Sometimes, a new market opportunity creates rapid business growth. Other times, growth comes more gradually. Just ask Matt Zorn, president of Zorn Compressor & Equipment, a family-owned company based in the Midwest.

“We’ve been growing steadily for more than 60 years, but it hasn’t always happened at the same pace,” says Zorn. “While our fundamentals have remained the same, we’ve had to adapt and innovate as our customer needs change.”

Is your business primed for growth? Before you explore new opportunities, Zorn offers five important things to consider.

1. Understand the numbers. It's not enough to glance at your financial statements; you need to dive into the details. Consider how those numbers look in different contexts. For instance, consider tracking revenue per employee. This allows you to take the long view and make gradual adjustments, not knee-jerk changes based on one point in time.
2. Diversify your customer base. While long-term clients are valuable (some of ours have been with us for over 40 years), relying too heavily on a single customer can be risky. We don’t have any clients who represent more than 2% of our business. By diversifying your client base, you’re not dependent on any one client to make or break your annual revenue.
3. Look for clients (not orders). We never chase after the next order. For us, it’s about finding the right client and fit. When you find a client who can benefit from your products, the orders come naturally.
4. Hire right. Pay well. We have a great team of people who really understand our business and care about its success. To keep your people, recognize that compensation and benefits matter.
5. Focus on culture. Our employees take their jobs very seriously and care deeply about our customers. That comes through with each interaction and enables customers to trust that we’re going to deliver on our promises. Make sure you’re fostering a culture where customers come first.

“When I look back on the history of our business, there was admittedly some luck tied into our growth along the way,” says Zorn. “But as a Roman philosopher said, ‘Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity’. When you focus on the right things, you’ll find growth and a little luck falling your way, too.”