Congratulations - you’re in a position to expand your business. Not many entrepreneurs reach this milestone, so it’s worth celebrating. However, it’s also essential to understand the dangerous situation the firm is in, too. Just because you are ready to grow and enter new markets doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to succeed, far from it. Plenty of bosses and leaders are complacent when they reach the expansion stage, yet you want to avoid it like the plague. How do you do that and maximize your chances of staying solvent? The answer is by reading the following.

Here are the four unexpected pitfalls you mustn’t underestimate.

Customer Disconnection

Your growth is partly based on your relationship with your consumer base. Thanks to their commitment and loyalty, you believe you can reach out to new customers in different markets. Unfortunately, the extra workload can result in businesses distancing themselves from the people who are the lifeblood of the expansion. Letting your customer service experience plummet because you have “bigger” things to worry about is a mistake as it will ruin your reputation. Then, when you do finally launch, you won’t have the standing in the industry to convince consumers to buy your products and services.

Rigid CMS

Sure, the company’s Content Management System probably won’t seem high on the list of priorities at the moment as you’ve got more urgent tasks to complete. But, the CMS is pivotal to success because it has to scale up if you’re expanding. Otherwise, new products and services won’t seamlessly integrate into the expansion strategy. This is one of the reasons this Labinator post continues to rank WordPress very highly. Plus, your marketing campaign is going to be at the forefront of your efforts as quality posts and videos are engaging and interactive enough to grab people’s attention. Therefore, you need to check whether your CMS has scalability.

Finances

Okay, this isn’t a huge surprise. Finances are always tight during an expansion, yet that is even more reason to ensure it goes smoothly. If it doesn’t, it could take forever to recoup the losses, and the company might accrue too much debt that it has to file for bankruptcy. Therefore, you can never create too many financial models that analyse everything from gross margins and projected revenue to expenses. You never know when a projection will uncover something significant that you didn’t know about and change your understanding, according to Mageplaza such as environmental factors.

Human resources

The toll a project like this can have is great. And, it’s not only you who has to worry about physical and mental health - your employees do, too. A small team won’t be able to work productively if they are under immense strain for long periods. The best working environment is one that is challenging while offering regular breaks. If your workers aren’t going to get them, it is worth hiring part-time, temporary staff to prevent output from falling during crucial stages of expansion.

Did you know about these pitfalls? How will you try and swerve them when it comes time for your business to grow?