Small Business Growth Stages and Maturity Milestones

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Small Business Growth Stages and Maturity Milestones

August 28, 2023

What is a ‘Small Business’?

Small business, as defined by government, is traditionally less than $30 million/p.a. turnover and less than 25 staff. That’s a pretty broad field of businesses. It includes every kind of business from people just considering a new venture, to 30-year old businesses with international reach.

If you target “small businesses”, it’s very important that you can define that target group clearly. A a small business in it’s first couple of years of operation won’t spend $1,000/month on your services. But, a small business with 20 people and $10m turnover looking to grow, may do so.

Over the years, we’ve defined small business by classifying them into 5 stages of business growth and maturity. This helps our customers pinpoint where they are in the small business maturity cycle and who their ideal customers really are.

You can use our small business maturity stages infographic as a general guide to help inform your own processes of targeting and tailoring your products and services.

Once you understand the characteristics of small businesses as they move through the small business growth stages and milestones, it’s far easier to develop niche services that speak clearly to the right audiences; and to ignore the groups who aren’t ready for your offerings or can’t afford it yet.

You can use the cycle to help identify potential referral partners who work with similar target customer types. A Win-Win-Win!

When customers are served by the right service/product at the right time in their growth journey it’s a win for the service/product provider and the customer. When the right types of customers use you it’s a value match, where the customer feels well served at a price they believe is reasonable for the product/services/expertise provided. An extra Win comes when a referral partner is able to bring more value to their customer by introducing another trusted expert. This can further cement the your value as a go-to resource for that customer. It also means you can confidently niche your offering, and everybody wins and grows as a result.