One of the hardest decisions facing a business owner is knowing when to add more staff. You may fear hiring people only to see the market take a downturn, and then feel like you’ve wasted resources by having to let people go. On the other hand, failing to add employees will likely hurt the growth potential of your business and minimize its value now and down the road.
If your business is seeing a surge in demand, it can feel exhilarating and scary. Growth, of course, is what every business owner dreams of but it can also bring on a lot of fear and stress. Ideally, more demand leads to more revenue, which when done right leads to more money in your pocket.
The imminent question becomes, “Is the wage you are saving costing you a fortune?”
Let’s explore a couple of general scenarios that may be signs you need to expand your team.
You Have More Business Than Your Current Team Can Handle
What happens if you can’t fulfill the orders or calls for your services? All the demand in the world isn’t going to grow your business if your business doesn’t meet that demand.
Signs that you need more staff include the ability to address areas like:
- Customer service. Not having enough staff may be harming your ability to gain new customers and take care of those you already have and rely on for repeat business.
- Business growth. Let’s say your business saw steady growth for a period of time, but it has now leveled off. Perhaps you’re not reaching the people who need your product or services. In this situation, consider growing your sales and marketing teams. A talented team will help you drive demands, nurture leads, and turn them into long-term customers.
By growing your team to address these areas, you are investing in your own business and its ability to generate profits far beyond your operational expenses.
You’re Feeling Overwhelmed with the Amount of Work
Often, self-starters are alone when they begin their businesses. In order to create a self-running business, you have to be willing to let go of the tasks you’ve always done yourself.
A well-run business succeeds, in part, because it has documented processes that it follows. If you find yourself doing the same tasks over and over – and you’re doing everything at once – now is the time to put a system in place to increase efficiency. You also can look at having the staff necessary to carry out that system effectively.
In this situation, hiring the right talent will help you:
- Let go and rely on others to help run the business
- Focus on more big-picture strategy and not the day-to-day operations
There are, of course, other reasons to add staff, including product development, sales follow up and better delivery of your products and services. All of these are keys to staying ahead of customer needs and giving them a great reason to offer positive word of mouth about your company.
Is Now the Right Time to Hire?
At some point, you realize you can’t do it all yourself. However, you might also think that you don’t have enough revenue to afford hiring staff.
Talk to ActionCOACH Tampa Bay so we can learn about your situation and whether new hires may be just what you need to grow your profits. Contact us and you’ll be taking a positive step toward reducing your stress and creating the infrastructure you need for long-term growth.