I had an interesting chat with a friend today about what it means to be almost profitable and businesses that are perpetually stuck, with profitability just out of reach. It seems to be a problem that some companies never manage to get away from.
The problem is I've seen a lot of companies where almost profitable is the status quo, sometimes for years. I've seen these companies increase staff, sales and turn over but still profitability is just out of reach because costs also go up. For them the only way out is to change something fundamental.
In times like these the first reaction is to restructure the business and let staff go, but this can backfire - lower the number of sales staff and you'll likely cut your turnover, cut support staff and your customers might suffer directly, cut technical staff and can you keep up with the risk takers?
Unfortunately some of the businesses, and the ones I'm talking about need a more radical change. And something that fundamental can be difficult to swallow because it often involves someone admitting they were wrong. A very difficult conversation when you've been selling everyone jam tomorrow.
Hopefully some of the people in this position realise that, as other commenters are pointing out, now is possibly one of the best times to take risks. if you could change anything about your company, what would it be?
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