If you’re a B2B company just starting out, or even if your B2B business doesn’t exist yet, it’s important to understand the four stages of B2B business growth. Being able to assess where your business is now allows you to prepare for the inevitable roadblocks and quickly address them as they arise.
Just like a tree starts from a seedling and requires different amounts of resources to germinate and mature, your B2B business goes through multiple stages of business development, each requiring different financial, marketing strategies and resources.
Here, we’ll walk through the four stages of becoming a B2B company and the unique challenges that each stage faces.
Startup
It all starts with an idea for a product or service and a dream to turn it into a business.
During the startup phase, you decide to continue your business and launch your B2B brand. At this point, you have finished developing your product or service and started marketing and selling it to customers.
At this stage, sales are usually small but growing slowly, and your business focus may be on researching your target market and identifying consumer segments. When you make your first sale, you may need to adjust your product or ad based on initial customer feedback and needs.
Hopefully you can secure your marketing strategy and move to the next stage of development.
Common Challenges
- Establishing a market presence.
- Establishing a target audience.
- Facing larger competitors.
- Managing cash reserves.
Growth
You will enter the growth stage, also known as the survival stage, after launching your product and getting oriented.
Your company will have passed the breakeven point at this time and will start to make increasing profits, though not at the same rate as sales. You’ll be able to pay running costs and look into new business options as your company brings in more money and attracts more clients.
However, this stage frequently results in increasing rivalry, which calls for you to review your business model and take into account crucial tasks like operations, marketing, and sales models.
Common Challenges
- Handling more customers.
- Managing increased revenue.
- Increased Competition.
Expansion
Your cash flow and sales will probably grow quickly after you’ve made a name for yourself in the B2B sector as you expand into new markets and distribution avenues. However, when the market becomes more saturated and new rivals begin to take market share, this growth may start to decline.
Your B2B company will need to increase market share and find fresh revenue streams, such new product lines or target markets, in order to benefit from expansion.
Common Challenges
- Increased competition.
- Creating new products and services.
- Maintaining and growing your existing business
- Expanding into new markets.
Maturity
Cash flows are likely to diminish and profit margins to narrow once your company has grown to maturity and ascended to the top of the market. Your company may be thriving and still growing, but certainly not as quickly as it was during the expansion phase.
It’s up to you to decide at this point whether to create an exit strategy or remake yourself as a B2B company. Your company may be able to extend its life cycle and return to the expansion stage by making investments in new ecommerce technology and venturing into untapped areas.
Common Challenges
- Saturated market.
- Exploring new markets.
- Maintaining and growing your existing business.
- Creating new products and services.
- Potential exit strategy.
