Having a business undergo massive growth is a rewarding experience for any entrepreneur. A growing business means more revenue, higher market share, healthy profits, and better brand awareness than competitors. But, business growth needs to be handled strategically, with the core focus on ensuring that levels of productivity and efficiency remain the same. Additionally, you’ll need to create new financial plans to decide how profits will be reinvested and which business areas require additional funding the most. For entrepreneurs faced with the challenge of managing a growing business, this article by Zedtreeo will provide the steps to chart your next course of action.
Create a Growth Strategy
A growth strategy will involve revisiting your business plan to compare actual performance as opposed to goals set in the past. This will help identify areas where you’ve excelled and others that have performed on or below par. Next, conduct market analysis to understand current trends, threats, opportunities, and changes in consumer buying patterns.
Additionally, you’ll need to create new financial projections that include the cost of expansion and future revenue expectations. While utilizing profits is a straightforward way of funding your expansion plans, given that the business is in a strong financial position, undertaking debt can also be an option. Not only will creditors be open to providing better terms, but debt repayments can be used as deductions to decrease your tax burden.
Once you have a clear idea of where the business is in terms of performance and finances, create new goals for the next 3-12 months.
Develop a Reliable Invoicing System
A rise in customers translates to more transactions, invoices, and calculations. To ensure that the business growth plans remain on track, you’ll need to maintain a strong hold over finances at all times.
If you haven’t already, consider using cloud-based invoice software for the business. The software provides various templates to choose from which can be customized using your logo, company name, and brand color. Additionally, by creating a payment schedule, invoices will automatically be sent to customers before the due date. When researching options, opt for software that provides customers the option to pay directly from the digital invoice. This significantly reduces the time taken to receive payments and ensures you maintain a positive cash flow.
Prioritize Customer Retention
According to research, the cost of retaining a customer is five times less than acquiring a new one. Additionally, existing customers are more likely to conduct repeat purchases and refer your business. Hence, retaining customers needs to be one of the main priorities of your growth strategy.
One of the best ways to retain customers is to reward them for their trust in your brand. For instance, create special discounts for customers making regular purchases. But, as reported by Help Scout, not all efforts need to be monetary-based. Consistently being in contact with customers is a great way to develop a positive rapport and prevent them from diverting from competitors. This can include sharing a monthly newsletter, regularly posting content on social media, collecting feedback and implementing changes requested by customers, promptly responding to customer queries, and following ethical business practices.
Invest in Hiring
Onboarding personnel will be key to helping the business meet its growing needs. But you’ll need to achieve a fine balance between your hiring requirements and business finances. When it comes to hiring a full-time employee, along with their base salary, you’ll need to factor in the cost of recruitment and benefits which can total tens of thousands of dollars. Even with massive business growth, hiring numerous new full-time employees will put a dent in your finances.
A cost-effective solution is to work with a staffing agency and hire remote workers for key business projects. This can include hiring digital marketers to handle social media, virtual assistants to manage daily administrative tasks, or experienced legal personnel to help with contracts.
Just like in all important business projects, planning will play a key role in the success of your expansion efforts. By having a clear vision and sound finances, your business will perform better than ever and continue its upward trajectory.
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