Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a business owner more than a bottleneck, right? Slight exaggeration, but if you search the term right now, you’ll find a sea of articles explaining what you must be doing to fix bottlenecks in your business.
And yes, generally speaking, bottlenecks are often a problem, especially when YOU are the culprit for that bottleneck.
But what if there was a different kind of bottlenecks? What if I told you that some bottlenecks can help your business?
First things first, what is a Bottleneck?
Think of a bottleneck as a slowdown or stoppage in the production or service pipeline. This happens when you have too much work and insufficient team/capacity to fulfill it. Wherever it’s impacting your business, the results are often the same:
- Slower productivity.
- Less efficiency.
- Unhappy clients or customers.
But not all bottlenecks are the same . . .
Plot Twist: The Strategic Bottleneck And How It Can Help Your Business
This is probably going to go against everything you’ve ever learned, but bottlenecks, if done strategically, can grow your business.
Think of them as intentional limitations placed by you on your business to control quality, exclusivity, and efficiency.
When you create strategic bottlenecks, YOU carry out a deliberate approach that inspires growth without overwhelming you, your team, or your resources. The key is communicating your limits to inspire more demand without frustration and, thus, more long-term growth.
Four Areas Where You Can Create the Bottleneck to Inspire Growth
Limited Time Offers
These are exactly what they sound like – you create a limited-time offer for your product or service, whether a workshop, resource, or something else. The limited time creates a bottleneck that makes you more efficient and inspires a sense of FOMO that can increase your sales.
Cap Your Personalized Services
To put it simply: limit your availability or the number of clients you accept. The perception of your value goes up if you’re already in such demand that you only have time for a limited number of additional clients. And, of course, once they’re in, you can impress them with your true value.
Offer Premium Membership
Create a VIP or premium membership, and with only a limited number of spots, you can provide a richer experience for your clients. This leads to more value for them (and more satisfaction) and allows you to increase your membership rate and revenue.
Limited Space Offers
A limited space offer narrows your service base to create a higher perceived value due to limited supply. Again, maybe it’s a workshop, or seminar, or something else. The idea is to limit availability, which helps you sell those spots AND market the scarcity aspect of your services.
A Word of Caution.
If you’re reading this and you’re excited to grow your business through strategic bottlenecks, I have a few words of caution.
Before taking on and implementing new ideas like the ones named above, identify, manage, and eliminate the already existing bottlenecks harming your business. Maybe you’ve got a bottleneck in the supply chain, website issues that keep your customers from reaching you properly, or a lack of automation. Whatever is causing the slowdown or congestion in your business, it’s best to figure that out before implementing a strategic bottleneck.
To learn more about improving the health of your business, including bottlenecks, check out my guest episode on “Into the Wild.”
If you’re unsure how to identify or tackle troublesome bottlenecks or would like support implementing strategic ones … I can help. Schedule a discovery call with me, and we’ll get to the bottom of those issues holding back your business and how we can streamline your processes for better growth. Book your discovery call here!