For small businesses and start-ups, size represents both a challenge and an opportunity: while it is difficult to gain a foothold in the market, relatively new players also have the ability to grows fast. Not only that, but they typically don't face the burden of modernizing legacy systems.

But what happens when that growth grows and there are no obvious suspects?

I've seen the fear among small business owners that stagnation could cause income to fall off a cliff. With small businesses that hire 61.7 million Americans (or 46.4% of private sector workers), having the resilience to cope with fluctuating market conditions is a matter of the economy as a whole. We may not be in an official recession, but consumer sentiment matters. People are feeling the pinch being careful with their discretionary income.

Locally based small businesses with fewer than ten employees and revenue under $1 million are especially so limited by the income of domestic consumers — and the perception of an economic downturn. As the CMO of a venture helping businesses of this size in the beauty and wellness space, we know it's possible to scale sustainably even in uncertain times. Here's what to consider when your growth is flat.

Related: What to Do When You're Why Your Company's Growth Has Stalled

Get the right mix of your services

We really need to get the obvious out of the way. If a hot dog shop is selling smoothies — and the smoothies aren't selling — the owner is better off focusing on expanding their hot dog offerings. You might be surprised how often solopreneurs and small businesses persist with a product or service that isn't selling out of a misplaced loyalty to an original vision or an attempt to get a return on their investment.

As I tell people, the beauty of being small is being nimble enough to adapt more easily to demand, trends and seasonal variations. That's where data is your friend. Use your own reporting tools to analyze which of your current services generate the most revenue and consider removing the underperforming ones. If possible, benchmark your service mix against market leaders by:

• Analyzing Successful Businesses: Study the service offerings of similarly sized competitors in your local or niche area. What range of services do they offer? How do they balance mainstream services with specialized treatments?
• Doing your social research: Use social media and review sites like Instagram, Yelp or Google Reviews to rate trending services.
• Talk to your customers. Learn their pain points, assess the services they value most, and identify what's missing.

I recommend “auditing” your service mix at least quarterly. In my experience, successful small businesses in our industry often find that elusive sweet spot—a constant balance between diversification and staying within their core competencies.

Related: Build long-term customer loyalty with these 3 strategies

Drives customer loyalty

One of the big lessons from the pandemic was the risk of postponing the necessary changes in operating models and the implementation of digital modernization. Small and medium businesses were caught by surpriseunable to target and diversify sources of income to survive and thrive.

This digital shift has fundamentally changed the way businesses interact with customers. Sales teams now operate with a much greater emphasis on digital capacity and influence. These relationships become so important when growth stagnates, people are cutting back on their spending and repeat customers are driving recurring revenue, so consider:

• Service Packages: Combine complementary services together. For example, offer a package that includes a number of services for several months.
• A loyalty program: Offering benefits such as priority bookings, discounts or exclusive access to new services encourages repeat visits.
• Building a social media following: Give customers a front-row seat to what you're offering, along with personal stories and behind-the-scenes content, to foster a sense of community.
• Subscription-based services: A monthly membership model allows customers to pay a set fee for a set number of services or products.

Remember, marketing is responsible for the entire customer life cyclenot just shopping. Research and understand customer needs from initial contact to retention and loyalty. This means collecting feedback at every touchpoint – including cancellations. Then prioritize features and improvements based on customer feedback to personalize the entire journey.

Related: Customer loyalty is your holy grail for success. Here's why.

Technology adoption

When salary increases do not keep pace with inflation, “pay later” installment options come into their own. According to Adobe Analytics, using this form of zero interest credit rose 16% to $67 billion last year until November. While we've seen a huge increase in the number of retailers looking for pay later convenience, the ideal is to have it already integrated into your digital platform.

McKinsey cited limited managerial, technological and financial capabilities as key constraints limiting the growth of small local businesses. A variant of the so-called “founder trap“it's a Catch-22 where a business can outgrow its skill set but isn't willing to bring on new people until sustainable growth is demonstrated. Artificial intelligence and automation are filling the gap.

Just as we encourage beauty and wellness providers to become a one-stop shop for consumer needs, centralizing functions on a single platform—appointment scheduling, inventory management, customer relationship management, and payment processing—eliminates the need to be the master of multiple systems. In a volatile economic environment, adopting technology can help small businesses not only scale up and down quickly, but use analytics to understand exactly where the customer is going next—and meet them there. .

Related: 3 Strategies for customer loyalty and sustainable growth

Building relationships

We are in a fortunate position in the wellness business because people are still willing to give themselves those “little luxuries” even when money is tight. But regardless of industry, building resilience into your business has become imperative as global shocks have become the norm, not the exception. One of the keys to avoiding periods of stagnant growth is meeting consumer preference for more authentic interactions through a mix of brick and mortar and online presence. As in any good relationship, when people know you're real, they're more likely to stick through the good times and the bad.