Regardless of the level of success a business achieves when it first starts, most companies eventually reach a point where their growth plateaus. Sales growth stagnatedcustomer feedback becomes less enthusiastic, and as a business leader, you feel like you're no longer moving forward.

Left unchecked, complacency and stagnation can become extremely damaging to a business, preventing you from achieving your initial goals or hitting key KPIs. By understanding why business growth occurs and how you can overcome it, you can get your business back on track.

Related: What to do when your growth is stunted

Why are businesses flattened?

Most businesses experience a plateau – or even a contraction – sooner or later. There are many reasons why this could happen. For small businesses, plateaus often occur due to a lack of resources, whether financial or related to personnel.

Changes in the market can also cause a business to collapse. New competitors, changing customer needs, disruptive technologies, and other factors that are largely out of your control can impede growth. Businesses in these situations must learn to adapt their offerings to survive and avoid losing their market.

Too often, however, business stagnation is linked to those who lead the organization. Without the right mindset, a leader whose business is currently in shambles will not be able to get things moving in the right direction again.

1. Evaluate your systems and business model

Business models it may not be designed in a way that allows a company to scale effectively. This easily leads to flat growth simply because the systems and processes in place are unable to handle more customers or sales.

Unfortunately, the problem can be exacerbated when poor scaling strategies are implemented, resulting in declining customer service, poor hiring strategies, employee burnout, and other problems. Premature escalation has been associated with the most 70% of startups die.

Evaluating your current systems and business model should be done in light of the unique value proposition you are trying to deliver, your operational processes and the resources available to your team. Looking at these factors in the context of your market can help you identify inefficiencies you need to change to better serve your customers.

2. Bring in the right people

For small businesses, in particular, getting the right people in place can have a big impact on overcoming growth plateaus. This is especially true for entrepreneurs who have tried to do so handle all the work themselvesincluding activities that are outside their area of ​​expertise.

For example, in one case study from PMU Launch, a beauty education growth agency founded by Renato Fabri and Kyle Koschel, Brows By Carina had seen its revenue stagnate, reaching $1,200 a month over a seven-month period. After implementing strategic advertising and improving her sales call process, she increased her monthly income to $13,000.

However, this led to a new plateau, as the company was suddenly stretched too thin. Bringing in an appointment scheduler helped reduce Carina's workload, allowing her to increase her monthly income to $18,000.

Finally, bringing in an operations manager to oversee day-to-day business activities enabled the company to focus on strategic growth initiatives and achieve a peak revenue of $29,000 per month. Incredibly, just two staff additions freed up such a huge amount of time that it completely transformed the way the business was run.

Related: 9 Reasons Why Your Business Growth Has Declined — and How to Fix It

3. Reconsider your marketing

marketing is one of the most useful tools to drive sales and leads that help you grow your business. If you have the right people in place and efficient systems, but you're still stuck at a plateau, it's worth looking at your marketing channels and messages to see if they're still reaching the right people in the right ways.

In addition to fine tuning your messages to ensure that you are effectively reaching your target audience, you should also look at different platforms and promotional opportunities that would work in your country. For example, Airbnb famously raised booking and check-in fees by 300% after introducing its referral program that rewarded current customers with travel credits.

Marketing is all about optimization. Whether your problem is targeting, messaging, platform, or other areas, testing different options and tracking results can help you fuel your growth efforts.

4. Check your mindset

Brave CEO EVIDENCE that business stagnation is often a side effect of the business leader reaching a personal plateau. This is a call for self-reflection – if you've lost your growth mindset, it can be difficult to maintain the desired momentum for your business.

To address this, they recommend that entrepreneurs start by revising their vision for their company. Think about what you originally wanted to achieve with your business and why – the sense of purpose that gave you enthusiasm and drive.

Assessing your personal status and reflecting on your original vision for your business can help you understand if you've lost your “why” and what adjustments you need to make on a personal level to regain your enthusiasm — even if it means changing your vision for your business.

Related: Do you know these 6 ways to fight stagnation in business?

Just because your business seems to have hit a plateau doesn't mean it has to stay there. By digging deep to understand the reasons why your business has plateaued and then addressing the specific issues that are limiting your growth, you can get yourself back on track to achieving your key business goals.