Alastair Sanderson and Richard Sanderson on the 4 Reasons Your Business Has Stopped Growing (and What to Do About It)

All entrepreneurs are after business growth – and when it stalls, despair and confusion are the emotions that naturally set in.

Today we have the pleasure of conversing with Alastair Sanderson and Richard Sanderson, entrepreneurs from Oxford with businesses on three continents under their belts. They’ll give us their valuable insights into the reasons a business can stop growing and the remedies to apply when that is the case.

You Are Doing It Yourself

Entrepreneurs often have issues with letting it go and getting someone else to do (at least some) of the work, says Richard Sanderson. This can be seen as only natural – after all, they were the ones who started their business from scratch, so emotional involvement is to be expected.

But if you hope to grow, your team needs to grow with you.

Learn how to trust others, learn how to hire the right people, select the right tasks to delegate. When you do this, you’ll notice that you gain more time, as well as headspace, to focus on growth.

You Have No Plan for Growth

Along the lines of doing it all on your own, there’s also the problem of winging it, and going about your daily business without a goal in mind and a plan to back it up, states Alastair Sanderson.

While the early stages of growth will surely be marked by a lot of work, you can’t expect everything to naturally work itself out. And you can’t really expect that you will simply recognize the right opportunity when it presents itself.

You need to have a goal in mind from the very start, and if you are truly looking to grow as a business, you’ll need to map out the road it takes to get there.

You Are Relying on Referrals Too Much

The Sanderson brothers agree that referrals are an incredible way to reach new customers. However, when you put all your stock in referrals and don’t work on attracting new customers, chances are your referrals will dry up, and you will stop attracting new interest.

The fact of the matter is that not one of your satisfied clients or customers is in any way obliged to refer their friends, family, and associates to you. They might do this sometimes; they may do it often, but this is not a reliable way of attracting new leads.

Invest in a marketing and sales plan that relies on your planned efforts rather than the kindness of someone else’s heart.

You Are Trying Too Hard to Please Everyone

If you try to appeal to everyone, you won’t actually truly be appealing to anyone, state both Alastair Sanderson and Richard Sanderson. Your goal should be to attract a specific target market, catering to their needs and working to solve their pain points – not to come up with a universally liked product. Those kinds of products are incredibly rare, and it will take decades, if not generations, to achieve that kind of appeal and popularity.

Focus on your ideal target market – what kinds of solutions are you providing, who is in need of them, and where can you find them? These are the questions you should be asking yourself instead of trying to come up with the “everyone will love this” idea. It may backfire and leave you in the dust, so work on a smaller market segment where success will be easier to attain.

Final Thoughts

As experienced entrepreneurs, the Sanderson brothers both point out that growing a business will take time, perseverance, and a whole lot of effort. We hope that with the help of some of their advice, you will be able to identify some of the reasons your growth may be stalling and remedy them in time. Learn more about Richard Sanderson and Alastair Sanderson and their company Sanderson Holdings in Oxford visit https://www.sandersonholdings.com.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes