After a period of time you get to a point where you often want to grow your business – perhaps to a new region, covering a new product or service, or simply expansion that will equate to greater profits.
Here are my top 7 tips to grow your business:
- If you want to expand to a new region, branch, area – then first ensure you have the main site running like a well-oiled machine. If the main business has its glitches then they are sure to flow through to the new sites. Get things right at home base first before you even think about growth elsewhere. This includes systems, processes, your team, administration, finance, customer service and of course delivery of the product or service.
- Once the core/main business is running well, document how things are done. This can be a tedious task at times, but it’s important so that there becomes a best practice and correct way of doing things. Expansion often means staff, and staff need to know how you expect things done. If your sales system is great at head office, why wouldn’t you document it to have all other sites working beautifully?
- Have a plan. Whether we are talking about your growth or your marketing (and really, both!) you need to have a plan. So often I see business owners who are keen to grow get lost in the day to day activities and the growth doesn’t happen because life (or rather, the business) gets in the way.
- Focus on what you want! If you want to expand to an overseas market, then start focusing on that with your research, your plans, your marketing and how you operate. When you have a clear focus, coupled with hard work and a bit of discipline, then things will happen.
- I’ve mentioned research before and this is critical. However you are expanding, you must know who your competitors are and what they are doing, including their pricing. I’m not saying worry about, or focus entirely on them, but certainly be aware of what is happening in the market. Know your target area – what works in one area, one state, or one country, will not necessarily work in another. When I setup operations on the Gold Coast, this was entirely different from setting up in Sydney. The people and the market is different.
- Have a budget for your expansion. Whether you’re recruiting staff, or simply having to spend money on marketing activities, you need a budget. If you don’t have the money for growth, I have to ask the question – is the core/original business doing ok? If it’s not, go back to my first point – get the core/original business working really well, so that it’s akin to duplication (with reasonable tweaking).
- Get help from experts. Whether it’s your accountant, banker or business coach – these are people who can guide and help you. As a business coach, I’ve been helping Aussie businesses for 30 years and I’ve seen a lot in my time – including quite a few mistakes. It’s far better to use someone’s expertise and experience and avoid the mistakes of others – rather than live your own mistakes. Mistakes cost money – why waste money on them?
Wanting to grow and expand your own business, then I’d love to help you. I grew a business from a garage to five locations around Australia and now help others live their own growth. Contact me for a complimentary consultation on 1800 77 65 61.
P.S. Check out my second published book to help you grow your business, “Stepping Stones to Business Growth”.
