Every organization strives to grow and stay ahead of the competition. But the journey is more like a marathon than a sprint — and an initial head start doesn’t necessarily translate to sustainable success.

While rapid expansion is exciting, it may pose unexpected challenges that stunt long-term growth. Instead, finding a sustainable growth rate is crucial to staying on the right track to achieve your goals and meet customer expectations.

Read on to discover the signs your company is in trouble when growing too fast and learn how you can take a proactive approach to scaling responsibly.

What does average business growth look like?

While the concept of “average” growth varies across industries and niches, there are a few general patterns to consider when looking at an organization’s typical growth trajectory:

• Slow and steady expansion. Most companies experience a gradual rise in their early days, which is characterized by modest gains in revenue, employees, and market share. This stable phase lets you fine-tune operations to establish a reliable customer base and plan for future growth. This might include creating a style guide for the brand’s identity or cementing yourself in a specific niche with a unique selling point.
• Inflection point. As your company matures, you’ll reach an inflection point where growth rapidly accelerates, and the upward trajectory is more pronounced. In this phase, you’ll see increased customer recognition, expanded product and service offerings, and a strongly established market presence.
• Peak growth. At this stage, revenue soars, and you’re a dominant force in the market. Your company’s decisions often influence industry trends and set the tone for demand and supply. Peak growth stages are often linked to innovations, effective marketing, and a unique value proposition that resonates with target audiences, making a brand stand out among customers and competitors.
• Plateau and stabilization. After reaching the peak growth phase, it’s common for businesses to plateau due to market saturation, increased competition, or temporary demand stagnation. It’s crucial to sustain the existing revenue and success levels or revitalize the company’s offerings for another growth cycle.
• Adaptation and innovation. Whether facing a slump or sustaining a plateau, you must adapt and streamline processes to remain competitive in your industry. Companies that proactively embrace change, invest in research and development (R&D), and monitor demand developments can navigate challenges and commence new business cycles.

Regardless of industry, growth is rarely linear, with stagnation stints often following periods of expansion. But recognizing these signs helps you prepare for any obstacles that may come your way.

7 ways to keep growth in check

Scaling your business to success is extremely rewarding but has its fair share of challenges. Here are seven proactive measures that’ll help you better navigate potential drawbacks to rapid growth.

1. Maintain control of workflows

Rapid scaling and changing workflows can lead to increased stress, missed deadlines, and decreased employee morale. With an excessive focus on expansion, companies can neglect training or communication.

To counter these issues, invest in training programs, prioritize communication through regular meetings, and delegate responsibilities effectively without burdening teams. For example, if your design team is overwhelmed with project work, consider revisiting timelines and deadlines.

2. Implement scalable processes

If you’re growing too rapidly, current systems won’t be able to accommodate massive demand influx, leading to bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Workflows become outdated, and retaining obsolete technology shows a company’s inability to anticipate growth.

Strive to streamline and redesign processes wherever possible to keep pace. Invest in scalable tools like automation, and regularly review workflows to ensure they evolve and grow with the company’s changing needs.

Consider an ecommerce website experiencing a sudden spike in orders that overwhelms the manual order processing system. In response, the company automates its order fulfillment process to reduce bottlenecks and accommodate higher demand.

3. Monitor cash flow 

Your business can still struggle with cash flow despite increased revenue due to high expenses, slow-paying customers, or inventory challenges. The best way to maintain a steady cash flow is to conduct a thorough financial analysis of the company’s accounts and negotiate favorable terms with suppliers and vendors. Also consider securing additional financing, like a line of credit, if necessary.

Suppose an advertising agency experiences rapid client acquisition but faces several delayed payments that strain their cash flow and make it challenging to cover operational expenses and salaries. To avoid similar situations, the agency implements stricter invoicing policies with improved payment terms and clauses.

4. Allocate resources efficiently

Overworked teams, increased errors, and compromised product quality are all signs of a business pushing its infrastructure and human resources to their limits. Setting realistic expectations throughout the company goes a long way in avoiding these issues. Hire strategically and redistribute workloads to ensure employees aren’t swamped. You can also perform an audit to identify resource-consuming areas and outsource nonessential deliverables to reduce internal pressure.

5. Prioritize effective leadership

With an expanding network of employees, suppliers, and projects, the chance for leadership and communication breakdowns increases. Such issues can cause organizational silos and misunderstandings between and within departments.

Fostering outstanding leadership across your teams will help you avoid these breakdowns. Try investing in leadership development programs, delegating responsibilities, and establishing clear hierarchies. Forming dedicated departmental communication channels further helps prevent and solve these issues. It’s also essential to encourage feedback and a culture of accountability and approachability from all levels.

For example, a company’s founder finds it increasingly challenging to oversee all aspects of scaling. By bringing in experienced managers and entrusting capable team members with key responsibilities, they lead more effectively and guide the organization through its fast growth phase.

6. Strategize for growth support

Planning poorly, underestimating growth requirements, and misallocating resources can lead to a lack of working capital for increased workloads.

You can effectively sustain support by investing in design and management technology and hiring the right professionals for your short-, medium-, and long-term goals.

But before investing in talent and tech, consider conducting a comprehensive resource assessment and developing contingency plans to mitigate the risks of unforeseen challenges and circumstances.

Say a SaaS company experiencing rapid growth invests in server upgrades and hires additional employees to maintain service quality. They can outsource short-term projects to contractors and freelancers if they can’t hire.

7. Observe customer feedback

Negative customer feedback — including declining satisfaction rates, negative reviews, and a rise in product returns — are all telltale signs of a business growing too quickly. Whether business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C), clients are most companies’ primary revenue source.

Implement feedback loops and quickly address issues to improve satisfaction and encourage consumers to explore your offerings. For example, a retail company faces backlash due to shipping delays and product quality issues. In response, they implement a feedback loop, revamp quality control, and openly inform customers about their efforts to improve so they can rebuild trust over time.

Boost investor confidence during fast growth

It’s essential to instill confidence in your investors and sponsors from the outset. They’ll appreciate clear demonstrations of your company’s ability to manage rapid growth and remain sustainable and profitable throughout the scaling process. Presenting a clear growth strategy and maintaining a healthy bottom line keeps investors assured and excited, helping you avoid a potential difficulty with finances. 

To accomplish this, be transparent about challenges and provide a detailed road map for managing and sustaining growth. Focus on short- and long-term scalability — with measures in place for the worst-case scenarios.

Set your business up for success with Webflow

Achieving sustainable growth requires more than just vision and ambition — you also need the right tools. With Webflow, you can create and host a visually appealing, functional, and secure website to track customers and advertise your brand.

From slow and steady scaling to managing explosive growth, Webflow Enterprise helps you streamline and optimize your digital ecosystem to expand effectively.