Congrats on your company's anniversary! Now what?
Big anniversaries in the life of a business are inspiring. You made it! Twenty, 30, 40 years or even longer!
You and your team absolutely deserve a huge high five. Those who have owned or run independent businesses know how incredibly hard it is to survive and thrive for even a few years, much less decades.
As those anniversaries with a zero for the second digit (or third!) loom on the horizon, every business should be looking ahead to how it will celebrate and have fun with it, both internally and externally.
But it’s not all fun and games. At least it shouldn’t be. Big anniversary years also are opportunities to take a cold, hard look at how the business is doing.Just because a business makes it to the double-digit anniversary doesn’t guarantee that it is thriving or enjoying a positive trajectory.
It’s not always an attention-grabbing headline like a Chapter 11 bankruptcy declaration or a mass layoff and padlocks on the doors. Sometimes it’s a slow, painful withering away as customers and employees depart one at a time without being replaced.
Which is why business leaders should use anniversaries to be brutally honest with themselves by questioning everything and assuming nothing. They must recognize that the future is absolutely not guaranteed for any business.
Question everything?
Yes, everything. Including:
What processes and procedures is the business using today that haven’t changed since Day One? For example, are admin staff still using paper forms even though software and automation could simplify those processes and make the staff more efficient?
Is the fundamental approach to business development that worked well years ago still effective today? For instance, if a monthly networking function has seen its attendance dwindle well below what it used to be, you might need to pivot to other means of outreach.
What are your top competitors doing to grow their businesses that you are not doing? Maybe they have awesome websites that have a great way to vet new client leads, or they’ve decided to no longer take on customers below a certain level of billing because too many tiny accounts are detracting from much larger ones.
Does the core value proposition of the business still work in today’s rapidly changing marketplace? It’s possible that what made sense decades ago no longer means much today.
How are your most important customers different now compared to 10, 20 or 30 years ago? Maybe their leadership is now much younger, and comfortable doing business virtually while you are still fixated on face-to-face meetings. As new generations of leaders take over your client companies, you do not want them to see you as that tired old horse that can no longer run with the young stallions.
Do you even know who your most valuable customers are? Hint: Any customer who has stuck with you for years – maybe even since you opened your doors – is incredibly valuable and should be treated as such. And those very-long-term customers usually are happy to talk with you about what they love about your business as well as what you need to change. Ask them, listen closely and heed their guidance.
And speaking of questions, here’s a BIG one: Does your business have a plan that you are actually using to guide decisions? As they say, hope is not a plan and neither is a dismissive comment like, “I’ve got a plan in my head” or “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Success in the future demands a serious plan and a commitment to following through on it. And, yes, adjusting it and adapting it as necessary.
The big takeaway here is that complacency is the enemy. But it’s an easy trap to fall into when you’re enjoying a big moment like a major anniversary celebration.
So, by all means, celebrate those milestones. With your team, your clients, your supporters, your vendors. Revel in that moment.
Then…catch your breath, let the smoke clear, and do the hard work that is essential for the business to make it to the next anniversary that ends in zero.
