Core Strategies for Business Growth
As challenging as it can be to start a business, so it can also be equally difficult to scale the business. As the promoter of the business, you often wear the multiple hats necessary to get the important initiatives and tasks done.
For instance, you can become the HR to hire the right personnel, the marketing lead to promote your product/service extensively.
In other cases, you also act as your own accountant in order to keep an eye on company finances. You may even get involved in handling logistics and supply chains to keep tabs on inventory and timely delivery of shipments. Growing a business does take a great deal of effort and time. Nonetheless, adhering to effective growth strategies can help propel your business to higher levels. Here are a few core ones to consider
Build a sales funnel
After good marketing, sales funnels should follow but they require some effort. If well executed this pays off as it can help to automate your business income. Moreover, strong funnels help to scale quickly and effectively.
To do this, conceptualize the sales funnels carefully before creating them and then build your automated selling machine after considering all the options. These could include a free-plus-shipping offer or a high-ticket coaching funnel.
Use customer management systems
It becomes manually challenging to track transactions as your business begins to grow. Having a customer management system (CMS) helps to scale quickly. CMS is available for sales, marketing, accounting, etc., and can be cloud-based or integrated into your business systems.
Look out for new opportunities
You must know your user and customer demographics well as this knowledge will help you identify new market opportunities and consolidate on the winning ones. Distribution channels, direct competitors, foreign markets, and other potential industries are domains you must be thoroughly knowledgeable on.
Build strategic partnerships
Connecting with the right companies can make a big difference for your business. However, you must create the linkages with firms who conduct business in industries similar to yours or which complement it. Find ingenious ways of contacting them such as through referrals or conferences.
Then proceed to show the value of the potential business relationship when proposing business opportunities. Such strategic partnerships will help in reaching out to a variety of customers.
Licensing out your products and solutions
Having products that can be licensed to others in return for a share of the revenue really helps your income bottom line. This will also help to scale up and achieve market saturation.
Franchise your businesses
Franchising your businesses is another strategic way of scaling up. Although franchising costs can be high and moving to a franchising model can be challenging. Nonetheless, the multiple income streams that can be generated are well worth the time and effort.
Acquisitions
Acquiring businesses with similar or complementing business models can be a masterstroke. This can be a great way of boosting business and growing fast. Take a close look at companies within your domain and even outside it, for potentially profitable opportunities.
Expand Internationally
Take your existing offers and scale them internationally. Find out what it takes to do business in other geographic areas and adapt your products and solutions for market entry and potentially tangible turnovers and margins.
Whilst strategies can be generic, it is always necessary to adapt and deploy such strategies with geographic contexts in mind based on the location of your business.
Which other can you grow and scale a business? Let us know your thoughts