Bigger Business is Not Always Better
Are you Playing the Strain-Gain Game with Your Customers?
In my recent travels I had the bizarrely un-stressful experience of traveling through Sacramento airport, in CA. It was like the twilight zone…easily accessible from the center of the metroplex (15 minute drive during Monday morning rush hour), rental car pick up and drop off was super quick and efficient, there were only a handful of people in the security lines (both weekend and weekday). The terminal was relatively quiet and spacious with plenty of large comfortable seats with outlets and nice computer workstations. The bathrooms were modern and clean with no lines for the women’s. It was WEIRD, I tell you!
It was weird because I currently live in Dallas, TX. That means I do all my air travel through DFW Airport. The airport that was just reported as THE most stressful airport in the U.S. by MarketWatch Guides. I’m well traveled, and I 100% agree with the assessment. I live in central/east Dallas and I have to plan on at least an hour’s drive to the airport these days - but still have to factor in a likely accident or road block. I usually have to plan a 90-minute allowance if I’m driving there on a weekday outside of the 11a-2p time window. With how insane traffic and construction has become in the city, there’s just no guarantee you’re going to get anywhere in any sort of reasonable time anymore. Texas is big and even cities are spread out, so there's just a lot more driving involved. On my way out and back in at DFW Airport, it was crazytown. The security lines and the limited number of checkpoints that were open in the terminal were snaked back and forth for a mile through the terminal. NUTS, I tell you. That's not just summer traffic. That’s just DFW and crazy backups can happen at any time. Oh, and did I mention the volatile weather here that’s always shutting things down?
Do they keep adding on and making the terminals bigger? Yes. Do they keep adding terminals? Yes. Does it make it a less stressful experience? No. As its size increases, the experience at DFW just gets more and more stressful for both passengers and employees. More people. More Dense. More frantic. More stress. Less space. Less empathy. Less manners. Less clean.
Now, some of you may be thinking - justifiably - that I’m comparing apples and oranges here. Yes, I’ve been to many smaller airports (including ones with one open-air gate and a dirt road airstrip) and of course it’s going to be a different dynamic than a massive metroplex airport. But relatively speaking, it was still a stand out experience. Dallas proper has about 1.3 million residents and about 6.7 million residents in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Sacramento proper has around 525,000 residents with about 2.4 million in the SAC metroplex. Obviously, different population dynamics (but still Sacramento is the capitol city of CA.) Up until this year, the DFW Metroplex was leading population increases across the country. The swell of incomers to my city has simply strained infrastructure beyond what is comfortable anymore. Bigger doesn’t mean better.
Sure, the city’s growth sounds impressive…the expansions at DFW sounds impressive…hey live in this big metroplex with this huge airport and you can easily fly anywhere you need to for work or pleasure! But can you, really? Not anymore.
I call these strain-gains. The impressive expansions might sound good on paper, but they aren’t adequate to handle the human load and don’t result in a better customer experience.
Many of us have had situations in our businesses where we’re pushing to expand, only to find ourselves unable to properly deliver on the promises we’ve made to customers. There are common pain points along the business growth trajectory that stretch infrastructure beyond actual delivery capacity. You’re bound to hit at least a couple of such pain points as you grow. Nonetheless there is a relentless drive in this country to grow bigger and faster. Bigger somehow “legitimizes” your efforts. You might be able to tell a good story about how your business is growing, but are your customers benefiting from that growth, or instead feeling your strain-gain pains?
Some of the mis-steps I see green industry entrepreneurs taking on the regular are expanding too fast, opening new locations, or taking on more work than they can handle without hiring more staff, before they have a solid handle on the amount of business they’re already doing. For example, when asked by garden center or plant shop retailers when or if they should open their next location, I usually ask if they are meeting or exceeding their net profit and inventory velocity goals at their first location. The answer is usually no (often they have no idea what those numbers actually are), so my answer is usually “you’re not ready to expand.” Expanding and growth for growth’s sake usually isn’t a solution to an existing problem in your business. It’s the next step you take once you’re maximized your existing efforts. At least, in my experience.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t take leaps of faith or take calculated risks in your business in order to meet your growth goals. There may be good opportunities to make a big jump in your offerings, if you can back it up with delivery. I’m only suggesting that when it’s time to grow, or growth is happening organically, that you maintain an appropriate focus on your customer experience. If you’re only focused on bigger, not better, then inevitably you may just outgrow your worth to your customers.
Whether it's the size if your garden or your business, ff you find yourself feeling pressured to grow bigger, take some time to closely evaluate where you are financially in your business, and get an accurate read on customer experience. Then calculate what it would take for you - be it in new hires, equipment, space, etc. - to deliver that same experience on a larger scale. If you can't make that happen yet, it's ok to hold off on expansion and refocus on improving revenue and net profits within your existing sphere of operations. Know that small can still be fruitful - and profitable - as well.
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