Taking Your Business From Small to Medium

Many business owners often dream of the day their companies will go grow but what they often forget is that great jump from small to medium-sized. The heavy demands of modern business leave us with little time for the strategic planning required to make the move up. Even if you do have a plan, there is no guarantee it will come to fruition. So, what are some ways you can significantly expand your business right now? 

1. There Is No “One Solution” To Growth

Business is complex and making it to the top is not necessarily always a result of a great business strategy or planning. Sometimes it’s just hard work with a little bit of luck. Those looking to move their business up a gear would do well to remember there is no one solution for any business. 

All businesses are different and require business strategies that are best suited to them. So, get specific. Start to tailor your business plan to your specific needs, goals and overall vision. You can continue to imitate the practices of other successful businesses but you don’t need to follow their exact steps. Adapt their strategy and make it your own. 

2. Productivity & Efficiency Are Key

Sometimes it can feel like you’re right on the cusp of taking your business to the next level but you just can’t quite seem to make the leap. One of the biggest reasons for stagnation in a business is the inability to step up and scale up. 

Thankfully, the solution is quite simple. If you need more robots to build your parts, buy them; and if you need more muscle, hire more people. 

Sometimes what holds our business back is the fear of taking these big steps. It’s easier said than done but until you start to take these next steps you will always be a small company just slightly behind the rest of the competition. 

3. Have A Vision 

Small companies that start to see some success get all excited and sometimes a little bit carried away. They continue to plug away doing what they think is needed to get the next order in but fail to establish a path. Where is your company going? What do you want to achieve? Where do you want to be in 3, 5 and 10 years’ time? 

These questions may sound cliche to some but they are vital to a business that wants to grow. If you don’t know where you are going, then you have no idea where you will end up. Establish your vision, set your goals and start knocking them off one by one. Before you know it, you will have arrived at your vision just as you planned to.

4. Know Your Customers

Don’t just have an idea about who they are and what they enjoy. We mean fully understanding your customers from demographics, behaviour to the unique ways they consume. Successful businesses know exactly who their customers are; that’s why they are so good at selling their products and services. Once you know what you are dealing with, designing marketing campaigns and products that you know they will love is easy. 

Simply solving a problem for your audience is not enough. Knowing who they are is essential. Start to build customer profiles combining customer records with external data sources so that you can better understand the demographics and lifestyle habits that make your customers unique. 

5. Focus On Customer Service

Now that you understand your customers like the back of your hand, you can focus on giving them the best customer service possible. If you want your company to grow, retaining valuable clients is everything. Repeat clients and customers will help your company move forward. You can’t grow on uncertainty. 

Make sure you ask your customers for feedback, evaluate it, listen to it, respond to it, take action on it and deliver for them. Communication is everything in modern day business. People want to connect with a business, feel loved and be made to feel special. When it comes to communication, be quick to respond, don’t leave customers hanging and introduce new ways in which they can contact you more easily. For example, the Facebook messenger app is a great way for customers to speak with your company directly and get the type of response they want when they need it.   

6. Expand your physical premises

The majority of small businesses operate online but having a physical site, be that an office or warehouse, is a great way to speed up the expansion of your business. For example, a brick-and-mortar storefront will allow you to establish yourself within the local community or allow customers to see products in person before making a purchase. Additionally, a warehouse will allow you to increase the speed at which products are created while also ensuring that you can keep up with increasing customer demands. For example, you can have a backlog of products created to send out right away when an order is placed. 

However, finding the right location for your business can be difficult, as there are a lot of different factors to consider, from pricing to location. In this case, one of the recommended things you can do is to work with a construction company that can assist you on a range of projects. This is particularly useful if you are thinking of warehouse construction. For example, they may be able to assist you with complicated developments such as concrete tilt panel construction or car park construction, if you’re looking to explore that space.