to "open doors" and get paid, but offered no real world business experience or strategic planning skills. By developing a comprehensive 3-year strategic plan and implementing OKR&Is, KPIs, and Weekly Cadence they:

• Scaled Revenues 100x: Took their revenues in the new market from $150K to $20M in 18 months.
• Increased enterprise value, making the company more attractive to investors.
• Built a sustainable growth model that continued beyond the initial goals.

Preparing for a Successful Sale

An business owner aiming to sell his business needed to enhance its value. Through strategic planning and operational improvements, we:

• Built systems for independent operation, reducing reliance on his direct involvement.
• Increased profitability, doubled revenues from $9M to $18M in one year
• Sold the company at a premium price, exceeding his financial expectations by selling for $80M.

Take the Next Step Toward Prosperity

The results achieved by these businesses aren't coincidences—they're the outcomes of deliberate planning and disciplined execution. As 2025 approaches, consider what a robust strategic plan could do for your business.

• Are you ready to scale your operations and capture more market share?
• Do you want to maximize the value of your business in preparation for a sale?
• Are you aiming to build an independent operation that thrives without your constant oversight?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, now is the time to act.

Unlock Your Business's Full Potential

I'm Scott Dewis, a seasoned entrepreneur with over 22 years of experience growing and scaling businesses. I've navigated the complexities of strategic planning, and I'm passionate about helping business owners like you achieve their long-term objectives.

How I Can Help You:

• Create a Comprehensive 3-Year Strategy: Develop a roadmap tailored to your goals.
• Implement OKR and KPI Processes: Build executable plans that drive meaningful results.
• Provide Ongoing Support and Accountability: Weekly check-ins to ensure you're on track.
• Build an Independent Operation: Establish systems that allow your business to run while you work on it, not in it.
• Increase Enterprise Value: Enhance your company's worth for potential buyers or passive income opportunities.

Ready to Strategize Today for a Prosperous Tomorrow?

Don't let another year pass without a solid plan in place. Let's work together to unlock your business's potential and achieve the success you've envisioned for 2025 and beyond.

Book a Complimentary 45-Minute Strategy Session

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