When you’ve spent a great deal of time and effort behind building your brand, your product portfolio and having some semblance of a client base, it may seem counter-intuitive to tear apart to rebuild. But there are some occasions when emotions of attachment have to take a back seat to accommodate the larger picture of building a profitable company.

At these times in your entrepreneurial journey, it’s worthwhile to take a step backward, review your strategy, and consider re-hauling your business model in the interest of making money and creating a bigger impact.

1. When There’s Not Enough Traction

It’s may be time to restructure your business plan when you’re not getting adequate traction for your idea, process or product. Ask yourself these important questions:

• Are you focusing on the pain points that are most significant to your customers, so significant that it motivates them to want your offering as much as the desert needs the rain?
• Is there scope for enough diversification in your portfolio to offer something lower priced to larger groups, and something of much bigger value to higher income groups to increase your reach and relevance?
• Are you targeting the right consumer profile?

2. When You’re Not Growing as Well As You Could

The interest in your offering shows initial promise but the growth isn’t at the level you’re hoping for. If this sounds like you, review the following:

• Are you using the right distribution platforms to market your products?
• Is your sales strategy hitting all the right notes?
• Are your staffs adequately equipped with product knowledge and sales skills?
• Are you clued into everything that goes on in the customer lifecycle and aware of where you’re losing revenue?

3. When Your Price Point is Too High

When you’re garnering sufficient interest but the price point ends up being the bone of contention, run down your value proposition and checklist the following:

• Can you reduce unnecessary features in the product without compromising quality to offer customers a no-frills, budget-friendly product that still solves their problem?
• Can you upgrade the value you are providing by adding more high-value goods and services that make your offer look like a steal?

4. When Your Operational Costs Are Eating Into Your Revenue

When the cost of creating your product starts to get bigger than the profit you earn from it, a re-think of your process is in order.

• Are there any cheaper ways of creating your product without compromising on quality?
• Are there any operational costs that can be eliminated by a more efficient production model?

5. When It’s Just the Wrong Time

This one’s a lot more common than you think. Commerce and Industry is strife with get-rich-quick business stories but a lot of the success also has to do with entering the market at the right time.

• Changes in the Government and economic policies, particularly those that significantly impact profit may require a wait and watch approach.
• Business ideas are a dime a dozen. If a business model proves itself to be profitable, others may jump onto the bandwagon too which means that by the time you release a similar product, the market may already be saturated, causing a decline in sales. How can you distinguish yourself from the rest of the market?

Being an entrepreneur is a lifelong learning curve. You may have to stop, change, and start over many times before you hit the winning formula.

Knowing just what to look for and making the right changes can make or break the difference between a business plan that’s profitable and one that’s not.

A business coach can help you on your journey.