That’s a nice problem to have…
You’ve been on the look out for some time for that deal that will be the one …the one deal that will herald the new phase of growth, take your business into the next league. Then the thing that you’ve hoped for , worked hard for and dreamt of has finally landed in your lap.
After the initial elation and pats on your back you find yourself talking to a friend. You share the story of landing the deal of the decade and hear yourself saying “all we have to do is work out how we are going to deliver on the contract”. To which your friend replies “that’s a nice problem to have!”
But what if that is not a nice problem? What if landing such a big deal throws you into a spin wondering how on earth you are going to fulfil it?
Even worse, what if the fear of that happening means you never put yourself forward to getting the deal in the first place?
Currently it’s not a lack of demand that is the issue facing my Strategic Planning clients. It’s a lack of a supply. Conversation after conversation with clients and audiences of business people I speak in front of is about how to build capacity so they don’t have to keep throttling back demand.
The catch 22 is apt of businesses only increase supply, number of employees, production capacity when they are certain there is going to be consistent demand so as to safely provide a return on that investment into the foreseeable future. The danger with this is that you may lack that critical confidence in a sales pitch when asked “have you got the capability to deliver this?”
If you had 20% more production/ delivery capacity how long would it talk you to fill it with new orders? If you had 50% more, how long would it take you to fill it? 100% more?
If you answers to those questions (certainly the 20% and 50% questions) are quicker than you imagined then it’s time to build capacity and remove that brake on growth.
Here is a question to get you moving in the right direction “what are the things I need to do to build my production / deliver capacity by 20%? How quickly can I get that in place?