1. Plan, plan & plan. Create a clear plan for your Business Growth strategy
Whether this is a 100 page document or simply written inside your notebook, you need to have a plan which as a minimum meets the following objectives:
Your strategy needs to be fully aligned with the current market & economic environment
Your strategy gives your customers what they want NOW, NOT what they have had in the PAST
Your strategy has to be developed with the purpose of achieving sustainable business growth
When your developing your strategy ask yourself the following questions, be clear and do your homework.
What are your competitors offering?
Have your competitors recently pivoted their business or customer offering?
How do you plan to grow?
What are you looking to offer your customers?
Does your pricing structure reflect your service?
Is your new offering commercially scaleable, given you're looking to grow?
Are you using the right distribution channels for future demand?
Have you got the right resources internally to deal with growth and generating business?
Do you have the necessary finance in place?
2. Results are driven by great communications
Communicating the plan accurately is vital to it's success. Therefore it is critically important that all staff are fully aware of what the plan is and their part in it. A better understanding of the plan will lead to all within the business and externally to customers of what you as a business are seeking to achieve and how. Communication should be constantly reinforced by the actions and behaviours of the business’ leaders, and by the brand identity.
3. Co-ordinate your resources
Planning a growth strategy is not just about how to make more sales, it's highly important when working to maximise returns, that all functions in your business are working together and fully co-ordinated. This is the very opposite of the silo mentality we often hear about, where individuals, departments or indeed entire divisions work to achieve their own goals completely disregarding the bigger picture.
A performance management tool or dashboard, will be of benefit in enabling the whole business to better understand how working together leads to sustainable business growth.
4. Stay agile
Keep as much flexibility as possible with your plans because good plans are regularly reviewed and updated which will sometimes lead to a change in the level of resource needed. It is important that these changes can be actioned with speed and the least cost and disruption to your business.
Here are a few examples:
Train your staff to be multi-skilled – it is far better to pay a more for someone who can perform a number of roles and also has the capacity to be trained in new skills if and when needed.
Property & asset commitments – these should be kept to a minimum where possible to give your business the added flexibility when things change.
Outsourcing – any resources that aren't critical to your business offering, such as payroll or IT, should be outsourced to give that increased flexibility.
5. Start NOW!
A plan is just a plan until it is put into action. If you hold off and hold off executing your plan it will become less and less relevant to your business with each day that passes as the environment you operate in continues to change.
If you're waiting for another person on this project, and this would assist in putting these plans into action then it may be time to seek a business coaching to help you get this done.
An experienced coach or mentor will encourage and challenge your thinking to help you to take an informed but detached view, providing you with new insights into both developing and then implementing your new growth strategy.