While living in a time of relative instability for the economy, opportunities for growth are many for the small business – and small businesses have made a large impact in the bigger picture, with 61% growth since 2000. Business growth on an individual scale is simple on the face of things, but requires the complex orchestration of many elements to carry out successfully. Planning for growth is a crucial part of that process – and here is how to do it.
Set Goals for Growth
In order to create the best opportunity for healthy and robust growth, you need to create a comprehensive plan for the way in which you intend to grow your company. By pinpointing key areas for growth, and business opportunities on which you intend to capitalise, you can inform your next actions and guide your growth in an informed, considered and consistent manner. If your business is service-based, you might want to focus specifically on the customer-facing side of your business; for you, this might mean expanding your customer service team to meet new demand, or increasing funding to your marketing department in order to increase your reach. Specific department-based goals enable you to be purposeful with your growth, targeting areas and achieving tangible, measurable results which in turn maximise your growth.
Address Your Operational Needs
Your growth plan needs to be grounded in the reality of your business; it is all well and good creating optimistic targets for growth, but if they don’t take into consideration your current capacity and abilities as an organisation they are doomed to failure – which could result in a loss of confidence from other stakeholders or executives. In order to maintain healthy and achievable objectives for growth, include operational information about your company as part of your growth plan.
Taking into account the geography of your site or sites can inform your reach with regard to region, while wider information about your company’s capabilities and stature within its industry can be particularly useful in identifying production or service targets. With the potential onboarding of new staff, you may need to consider investment in temporary building hire, in order to accommodate the expanded workforce at lower cost. Also consider supply chains with regard to your business – who are your suppliers? Will supply need to increase in order to justify changes to output?
Examine the Finances
Of course, real growth and change cannot truly occur without targeted and relevant investment. As such, detailed financial plans, including your business’ current financial situation and the value of resources required to enact your growth plan, need to be drawn up. What are your business’ overheads, and what do you expect them to be with the introduction of a new site, or manufacturing process, or additional support staff? Will your profits track with any proposed changes, and is there room for the proposed changes to take place without external investment?
Company growth is an exciting prospect, especially if you are at the helm of such growth. Having a concrete and fool-proof plan in place that considers all aspects of said growth will ensure the healthy realisation of that growth.
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