The main goal of all businesses, whether it's health & fitness, childcare, education, real estate, marketing or anything in between, is to expand and grow, especially ones that have repeat customers and recurring payment processing set up.

As they grow, their reach and regular revenue streams increase, which are indicators of health and overall success. However, this is assuming that the organisation is adequately prepared! It can actually be counter-productive if the growth happens too quickly. 

Why? Because the business’ operations can become overwhelmed with handling the increase in demand, as well as servicing the regular customer base. Suddenly, the manual billing processes get stretched, and the whole operation can collapse on itself.

As counter-intuitive as this may sound, growth is only beneficial to a business when it is controlled and managed correctly, so that the organisation can adequately prepare to deal with the increase over time. If this control is not there, this can have serious consequences both in the short and long-term.

How do I know if my business is growing too fast?

If your business is headed down the fast-track, it can happen so quickly that you may not even realise. Suddenly, everything is spiralling out of control, and by then it may be too late to stop.

To avoid this, smart business managers keep an eye out for the following tell-tale signs, and adapt the business to regain control, and cultivate growth in a manageable way.

1. Cash-flow is running dry
   As a business, you know that this regular cash-flow is the lifeblood of any business, and when your organisation is starting to expand too rapidly, you may find that your operational costs increase exponentially before your recurring income streams have time to catch up. This is because you’re trying to keep up, but you don’t have the adequate recurring payment processing systems in place to coordinate with the expenses.
2. The internal processes cannot keep up
   All businesses start with a set of processes, systems and infrastructure that, during the original phases, are all perfectly adequate in fulfilling repeat orders, manually processing payments and meeting demand. Then growth kicks in, and you quickly find that all of your once perfectly functioning systems are now far too manual and inefficient to manage the level of work being put through, and they break down.
3. Your customers begin to leave
   Retaining your regular customers is absolutely critical to ongoing business success because they are the main source of your income and revenue streams. It takes a lot of time, expense and effort to build a customer base that commit to direct debit for ongoing services, however when your operation is spread too thin and they feel they are no longer receiving the attention and value they want, you will lose them. That’s when you find that rapid growth is no longer your issue: it’s a lack of business!

Subscription billing may be the solution

Don’t let progress be your downfall.

It’s an exciting but challenging time when a business is experiencing rapid growth, and it’s crucial to regain and keep control to harness the advantages of the expansion, without getting crushed under the pace.

Subscription billing is an approach where a business adapts its model toward recurring payment processing and regular payments made by customers, in exchange for products or services. This addresses all three of the above tell-tale signs and channels them into strengths rather than threats.

What should a good subscription billing platform do?

• it maintains cash-flow through regular direct-debit, as opposed to chasing unpaid accounts
• it assists internal infrastructure and financial systems to keep up through routine and automated processes
• it helps to build stronger relationships with your customers as they receive ongoing value and attention

To learn more, download this free eBook, The 6 Steps to Creating Subscription Success, which will guide you step-by-step through how to effectively implement and manage your recurring payments in the right way.

Unlock your business’ true potential with subscription billing, and turn uncontrolled chaos into healthy growth today.