As a business owner, it can be frustrating when growth – and revenue – becomes stagnant. Perhaps the first few months, even initial couple of years, allowed for a rapid success rate. After the dust settles from your rock-star startup launching, continued growth can be challenging. If your business isn’t growing like you’d planned, it’s likely because of one (or more) of these five reasons.

No Customer Loyalty

If all of your time and energy is focused on gaining new customers, you’re missing a major revenue boat with low customer retention. If the majority of your customers leave after an initial purchase, you’ll always be on the hunt for clients who haven’t tried your product – and that’s a tough battle to win. The likelihood of selling to an existing customer is roughly 65 percent, while you only have a 15 percent probability of selling to a new customer. Shift your strategy to give current customers some focus and reward them for their loyalty.

No Road Map

Without a clear strategy, your business is on the road to nowhere, along with your results. If your team is constantly jumping on the “next big thing” in marketing, it’s time to create a clear path for your marketing goals. Create a marketing strategy that focuses on outlets that work for your business and connect you to a target audience (i.e. – website, social media, print, podcast). Once you have that marketing plan in place, stick with it. It takes about six to nine months to see the results of a marketing strategy.

Lack Of Automation

While your clients want and deserve a custom approach to their work, there’s something to be said for automated marketing that helps you nourish the relationship. Without the proper automated marketing system in places, you lose contact with leads (give you have a lead capture), making it very hard to turn that potential into an actual customer or client. Automated marketing on social media is easier than ever. While we don’t recommend that’s your only approach to social engagement, it can help save some time throughout the week.

No Systematic Approach

If you can’t remember what your desk looks like because of the stack of paperwork and desk calendar (that may or may not be on the right month of the year), it’s time to get systematic. Without the proper tools, your team will go in 10 different directions with no crosstalk to arrive at the same goal. Digital project management tools like Asana help you track tasks, call meetings, and communicate with team members for project updates.

You Don’t Have Specific Goals

Goals should be measurable. If your plan for growth includes words like “get better,” “improve upon” or “expand reach,” it’s time to rethink your approach. In order to grow your business, you need to know exactly where you stand in terms of revenue, web traffic, ROIs, and expenditures. Then it’s time to specifically nail down where you want to be – with definitive numbers – and what your timeline is to reach those goals. Track your progress along the way to know when you’re meeting expectation and when it’s time to rev up efforts.

As you review your business and determine your main challenges of growth, consider bringing an Online Business Manager into the mix. An OBM is someone who can take the reins – put systems in place, set goals and measure progress, work with business leaders to streamline processes – and allow you to focus on expanding your business, not managing the minute details.

Which one is most fitting for your business set backs? What has worked for you to continue moving forward?