How to Get Growth Quickly

Let’s face it, growing a business is a process and a journey; and it’s hard. Getting customers’ attention in this digital day and age is tough. There are no short cuts to ensure that your business is set up for growth and to ensure it has a future, but here are 12 things that you need to be doing today to ensure that you drive success in your business.

1. Identify Your “Why”
   With the countless companies engaging with potential customers in every industry, getting a cut through message can be hard. One key element is understanding the why of your business – this is your Purpose that will be the key differentiator to drive a competitive edge and guide your future growth? Customers the world over are looking for brands and businesses that have a greater purpose than just “making money” – they want to feel an emotional connection to your business. You will need to get to the heart of why your business exists and it is helpful here to truly understand the industry, customers’ needs, what the competitor is doing and how they are faring. Traditional SWOT analyses will you here as well. Once you have defined your differentiation you are well set to create relationships with your customers.

   2. Hire the Right Team
   This feels obvious, but for a small business that is entering an extended growth phase, it is even more critical than for established businesses. These are the people who will be working in your business while you work on your business.
   The purpose that you have defined for your organisation will be key here is ensuring that the team knows why they are doing the work they are doing and feel connected to you and the business. They need to be able to embrace the purpose to support your growth. Ensuring you have the right mix of skills, expertise and attitude is critical.

   3. Know Your Numbers
   This also feels intuitive, but as a business owner of a growth entity, you must ensure that you know where your established revenue streams are and have plans against these because these will support your growth. You will then know where to spend your time and money to drive maximum impact. You will also know how much you can spend on innovation and future projects without jeopardising your mainstream business.

   4. Reduce Risk, Improve Efficiency and Productivity
   This is something that big companies do very well, and smaller businesses would do well to drive this focus into their structures. This does not mean that top line growth is not required, it very much is, but you need a ruthless focus on managing risk and costs out of the businesses to maximise your growth.

   5. Focus on Customer Experience & Boost Your Customer Experience
   In the competitive business landscape, getting your messages across to your potential customers is crucial. To do this effectively you need to know exactly who your customers are, where they are, what they want, how they buy, how they make their choices, what their pain points are and what benefits they want. You will want to use a customer management system as you grow and your business becomes more complex. Creating customer loyalty programmes is also a great idea to keep customers coming back to you. And lastly, you can then create your email lists that will enable you to talk to and engage with your customers directly.

   6. Ensure That You Have a Sales Funnel
   A solid sales funnel is another crucial aspect. You need to decide how you will do this to drive a continual flow of customers into your business and this will create more predictability in your business. Without a sales funnel you will have serious lags in your revenue stream that could place your business in very real jeopardy of failing.

   7. Invest in Yourself
   While you are doing all this work on your business and your team, you shouldn’t forget about investing in yourself. You need to be the leader that your business and you teams need, so you need to spend time on you as well as on the business. Think about coaching, mentoring and training, but also think about how you market yourself – what does your LinkedIn profile say about you? Is it aligned to your business? Are their live or remote networking events you should be attending? Are you managing your own personal network? You, as the business owner, create the tone of your business so make sure it’s a positive one.

   8. Maximise Social Media
   Everyone is talking about social media and how to get ahead in this digital world; every site you visit will have something on “how to be the best at social media” and they are all correct. COVID exponentially accelerated digital transformation globally and has changed how all customers engage with businesses and brands. While the tenants of traditional marketing remain true, the application to the digital and social media realms is equally important. Find the right channels to best talk to your customers – and talk to them; start conversations human to human; drive emotional connections, don’t just sell your products. Find topics that are related to your business, market or industry that are interesting to your customers and share like a friend. Social media management can be all encompassing and exhausting so carefully choose how, where, when and how often you will engage with your potential customers.

   9. Portfolio Diversification
   Here you will ensure that your portfolio is sufficiently diversified to manage future risk by reviewing complementary products and services that answer your customers’ pain points or provide additional benefits.

   10. Be Adaptable and Always Think Ahead
   Working for the now is important and this is what your team should be doing while they work in your business. But we all know how fast things can change so you will need to have an eye on local and global trends that may come your way. You need to have a plan for identifying these new opportunities in the short and long term and ensure that your business is adaptable and thinking ahead of how to get the most out of these opportunities.

   11. Get that loan
   Starting and expanding your business may take funding that you do not have in the moment. However, with a solid, well-constructed plan you can access various sources of funding that will support the growth of your business. Don’t let a lack of funding stand in the way of your future.

   12. Create Passive Revenue Streams
   Passive revenue streams like webinars and paid content on your website are great ways to support you business growth. They will require an initial set up in terms of time but these passive streams can then go on to bring a baseline of support to your growing business without you having to do a thing – although you will need to review these to make sure they are still relevant and effective.

   13. Leverage Global Platforms
   There are a myriad of global platforms that can support your business growth – if you can imagine it, there is likely a global platform that you can use to grow your business, think Amazon and Upwork.

   14. Corporate Social Responsibility
   This is something that bigger companies have traditionally done well, and smaller companies can do equally well. Link your CSR programmes, campaigns or drives to your company purpose for maximum impact and then talk about what you are doing – probably using your social media channels. Not only will you be doing good for the communities that you choose to support, but you will be driving home an emotional connection for current and potential customers. It doesn’t have to be a huge initiative, but it can drive positive intent with customers and employees that will help your business in the long term. But we careful to not make this a once-off things, make sure it is something you really want to and can do.

   For bigger businesses, there are also some more traditional growth strategies that can be applied to support accelerated growth.

   1. Strategic Partnerships
   Identify and approach companies with complimentary services to open new customers for your business.

   2. Leverage Global Platforms
   There are a myriad of global platforms that can support your business growth – if you can imagine it, there is likely a global platform that you can use to grow your business, think Amazon and Upwork.

   3. Licencing Your Business
   This allows you to grow your brand using the footprint of larger companies with a licensing fee that comes to you or a profit share.

   4. Franchising Your Business
   While Franchising is expensive and requires marketing knowledge this is also a way to drive rapid growth.

   5. Acquisitions
   While expensive, acquisitions are likely the fastest route to expansion if you have the resources and capital for fund it. Look for businesses in adjacent and complimentary fields that you can acquire.

   6. International Expansion
   Although this another costly option, if you have a business or an offer that is viable for scaling in global markets the potential for profits could be significant.

   For your business you will need to decide how you plan to grow and how you will support that growth. Your path ahead will likely not be smooth, but as a business owner, you need to ensure that you are charting your path to future growth. Whatever your path to growth, here’s to making it a success.