Do you think you're ready to take your business to the next level? If you want to grow your small business, there are a number of things you can do to prepare. This month, we're looking at 7 important things that you should consider when preparing to grow.
1. Eliminate, Automate, Delegate
Growing your business is going to take up a lot of your time and energy. To do this, you should take a look at your daily tasks and find out what can be eliminated, automated or delegated. This will free up some time so that you can focus on looking at growth opportunities. We've looked at eliminate, automate, delegate in detail in a previous post - read more here.
2. Know Your Customer
Do your research! Make sure you know everything there is to know about your customer - their needs, wants and behaviours. If you know your customer well, you will be able to identify needs or wants that need servicing and give you insight on how you can grow your business.
Making excellent customer service a priority at this time will ensure that your customers will remain loyal to you while you grow.
3. Get Your Name Out There
Get people interested in your brand by letting them know who you are. Consider sponsoring a local sports team or event so that potential new customers will recognise your name when you are growing your business. This will also build trust around your brand and as a bonus, you will be helping your community at the same time.
4. Sort Out Your Cash Flow
Before you start growing, implement the right processes and systems to make sure you have a positive cash flow. This will allow you to reinvest money into your business in order to expand. Need to improve your cash flow? We've outlined a few things that might help here.
5. Network
If you don't already, start networking within your industry. Have a look around at any networking events that you might be interested in and try it out. Pick the brain of anyone who has expanded before for insight into the potential challenges for your business. If you build strong relationships with your industry peers, not only could there be mentoring opportunities, but it could encourage positive word-of-mouth and referrals for your business.
6. Look at Finance
You're going to need to finance your business growth so it makes sense to do some research now to find out what finance options are available to you. There are many different sources of finance out there so have a look around for something that will suit you and your business. We've covered some of them here.
7. Create Goals & Plan
Ever heard of the saying 'fail to plan, plan to fail'? Well, this is truer than ever when growing your small business. Create in-depth goals and plan out exactly how you will achieve them. This will keep you focused and provide a direction for your growth to keep you on track. You need to be flexible though, things can change quickly and you need to be able to re-evaluate your plans as needed.