09/27/2018

How Willing is Your Organization to Invest in Growth?

Companies must realize they cannot cut costs forever and still achieve profitability

SmartPulse -- our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership -- tracks feedback from over 240,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our newsletter.

How willing is your organization to invest in growth?

• Very. We spend freely to drive the top line: 12 percent
• Somewhat. We spend on focused areas only: 60 percent
• Not very. Our investments are few and far between: 18 percent
• Not at all. We never spend on driving growth: 10 percent

It takes money to make money. Almost 30 percent of you report not spending much at all in your growth efforts. I'd venture to guess your companies aren't growing. While it can be hard to carve out the funds to invest, you have to realize you can't cut costs to achieve profitability forever. At some point, there's nothing left to cut. To overcome this dynamic, be deliberate about setting aside funds in your budget for growth spending. With budgeting season around the corner for many of you, think about where your best growth opportunities are and make sure they're fully funded. Then, don't make the mistake of raiding those funds to make up for shortfalls elsewhere. Growth won't happen magically. You need to invest it to catch up with the 70 percent of organizations out there who are freer with the purse strings.

Please select this link to read the original article from SmartBrief.