When your business has become more established, and you are finally making a healthy profit from the products or services that you provide customers, your thoughts may turn to growing your business. Growth is often thought about in terms of simply increasing sales, however, expanding your business is more complex than just selling more units. There are other aspects of your business that you need to consider:
Suppliers
Your business depends on a variety of suppliers; from the suppliers of goods that you resell, through to your internet and insurance providers. You should always try and keep in mind the best approach your business should take when it comes to finding insurance providers and suppliers. For example, your current public liability insurance
Your policy may need to be adjusted to cover any new activities that your business is pursuing. Hiscox can provide a bespoke public liability insurance for small businesses that is designed to cover the new risks your SME will encounter as it grows; after all, what is a good fit now, may not meet your requirements in a few years. Speak to your suppliers to ensure that they can deliver the products or services to meet the business needs.
Staff
With business expansion comes the need for more team members and a greater range of skills. You will need to employ more people and/or train your current team to meet the demands of business. Providing current employees with training opportunities is a fantastic and cost-effective way to boost morale, loyalty, and productivity. Actively nurturing your employees’ career development is a wise business strategy.
Digital infrastructure
The most important part of a business in a modern economy is its digital infrastructure. Your business must be able to cope with growth and use technology to leverage its success. A well-designed digital infrastructure will mean that you are able to automate tasks, keep up to speed with the demands of customers, retain the competitive edge and work more efficiently. Choose the technologies that are secure, scalable and flexible to meet your needs as they evolve over time.
Improve products and services
Now that you are more established, you should have access to metrics and data that you can use to finely tune the products and services that you offer to promote business growth. This is your opportunity to streamline your operations and focus on the products and services that meet your customers’ needs but also to identify any gaps in the market. The only way to improve your offerings is to seek feedback from your customers and clients and act on the information that you receive.
- What do they buy from you and what do they like about the product or service?
- How could you make the products or services better?
- What would make them buy more from you?
To maintain your business’s profitability and success, you need to plan strategically for business growth, and make decisions that will support your business’s evolution. The temptation is to focus on increasing the sales, however, for the expansion and growth to be a success, it must be built on firm foundations. Renegotiate with suppliers, advance your employees’ skills and improve their ability to perform their roles with a digital infrastructure that is designed to support them.
