Most organizations want to grow their business and this makes sense for the financial health of the organization. All too often however, organizations say they want “growth,” but they mean “more customers.” But “growth” and “more customers” are not the same thing. Having more customers can be a good thing, but it isn’t “growth.”

 “Growth” means to become a better version of yourself. Simply having more customers does not automatically make your organization better. In fact, having more customers can make you less effective at meeting customer’s needs if you don’t plan adequately.

When a tree grows, it doesn’t just add more leaves to one branch, it adds more branches to support more leaves (and grows a root structure to support the extra branches). Organizations need to have the same mindset – analyzing what will best support a desired outcome. If you increase your customer load, but can’t handle the volume, you’ve done your business and your customers a disservice.

“Growth” is more than merely adding more customers. To truly grow, an organization must look at itself holistically to discover what areas need to improve and then work to enhance those areas. 

Growth isn’t simple and it isn’t always easy, but it can be rewarding for organizations that take the idea seriously. Your customers want your organization to become a better version of itself, don’t you want the same?