06 Small Flaws in Your Armor That Are Stalling Your Small Business Growth

1. You have good speed of delivery but not such good quality.
I once received a package I had ordered; because it had arrived in record time, I was elated. I was gushing over the delivery and praising the company right up until I opened up the package. Talk about  "underwhelming."

There is often a real battle  raging among small businesses that have to invest in either speed or quality, but not both. The dilemma is easily solved iusing the discoveries reported by some studies. Generally, customers prefer quality to speed, and this is what you should focus your investment on, if you have to choose.

2. You have high business standards and poor control systems.
It's not enough to have high standards without the control systems that should be put in place to ensure that those standards are met. Without these quality controls, you will have bad results in spite of your good intentions. Few things are as dangerous to a business as over-promising and under-delivering.

Your customers aren't concerned with what you meant to do, but what you actually do. If you are going to commit to quality, first you must define exactly what quality is and find a way to properly define this to your staff, especially management staff. Then, take time out to teach them the "why" behind the what. This way, you can push and maintain quality.

3. You've just been stubborn.
Stubbornness many times implies your deciding to hold on to your "winning formula" even when it is not quite so winning anymore. One of the greatest assets a business can have is the ability to adapt to change, to get to that much-romanticized next level. And to grow, you must learn to adapt.

Some policies and strategies may have worked when you had five employees but they may not be ideal now that you have 15. Or maybe you are like some of the businesses in the U.K. that don't know about the apprenticeship levy and may be affected negatively simply because they don't know how it works. Or possibly you are using the same accounting methods you used in 2005 simply because they worked back then.

The truth is that the "next level" you dream about is many changes away, and you must be willing to continually change until you get there.

4. You haven't quite gotten the hang of technology.
As a small business, you have to be willing to embrace technological innovations. Presently, there are many productivity tools available online and they may just be what your business needs to scale that height.

But beyond your willingness to use them, you need to know how to maximize them, because the little things matter more than the big things for small businesses. It is not enough, for instance, to have a business website; you need to know how to make your website stand out and be attractive so that your visitors will want to return. A little investment in technological know-how may be all you need to stabilize your business.

5. You're haunted by negative customer perceptions.
Until you know what your customers' current perceptions are, you can't know what you need to change. You need to gather customer feedback by every means possible if you want to change a negative perception.

Then you have to identify your business touchpoints and work on passing the right message through them.

In the words of Olyvia Williams, Showbox CEO, "Your touchpoints are the interactions between you and your customers, whether via phone conversations, face-to-face meetings or meetings with a sales rep -- or perhaps even the sights and sounds customers experience at your location. Each touchpoint is an opportunity to influence perception. And when you can identify them, you can intentionally relay a message through these touchpoints: a message that will renew confidence in your business."