The S Curve Of Business: The Key Levers To Sustaining Momentum For Your Brand Infographic

The S Curve Of Business: The Key Levers To Sustaining Momentum For Your Brand Infographic

In the world of business, growth doesn't follow a constant upward trend. Instead, it takes the form of an S-shaped curve that naturally dips during the lifecycle of the company.

During these moments, successful organizations don't double down on failed tactics or simply copy the competition. They recognize the situation, rely on lessons learned, and focus on customer-centric innovation.

Companies that hope to lead the pack must learn to take in the big picture, avoid chasing tactics, and drive growth by providing frictionless experiences to their customers.

If you don’t know what to look for when analyzing your growth, this tapering can be very alarming. Revenue is suddenly and unexpectedly leveling out into a plateau, and the knee-jerk response often leads to panic and bad decision making.

When you can identify how this S curve works in your business, then you know you don’t have to panic when growth (ultimately momentum) begins to taper off. Instead, you can recognize that tapering for what it truly is: a strategic inflection point.

Strategic inflection points—also known to many an MBA student as stall points, downturns, turning points, etc.—are an inevitability for companies that experience growth. These are moments where changes must be made in order to maintain growth.

When things are going well, it’s easy to get comfortable and complacent. If it isn’t broke don’t fix it and all that. On a personal and professional level, most of us have the tendency to put off what’s needed until circumstances demand it.

View inflection points as your circumstances making demands, and what they demand is a fundamental shift in your company.

So what causes an inflection point, exactly? It could be a competitor releasing a superior product at a lower price point. There’s a drop in interest of your core product. Your advertising isn’t hitting the right audience. Maybe there’s a recession.

Regardless of the source, inflection points are a natural consequence of growth and the free market. Sooner or later, every organization will encounter internal and external factors that affect revenue creation and momentum.

The obvious takeaway here is that avoiding inflections isn’t a realistic strategy—rather, preparing for them is not only critical but a much better plan of attack. But how do you go about building or adjusting an organization that is primed to respond to slowed growth? How can you turn your business into an agile machine that treats strategic inflection points as an opportunity to adapt and grow instead of a reason to panic?