31st Mar 2010

From Business Link (1)

Business News Online: March 2010 10 ways to grow your business

Whether you are holding a steady course or aspiring to grow in the year ahead, it's essential to think about the challenges and opportunities that you may encounter along the way. If you have a strong business proposition, you may be wondering how to take the next step. Here are some options with tips that have been supplied by real Business Link customers.

1. Review your business plan

This should be a continuous process with the plan being regularly updated and monitored. Sufficient for most businesses is an annual plan broken down into four quarterly operating plans with monthly targets and reviews.

Tip – Ask directors to identify their personal aspirations so that you can plan growth around your core team. Ciaran

2. Refresh your offer

Is it still relevant? Be aware of your customers' needs and your competitors' moves. You will probably find it useful to do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. This will show you how you are doing in relation to the market in general and specifically your closest competitors.

Tip – Recognise threats, but don't get too hung up on them – they could be strengths or opportunities as well. Richard

3. Build new relationships

Look to form new connections and alliances – never miss an opportunity to network with others. You can build relationships over time both face to face and online. Networking is all about offering help and mutual support.

Tip – Make networking part of your business plan and allocate time to it. Katy

4. Build your sustainability

Don't let up on efficiency and continue to find ways to cut costs and review suppliers, but ensure you have the resources and systems in place to cope with your existing business if you plan to target expansion.

Tip – Balance cost savings against product quality and service levels. Ros

5. Diversify

The possibilities are endless of course, but here are just a few ideas for diversification.

• Sell complementary products or services.
• Teach others.
• Import supplies or export your products.
• Become a paid speaker or columnist.

Diversifying is an excellent growth strategy, as it allows you to have multiple streams of income that can often fill seasonal voids and, of course, increase sales and profit margins.

Tip – Don't ignore your existing client base when marketing your new service or product. If you have staff, make sure they are committed and focused with a good internal launch – use an event to inaugurate your plan. Greg

6. Target other markets

Even if your current market is serving you well, you can be sure there are others with potential.

Use a mix of competitive analysis, customer consultation and instinct to decide your focus. The more information you have, the better your decision-making will be.

Tip – Visit the websites of top analysts and leading international accountancy firms. You may not be able to afford their research fees, but they publish plenty of reports in the public domain to meet the needs of many smaller businesses. Richard

7. Win a government contract

A great way for a small business to grow is to have a local, regional or national government department as a customer. The UK government's total procurement budget stands at £2.2 billion per annum. Find out more about public sector contract opportunities in the South East.

Tip – A fair amount of patience is required in working to secure most government contracts. Tenders will usually require a significant amount of groundwork and research. If you're not prepared to take the time to fully comply with pre-qualification terms and conditions, you'll only be wasting your time. Juliette 

8. Build the skills of your people

If you wish to improve competitiveness in your sector, and build your capacity to grow, then investing in the skills and competencies of your existing staff is a proven way to do it. By widening and deepening their skills your staff will automatically see ways to improve business performance. We can help you identify the skills gaps holding you back - contact us now.

9. Form an alliance

Aligning with other businesses that already have lists of prospective customers can be a fast way to success.

Examples of strategic alliances include finding suppliers or customers that are willing to help you distribute your sales literature; teaming up with another service company to share expertise; or a complementary business partner willing to drive traffic in a reciprocal agreement.

Strategic alliances can be formed through friendships, networking and other personal connections or you can seek out your ideal partner through research.

Tip – Take the initiative to approach the other person and offer to help them first. Strategic alliances work much better when businesses are of equal size and power. Stuart

10. Expand through the internet

If your business, no matter how small, has run successfully without advertising on the internet – then a huge growth opportunity is awaiting it.

Whether you decide to set up a shop through an e-marketplace, online auction site or set up your own website you need to take all aspects of online marketing seriously.

If you address the following then you have covered the key requirements, but there is a lot of detail to learn:

• accessibility (how easy the site is to use by everyone) and;
• searchability (how easy the site is found through searching the internet)

Tip – Make sure the words on the website talk about what your customer wants, not just about you, and you will improve impact and search performance. Aim to have everything accessible from the home page and not too much text.

If you already have a website then perhaps now is the time to boost it with Pay Per Click advertising and other e-marketing. Find out more with our e-commerce guides.

Expert input

You may find that to undertake any growth strategy, you need external skills to help you with the changes you have to make. In this case you might consider:

• employing skilled consultants in areas where you cannot afford to develop in-house skills
• appointing an experienced non-executive director who can provide a regular, impartial assessment of what you are doing
• using a management consultant to help you identify how you can strengthen or change your management structure to grow the business

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