Whether you are a small business that is looking to scale up quickly, or an existing business that is moving towards its next set of challenges, business growth is an important, and prominent factor for any sized business to consider, and plan for. For some business owners, gradual growth is all that is desired, however, if you are a driven individual who is constantly looking to push the limits and achieve as much as possible, then here are several top strategies to try out that will enable your business to scale above and beyond.
Set goals and milestones
When you are looking to grow and scale your business, a vital strategy that you must include in your business plan is to set relevant, and achievable goals and milestones. A goal is the end result of which you desire. For example, it could be that your business had a customer base of 1000 people, and your goal could be to double that over the next year. The milestones you set could be daily, monthly, or quarterly, so as to help you reach your goal and to know if you are on track for hitting your targets. For this example, your sales team would be required to secure 84 new customer leads each month to hit your target of doubling your customer base to 2000 people. The benefit of having a goal is that it will give you, your employees, and your business a clear direction in which to go, and the milestones are a great way of analyzing performance, and give you the chance to alter, or adapt the way in which you are currently trying to hit your goal.
Analyze all of your existing data
If you are looking to scale your business then you not only need to look to and plan for the future, but you should also be taking into account all of the past data that your business has managed to collect over the years. This data can come from an in-house collection such as production times, financial and budget information, or employee statistics such as sickness, turnover, and performance-based data. The data could also come from your customer base including what products and services did the best, reviews, feedback, complaints, and importantly customer growth. You can also include other data that is not yours but perhaps applies to you such as what is happening in your industry, and the third parties that you potentially use to help run your business. With all of this information, it is generally easier to decipher what could or should happen in the future, allowing you to make better decisions so as to help scale your business in the most efficient way.
In-depth competitor analysis
You can learn a lot from your competition when it comes to scaling a business. This strategy sounds underhanded, but in fact, it is an extremely healthy way to promote high standards and competitive business. When the industry is competitive, the quality of products and services is generally high, leading to a greater demand for all involved within that specific sector. The way it works is by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors to look for weaknesses in their strategies. Once you have found a weakness or even a strength that you believe you can do better, you will be able to capitalize on this and push the market in this area. For example, if your direct competitor has a superior product or service, yet a weak customer service experience or delivery timescale then this is an area of your business in which you could focus on, and potentially win over some of the customer bases.
Outsource work
If you want to scale your business, then a great stepping stone and resource to do this is by outsourcing your work. Outsourcing is when you pay a third party to conduct or carry out a specific part of the product or service that you provide. For example, if you own a logistics company with 2 vans, and are at full capacity, you would have no choice but to purchase new vans, and hire additional employees to continue to grow. However, you could also hire several third-party, self-employed drivers, and outsource any extra work to them. This way you will not have to spend any extra time, money, or effort on finding, and purchasing a new vehicle, or looking for, hiring, and training a new set of employees. This is how outsourcing your work can help you to continue providing a product or service that you cannot provide on your own, while simultaneously scaling your business.
Utilize technology
Technology has come a long way over the last few decades, and now has an extremely impactful presence in many companies. It is a great tool for both employers, and employees alike, as it often allows for the user to complete a job faster, to a higher standard, or with fewer complications. This will then lead to higher productivity, customer satisfaction, and business growth. For example, if you own a business that includes customer-facing field personnel such as engineers, cleaners, or social care workers, then it is quite likely that you will require them to gather or collate information from the customer locations that they visit. This could be things like customer signatures, pictures, or creating job reports. Rather than sending your employees to a site with multiple ways of capturing the information, then having to organize and sort it individually, it would be far more beneficial to use an app such as buildops field service app that can collect and store everything all in one place. This would save you, your employees, and most importantly your business a lot of time, money, and effort, allowing everyone to focus instead on the job at hand.
Obtain the relevant skill sets within your business
Something that can be forgotten when it comes to strategies that involve scaling a business, is the investment in staff, and employees. If you can either hire, or train the right members of your team so that they have the relevant skill sets, and then treat them in a manner that ensures that they stay with your company, you will notice an increase in customer satisfaction due to the product or service you provide being of a high quality. The correlation between your customer service, and the speed at which you are able to scale your business is linked due to the fact that if you have happy, loyal customers, you are much more likely to get recommended to their friends and family. However, the opposite is likely to occur if your customer service and satisfaction are low, which can happen if you do not obtain the relevant skill sets within your company.
Properly market yourself
Marketing strategies are a great option to look into when you are trying to scale your business, as this is how most new organic traffic will find, and contact you. There are various methods in which you can market yourself from virtually free through social media, and via networking, all the way to things like paid ads, or search engine optimization (SEO) on your website. Options such as SEO will generally take longer but yield stronger results in the long run, whereas paid ads are a quickfire way to gain traction. Whatever marketing options you decide to implement into your business plan, marketing yourself in a way that suits your business is vital for growth.
Implement networking into your business strategy
When you were young, and looking for your first job you might have heard the phrase “It's not what you know, it's who you know”. This quote also has a degree of truth when it comes to running a business. Networking is the process of forming strong bonds, and connections with allies, business owners, and other potential positive or beneficial relationships. These relationships could help provide you with opportunities, help, advice, or even monetary aid depending on the type of relationship that is formed. With more connections comes more opportunity, and with more opportunity comes a greater chance of scaling your business. There are several ways in which you can network, starting from simply reaching out online through social media platforms such as LinkedIn or Facebook, to attending open days, and events. You could even consider taking your business to an event, and setting up a stall as that way those who are interested in networking with you will come directly to you, and it gives both of you the opportunity to speak with one another.
Building the foundations to scale your business not only ensures consistent growth but is also a great way to secure your business’s future. So, if you currently own a business, regardless of its size, turnover, industry, or experience, it would be advisable to set aside some time to properly plan out how you plan to scale your business. If you are unsure where to start, why not take into account these top ways in which to scale your business above and beyond?
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