Growing a business is not an easy endeavor, growing your business is necessary to stay in the market. Growth isn’t a linear path, it is a complex journey with ups and downs, trials and errors. You must balance between creating new value and maintaining existing assets. Imagine a soccer coach simultaneously pursuing goals and defending against opponents—similarly, organizational leaders must adopt a dual approach. In this article, we will discuss best practices and best strategies to utilize to grow your business. This is by no means a strict guide for success, however, it is a set of key points that you may tweak depending on your business’s nature and goals.
Hire The Right People
A successful business always has a solid staff, hardworking and dedicated staff will drive your company’s growth. As a business owner, you will need to delegate tasks to focus on planning for your company’s trajectory, and focus on the more important work.
Fit with Company’s Culture
Hire employees who align with your company’s values, mission, and culture contribute positively to the overall work environment. Also, consider candidates who share your long-term vision for the organization.
Skills and Competence
Assess candidates’ technical skills and expertise relevant to the role, and look for communication, teamwork adaptability, and problem solving abilities.
Onboarding and Development
Set new hires up for success from day one, and invest in employee development to retain top talent.
Jobzella can be a great asset to help you recruit the best team for your business!
Focus on Established Revenue Resources
Customer Retention
Rather than trying to acquire new customers, direct your attention to the core customers you already have, suggested Bill Reilly, a Wisconsin-based auto repair entrepreneur.
Retaining existing customers is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Loyal customers tend to spend more over time. Here are some actions you can take to achieve this purpose:
- Regularly engage with your core customers through personalized emails, newsletters, or phone calls.
- Listen to their feedback and address any concerns promptly.
- Reward their loyalty with exclusive offers, discounts, or early access to new products/services.
Leverage your existing customer base to introduce additional products or services, and continuously analyze their behavior to identify unmet needs and tailor your offerings accordingly.
Market Penetration
“In the past, we would highlight our business goal to become a franchise, which didn’t resonate with banks,” Reilly said. “We learned to emphasize that there is a large market for what we do. This would pique a banker’s interest, because they care about the return on investment more than your business aspirations.”
Target existing customer segments more effectively and explore new regions while leveraging your proven offerings.
Reduce Risk
“Small businesses need to manage their growth to avert disruptions that can bring business to a grinding halt,” said Mike DeHetre, senior vice president of underwriting and insurance at Preferred Mutual. For example, “the theft of employee data, customer records, and product designs can destroy a small business, generating significant costs and eroding customer confidence and loyalty,” he said. “Not every business owner’s policy covers data breaches or other cyber losses. Small businesses should be prepared by seeking insurance products that help them recover, including those that cover the cost of remediation and lawsuits.”
It is inevitable that you will have to take on some risks while running your business, the point here is not to avoid them completely, but reduce them as much as you can. You need to rely on some predictable core source of revenue, and don’t throw all your balls in one basket. With that being said, you need to always adapt to changing market dynamics as well.
Adaptability
“By allowing yourself to adapt and change quickly, you’re able to test different approaches to business and find out what works best,” Lanng told Business News Daily. “It allows you to fail, pick yourself back up and keep going.”
Adaptability is a crucial attribute for business growth and success. In today’s dynamic business landscape, change is constant. Adaptability allows businesses to respond swiftly to market shifts, technological advancements, and evolving customer preferences. For example, when the pandemic hit, businesses that quickly adapted to remote work models thrived.
You need to transform customer’s feedback into new updates to your business approach to enhance your customer experience. For example, eCommerce platforms continuously enhance user experiences based on customer feedback.
To succeed in a globalized world where we not only compete against each other but also have to deal with the immersion of artificial intelligence in our work, adaptability is vital for any form of success. You need to keep up with new technologies and new approaches so you don’t stay behind. ChatGPT when it first came out, it was a revolutionary product that had a lot of businesses to rethink their approach about hiring and delegating some of their tasks to AI.
Customer-Centric Approach
“Compared with large companies, small businesses are nimble and often better able to see, anticipate and respond to their customers’ needs,” said Mike DeHetre, senior vice president of underwriting and insurance at Preferred Mutual. “The most successful small businesses exploit this advantage by bringing new and innovative products and services to market more quickly and developing and nurturing long-term customer relationships.”
When businesses prioritize customer needs, loyalty increases. One way to earn customer’s loyalty is through customer engagement. Customer engagement is a subtle but powerful tool that allows customers to stay informed and feel invested in the brand. Prioritizing consistent attention from buyers is key to building a loyal customer base. Use platforms like Instagram or Facebook to promote upcoming sales or contest giveaways. Using social media allows consumers to participate in the conversation through comments and shares – thus boosting the company’s exposure.
Research Your Competitors
By studying competitors, you allocate resources effectively. For example, if a competitor dominates a certain market segment, you can focus elsewhere for growth.
Studying and analyzing your competitors contributes to always staying ahead as it helps you understand their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses.
In Conclusion
There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.” — Ronald Reagan
We didn’t add innovation as one of the key aspects of growth, because all of the listed points that we discussed above require innovation, innovation is the ultimate key of business growth, you have to consistently innovate to improve revenue, boost sales, keep your customers happy, and stay ahead of competitors!
