Most growth plans start with demand: more leads, more customers, a bigger marketing push. Yet growth fails less often for lack of demand than for lack of capacity.
The orders arrive, and then the business creaks. The owner becomes the bottleneck. Delivery slips. Cash gets tight. Priorities change every week and nothing quite gets finished.
Before you push harder on sales, check the business can carry the extra weight. We look at four pillars.
People: can the business run without the owner doing everything?
The right people in the right roles, one named owner for every function, and a leadership team that can run the business day to day. If every decision still comes back to you, that's your speed limit, however good the sales pipeline looks.
Strategy: are we chasing the right customers, at the right price?
A clear ideal customer, a clear difference from competitors, prices that reflect value, and a plan for where growth will come from. Without these, extra effort goes into unprofitable work.
Execution: do we do what we say we will?
A few priorities a quarter, each with one owner and a finish line. A fixed meeting rhythm. A weekly scorecard of leading numbers. This is what turns a plan into delivery.
Cash: is growth turning into cash, or eating it?
Knowing your cash position and 13-week forecast, collecting on time, and understanding how price, volume, costs and payment terms each affect your cash.
The weakest pillar sets your speed
The pillars depend on each other. A brilliant sales strategy fails if execution can't deliver it. Strong execution stalls if the cash runs out. So the useful question isn't "how strong are we overall?" but "which pillar is weakest?"
A five-minute check
Score each statement from 1 (not true) to 5 (fully true), scoring what is true today rather than what you intend:
- Every function has one clearly named owner
- Our prices reflect the value we deliver and have been reviewed in the last 12 months
- Actions agreed in meetings are completed on time
- We know our cash position and forecast for the next 13 weeks
Any 1s or 2s show you where to start. The full scorecard has 24 statements, six per pillar, and is in our Levers for Growth guide and online.
Do this next
Score the four statements above, then ask a colleague to score them separately and compare. The gaps between your answers are often the most useful part.
Score your four pillars
The Growth Scorecard takes five minutes: 24 statements across People, Strategy, Execution and Cash, with three plays to start with.
Take the Growth Scorecard →Try it on your own numbers
Growth Scorecard → Score 24 statements and see whether growth will strengthen or strain the business.