Growing fast isn’t always what’s best for a company. In fact, some companies have actually failed because they expanded too rapidly. But most companies welcome growth, because it can be a great thing when the time is right. In fact, every business that wants to continue thriving should have growth goals.
Whether you want to propel your business through the startup phase quickly or are more focused on taking an already established business through the next phase of growth, using these five tactics will help you to achieve your goal. When it comes to growth, “rapid” doesn’t mean overnight, but following these suggestions will speed up the process too!
1. Expand Into Different Markets
Chances are that you already have a good grasp of who your ideal clients are and have established somewhat of a following within the market you’ve chosen. In order to grow and experience continued success, you’ll need to find potential prospects in markets that cross over.
As an example, let’s say that you’re currently offering specialized bookkeeping software to long haul trucking companies so that they’re able to manage and track their shipments more efficiently. Examine which other markets would also benefit from the product you offer. For example, why not offer your bookkeeping software to large retail stores so they can track their incoming shipments in a more efficient and practical way? Sit down and examine which other markets may benefit from the product you offer. This might require changing a few minor details, but your core product offering should remain very consistent.
2. Introduce a Newer Version of Your Product or Service
A complete overhaul of your product isn’t necessary, but something like a simple make-over can certainly help to not only keep your current customers, but also gain new ones. Constantly reassessing your offering is crucial. Find new ways that the product or service can be bettered while continuing to deliver value.
A big part of this is listening to current customers and implementing changes or enhancements they’re asking for. By doing this, you have the ability to market and offer new and improved features to new clients, while making current clients happy.
3. Look for Joint Venture Marketing Opportunities
Seek out opportunities to generate alliances with other businesses who offer their products or services to people who are in your target market. For example, if you’ve cornered the market for trendy music stores in your area, work toward partnering with companies that service comparable niches like trendy clothing stores. You’ll get the benefit of sharing the advertising costs, but the true benefit comes when their customers become aware of you and become your customers!
4. Work with Your Competitors
This might not sound productive at first glance, and it doesn’t work for every business, but becoming a partner with a company that you consider to be your biggest competition can sometimes be a valuable solution for you both. Usually this works when your competitor offers a product or service you don’t, and vise versa. Strike an agreement where you send people to them, and they send people to you for those things you can’t provide yourself. Again, it doesn’t make sense for every business, but some entrepreneurs have had great success with this concept.
5. Invest in Improvements
As your business continues to grow, examine what it will take to improve on how things are currently operating. It’s easy to become too comfortable when things are going really well, but investing in improvements will often result in increased profits. Don’t make the mistake of losing out on profit opportunities because you’re comfortable with the way things are currently going. There’s always room for improvement.
It’s a very common mistake for business owners to wait until they notice a decline in business before they look for ways to improve upon their product or service. By operating your business as if it can always be better, you’ll gain more momentum and sales will increase.
By implementing one or more of these five strategies, your company will have a chance to reach its potential and even expand that potential to beyond what you might have imagined. Bigger isn’t always better, but when it comes to business, opportunity can come from considering your growth options and running with those that make the most sense for you.
What are you doing to grow your business? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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Thanks for the tips Matthew. I’ve also found that utilizing basic SEO techniques can really help increase business via greater visibility.
Trying #1 at the moment, it takes time….
Hi Ann, Expanding into new markets can be exciting and terrifying. Just a suggestion that takes some of the risk out of it – Have you considered using a virtual office to “test the waters”? Here is a good resource website if you are researcing low cost options to experiment in a new market: http://www.virtualoffice.com. Hope this is helpful.
very helpful tips thanks
I like tip no. 5. Invest in in improvements. As a business owner for already a long time, I still believe there’s always a room for improvement.
All great suggestions. I especially like #3 & #4, as they focus on the value of strategic partnerships. I’m a huge fan of the guerilla-marketing approach and trying to tap into any possible alliances / partnerships with other companies who share a similar target market. #4 (work with your competitors) is something I just explored in an article about Steve Jobs, who shocked the tech community years ago by partnering with longtime rival, Microsoft…. which ultimately helped save the struggling Apple at the time and kick-started them back on their way to prosperity.
Lisa
Great Article. In any business growth opportunity there has to be a strong leader making these decisions. After 20+ years of working in and observing organizations of every type and size, I have noticed a theme all successful ones share. They have enthusiastic, confident, optimistic, appreciative and happy people who work together on behalf of a future they have all committed themselves to.
Like it when you said ‘rapid’ is not the same as ‘overnight’. Running a busiiness is a continuous journey of moving onward and upward; don’t wait for a decline and not even stagnation.
Great tips. Working on the competitors development will help us to grow above them and can escape from the issues they face. And I agree with the invest on the improvements – Will surely help to grow the business. Thanks