If you’re running a business it’s important to make your plans for future growth – building your business is one of your biggest responsibilities as a business owner. It’s not just about increasing revenue, building out your business makes it more stable – more stable for you, your family, your employees and your customers.
Today we’re taking a look at different ways you can build your business – both the opportunities and the risks you need to avoid. If you’ve got the budget and you’re looking for strategy consulting London and other big cities have agencies to fit lots of different needs and budgets, but let’s start with some basics.
Ways to Expand
The first thing you should do is research and discover the full array of different ways you have to expand your business. Simple physical expansion into new markets is only one way to grow and not necessarily the best for you.
You can also grow by expanding your product line – and this is just as true if you’re running a service based business, whether that’s a hairdresser or an accounting company. In these cases a product is simply a new way to package your services at a new price point – whether it’s a subscription to lock in existing clients or a kind of sample at a low cost to acquire new ones.
You can also expand by staying in one place and trying to reach more customers with your existing products – a change in marketing techniques can build you out into new markets without any substantial change.
Look at your industry and your competitors – often you can benefit from the costly research more established businesses have done and try to put their plans into action on your own, smaller, scale.
Staying Safe
Any kind of expansion comes with risks. They all require additional resources, be that money, working hours or simply your attention, and committing any of those can risk negative outcomes for the established parts of your business.
Raising more money normally comes in the form of a loan or investment, both of which require commitments to repay or offer up part of your influence over your own business. Even taking money from your own savings means you’re not able to use it for other issues that may arise, and this could leave your business unable to cover its costs.
Even worse than being financially over-extended, diverting your attention from your existing business to new ventures risks failure. If you decide to change your marketing to chase new customers, your existing customer base could wither away. Your focus on expansion might mean that other processes you’ve been directly overseeing suffer, and stock is delivered late or payroll runs irregularly.
Preparation
The best way to avoid these risks is to prepare: gear up for building out your business in the same way you’d train for a marathon. Make sure you’re match fit by ensuring you have enough money in the bank, or a certain level of footfall or turnover. Build your business’ stamina by staffing up and make sure you have well trained colleagues you can delegate to.
If you prepare, and set targets so you know when you’re ready, you can build your business safely and create success well into the future.