How To Grow Your Small Business

Establishing a business is one thing, but running one that continues to grow is another. Most business owners do not make growth plans for their businesses in the long run, as they tend to get caught up in the ‘now’.

It is not just about envisioning a long term future for your business. Most small business owners see, in their mind, their business expanding in a couple of years or more but only about 10% actually create plans or strategies towards growing them. Without a plan, you are vulnerable to the activities of your competitors within the same market.

In setting a proper long term growth strategy, here are some important points to consider:

#1. Establish what sets you apart

Outline what draws your customers to you. What is that special service you provide that makes your customers single out your product? When you identify this, capitalize on it and look for ways to improve on it.

#2. Find out who your customers are

Every business is established to serve and satisfy a particular purpose. There are certain kinds of customers for a certain kinds of products. Identify your ideal customers.  If the customers you are serving are not the ideal ones (the ones who will help your business grow), revert to your ideal customers as you adjust your business approach.

#3. Maximize your output

Although your business might be small, there is still a whole lot of things to do. Some business owners spend so much time on trivial tasks, ignoring the major ones that could ensure success for the business. Make a checklist at the start of each day or week, outlining the important things you need to do so that you don’t waste your time on unprofitable activities.

#4. Diversify

Niche marketing is often the smartest way to become established in an industry, but when you find that your business growth has hit a plateau, a smart strategy to use is expanding your product lines to target other customer segments.

#5. Acquisition

Sometimes there will be a limit to how much you can expand because of the presence of other competitors or of one particularly close rival. In acquisition, a company purchases another company so as to expand its operations. A small company may use this type of strategy to expand its product lines and enter new markets.

An acquisition growth strategy may be risky, but not as risky as a diversification strategy. This is because the products and market are already established and all you need to worry about is having the right financial and operational framework to sustain your expanded operations.