Growth Management
Business growth is a tough beast. If you grow too fast, your company might burst. Grow too slowly, and your adversary is likely to swallow you up.
Managing the growth of your business requires careful planning and execution. This all sounds quite complicated, which it is in real life. Take a look below at the points to consider when growing a business. We will support you with each of these points and help you to overcome the difficulties.
Here is what Business growth means and where we are happy to support you:
1. Set growth goals
There are numerous ways to measure growth. When you know your goals, you can target your actions to the areas that are critical to you. Without clear goals, you may be growing in some areas, such as your customer base, without growing in the areas that are truly critical to you.
Common metrics that executives use to set growth goals include:
Monthly recurring revenue
Gross margin
Premium accounts or Upsells
Customer lifetime value
Total number of accounts
PROMOTED
After you set one or more goals, establish a timeframe for achieving them. Chasing a “someday” won’t get you the results you want. Use milestones to determine if you are on the desired path.
Also consider what is required to achieve your goals. Consider the capital, labor, and man-hours required to achieve the desired goal. In your timelines, also consider the time it will take to hire, borrow, or otherwise build a foundation for growth.
2. Streamline your hiring process
Businesses don’t grow on their own. The people in your business are responsible for its growth.
Hiring the right people is an essential part of sustainable growth. Especially in a startup, you can’t afford slackers. But you also have to watch out for people who live by Facebook’s famous motto, “Move fast and break things.”
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Cultural fit is key here. If you hire employees who aren’t a good fit, you’ll experience high turnover that will stunt growth. Look for employees who understand your vision. Make sure they are willing to collaborate on process development and have the maturity to overlook mistakes.
If rapid growth is putting too much work on your plate, outsourcing is one way to meet the demand. With this form of delegation, you don’t have to hire new people, which costs time, while ensuring that the work gets done.
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3. Stick to a budget
Spending and saving are the most important factors for business growth. Spending promotes growth by procuring the materials needed to develop and manufacture your product.
Saving doesn’t lead to immediate growth, but it helps you play the game for the long term. Investing in new services, areas of work and technology can give you an edge over your competitors.
This is all about balance. Your business needs a budget to prioritize spending while setting aside a certain amount each month. Otherwise, you’ll be tempted to overspend, which may lead to short-term growth, but will ultimately make your business more vulnerable.
Business debt should also be a key part of your budget. Most entrepreneurs can’t afford to self-fund. But be careful: if you take on too much debt, you can miss out on growth opportunities and pay too much interest.
4. Focus on your efforts
The reality is that you can’t focus on all areas of your business at once. Even if you see needs everywhere, you won’t be able to make a difference if you don’t prioritize your time.
Remind yourself of your goals. If you measure your growth by revenue, this may be the quarter to optimize your sales team. If customer lifetime value is the most important metric for you, maybe your customer service team needs a little extra training.
5. Always adjust
Growth comes with growing pains. Make sure not only you, but your employees are prepared to keep up with the times.
Growing customer numbers can put a strain on the customer team. Retention initiatives may require you to keep unprofitable customers. Increasing web traffic requires more servers. A larger volume of orders can overwhelm smaller suppliers.
Infrastructure comes in many forms, all of which can break. Listen to employee concerns before cracks in a process or system become a disaster. Eagerly embrace new technologies that reduce the burden on your team.
6. Take care of customers.
Without paying customers, there is no growth. No matter how many partnerships you form or how many products you develop, you won’t get anywhere without a large customer base.
Have a listening ear for your customers. Their insights can help you improve your product, fix customer service issues, and even identify new customer demographics. And by acting on their feedback, you’ll win their loyalty.
Every entrepreneur wants to see their business grow, but few have the patience to grow well. In the business world, slow and steady often wins the race.
