Advice for a growing business
Here are some recommendations and advice for a growing business. The ideas are based on the experience of The Oakwood Partnership in working with our clients over many years and helping them to grow and prosper.
VISION AND GOALS
Start with creating a vision of your future business. What will it look like in five years’ time? Having a clear vision for your enterprise will make it easier for you to communicate your ideas and plans to your team, advisors and investors.
Set clear, well defined goals for the different parts of your business. Set milestones and metrics that you can use to keep your business on track with regards to its growth plans.
What inspired you to start your business? What was the purpose behind it all? What problems did you want to solve?
Write a concise vision statement that captures the essence of your business. Align your business strategies, objectives and action plans to support your vision. Check on your progress against your vision statement, as your business grows.
STRATEGY FOR BUSINESS GROWTH
Developing a growth strategy is pivotal for the prosperity of your business. Identify your key competitors and target markets, establish clear objectives and have a roadmap to accomplish them. Continuously assess and modify your strategy as your business changes.
BUSINESS GROWTH PLAN
A carefully thought through business growth plan acts as a guide for the future success of your company. It should include your mission, vision, target markets, products or services, competitors, marketing strategies, HR and financial projections. Regularly review and update your plan in order to align it with your evolving business goals.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Gaining an understanding of your competitors is crucial and analysing them is an important part of the strategic process. Establish what your competitors say about their offering, how they say they can help and what value they bring.
You should identify the direct and indirect competitors that you are facing. Direct competitors offer similar products or services to the ones that you are marketing, whilst indirect competitors address the same customer needs but in a different way.
Take a close look at the products and services that are being sold by your competitors. Scrutinise their features, benefits, pricing, promotional tactics and geographical availability.
Consider your competitors’ market share. Think about whether they are market leaders, innovators, followers or niche players.
What are your competitors’ target markets? What type of customers are they trying to attract? Are there any gaps that they are not addressing?
What are your competitors’ marketing and sales strategies? How do they attract new customers? What is their core message?
As far as you can, study your competitors’ pricing strategies. Consider their prices in relation to yours: how do they stack up and what should your pricing strategy be?
Find customer reviews and feedback for their products or services. This provides insights into customer satisfaction and challenges.
Use the information that you now have to benchmark your business against your competitors. How is your enterprise positioned in relation to your competitors and how can you use this information at a strategic level to improve your customer acquisition process?
UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMERS
Customers are central to your business’s success. Understanding your customers is vital for tailoring your products, services, propositions, key messages and marketing initiatives to meet and exceed their needs.
Grouping customers into market segments based on similar needs, will make your marketing more effective. Understanding what customers want will mean that you can create products and services that address these needs.
Create profiles of your ideal customers. If you can describe them in detail, this will help you to get better sales and marketing results.
Get feedback from your customers through surveys, reviews and customer support conversations. This information will provide invaluable insights.
Calculate the potential long-term value of a customer. This will enable you to focus on customer retention and understand the cost of customer acquisition.
Understanding your customers can help you to improve customer satisfaction, increase turnover and long term profitability.
MARKETING STRATEGY
A well-defined marketing strategy is essential for reaching your customers and generating growth. Determine your marketing objectives, select your market areas, write compelling messages and select appropriate communication channels.
Your promotional mix comprises the tools and techniques that you will use to reach customers and persuade them to consider and buy your products and services. All too often, businesses do not pay sufficient attention to the strategic implications of the promotional mix.
EFFECTIVE SALES TECHNIQUES
Learning and using effective selling techniques is vital for growing a business. Train your sales team to understand customer needs, build relationships and use professional selling approaches. Provide sales training and equip your team with the right resources.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Having financial control is a central item of advice for a growing business. It is essential for sustainable growth, over the years ahead. Develop a robust financial management system, track key financial metrics and review the numbers regularly. Have a budget, manage cash flow and seek professional advice, particularly during periods of rapid growth and when you are looking to drive profit improvement.
HUMAN RESOURCES AND TRAINING PLAN
Investing in your human resources is vital for business growth. Develop a professional HR and training plan to attract and retain the best talent. Provide training and development opportunities, foster a positive work culture and align employee goals with your business objectives.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES
Establishing efficient systems and processes is vital for business scalability and productivity. Streamline operations, automate repetitive tasks and implement tools, techniques and technology to improve efficiency on a continual basis. Monitor performance and fine-tune your systems in order to adapt to an ever changing business landscape.
FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITY TO DELIVER
Growing a business can be extremely challenging. You can run out of time, resources and cash. By having experienced advisors who work with you and who can see the big picture, you are more likely to succeed over the long term.
FIND A MENTOR
Successful businesses have mentors and advisors. The business owner or board of directors can turn to them for feedback, advice and support. There is no need to go it alone. Many entrepreneurs who do this end up with a business failure on their hands. Instead, it is a better strategy to find advisors who have already ‘been there and done that’. They can help you, based on real-world experience of growing a business.
THE OAKWOOD PARTNERSHIP IS HERE TO HELP
We hope that you have found our advice for a growing business to be helpful. Oakwood has considerable experience of working with growing businesses. We understand the pressure that a founder goes through. We look forward to engaging with you at some point on your business journey. Let’s talk! 01789 867686
See also:
How to become investment ready
Advice for growing a business in Birmingham