Question

My manufacturing business has grown well in recent years but has now become ‘stuck’ at around £5 million turnover. What can I do to achieve the next phase of growth?

Answer

Your situation is not untypical. All businesses have natural growth cycles that come to an end and require a change in approach to achieve the next level. Often this results from a dependency on one or two founders, who will have a finite skill set.

Think carefully about whether you really want to make the changes required for the next phase as it is likely to require financial investment, possibly a next tier of management, changes to premises and possibly investment in new systems, processes or products. We have an expression for this – moving from being a ‘big, small business’ to a ‘small, big business’. The journey is not for everyone.

Do you have a business plan in place and has that been shared in the business? I don’t mean a set of financial budgets or targets, but a fully formed plan looking at markets, competitors, people and processes. The absence of one will hamper your ability to grow the business with speed.

If you don’t, start now. This is not a five-minute exercise. Ideally it should be facilitated by someone outside the organisation and involve members of the team. And if you do have a business plan which is gathering dust, this suggests that implementation wasn’t all it should have been! Without a desire to conduct an open and exhaustive process and then live by it, the exercise is doomed to fail.

The approach we take with clients is to put them through a series of ‘workshops’ designed to agree which key business areas require attention and then work up plans in each of those areas. Gaining ownership of this among the team can be extremely powerful and result in gains in areas you may not have even thought of.

The goal is a robust, well thought out plan, with a management team (as opposed to a team of managers) all working in the same direction.

Meet your advisor

Name: Darren Holdway

Title: Managing Partner, Haines Watts, Birmingham

Email: djholdway@hwca.com

Website: www.hwca.com/accountants-birmingham

Base: Sterling House, 71 Francis Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B16 8SP