Your business is always going to hit difficult periods. Sooner or later you're going to have to rise to meet that challenge. Failing to do so will mean your business fails. With 96% of small businesses failing within ten years of opening their doors, it should come as no surprise that the ability to overcome the wall is what separates the good from the great.Overcome your business plateau using the following strategies.Pivot and Change Your DirectionPivoting is always talked about but rarely implemented. It's harder than you think to implement a successful pivot. There are many types of pivoting you have to take into account. First of all, you might have to change your entire business model. Some people might have to alter their target audience. You might have discovered something new about your target market completely by accident.Some companies even have to throw out their flagship products and come up with something else. This often happens when business owners didn't evaluate their business ideas before they launched.The only way you're going to find out what you have to do is to analyze your company and look at the metrics from the past few months.Consider Rebranding Your CompanyRebranding is rarely the first thing on the minds of business owners when they hit the wall. Sometimes all it can take is a rebrand. Your product or service is perfect. It just happens to be the way you're framing that product or service that isn't working.A rebrand can range from changing your logo to the way your company positions itself in the market. It can often be caused by what your competitors are doing. If sales were going well before the chances are someone is doing what you're doing in a better way.Focus on a Niche and Stop Trying to Do Too Many ThingsBusiness owners, especially younger ones, are often guilty of trying to do too many things at once. When you start to stretch yourself too thin you lose focus and become too broad. When you don't concentrate on a niche you're not giving people the attention they deserve.So what do you do if you believe your business is lacking in the focus department'Take inspiration from a company like Apple. They were ruthless back in the middle of the 1990s. They cut down their projects from 350 to 10. They even removed the Newton project, which had cost them $100 million up until that point. Apple focused on one specific area and they have managed to turn their entire brand around.Today they are only known in a number of niches, such as smartphones and tablets. This narrow focus is partly what has made them into the incredible brand they are today.Think Up a New Marketing PlanAre you making the most of the various promotion channels available to you'The chances are if you haven't come up with a marketing plan in some time the answer is no. New marketing channels are appearing all the time. The right marketing plan will ultimately reinvigorate your business. Try out a fresh new marketing plan and see what happens.You have nothing to lose by trying out a brand new marketing plan because what you were doing before obviously isn't working any longer.Start Taking Some RisksThis might go against all conventional wisdom, but it's actually extremely intelligent. Many business owners believe they shouldn't try to take risks when sales are failing. They should wait until things are going well again. But this is the time to take risks. This is the time to try something new because without trying something new the chances are you'll never make it back to prosperity.But these risks have to be calculated. You can't take random reckless risks in an attempt to succeed. That will only lead to disaster.These risks need to be thought out and they should be made based on the numbers.Sometimes You Have to SellIn the worst case scenario, you might find the best option is to sell the entire business. Entrepreneurs need to know when it's time to cut and run. Selling the company can prevent you from losing even more money. It can also stop you from driving a brand into the ground.Make this decision as early as you can. If you don't feel like you have anything more to give to the brand sell the business before things get out of control.How will you turn a struggling business around' -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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