Growing your business doesn’t have to mean massive injections of cash. We take a look at three ways you can fast track your growth without adding money.
Quick takeaways if you’re in a hurry
- Creating clear plans for activity and following them will ensure you focus your resources on the areas of your business that will drive results, and don’t spend money where it’s not going to add value
- Try introducing automation and systems to allow you to do more with less resource. Avoid falling into the trap of recruiting just because you’ve got lots of work on: working smarter could be a more cost-effective solution
- Having a close and effective relationship with your customers can create a wow factor that drives word of mouth and encourages recommendation of your business. Take the opportunity to make every interaction with your customers count.
Read on: 3 ways to create a mean lean business machine
(estimated reading time: 5 minutes)
If you’re small and you want to get big, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that growing your company requires massive investment. We not only have some great products to help you on the way to your business goals, we also have a few tips to share too. Here are three ways of working that can help fast track your growth.
Plan to be lean
Big growth doesn’t always demand big budgets, but proceeding without a well thought out plan is certainly one way to spend more than you need to. Make sure you plan out what you want to achieve with your business based on a lean budget.
A simple plan should outline what you need to do to achieve the financial targets you’ve set for your business. You can choose a timeline that suits you. Mapping out and costing the actions will ensure you’re realistic about your budget, and you stick to it as you proceed.
Focus your resources on making it happen. If you can create clear objectives you can focus the energy of your business into growth. Constantly question each action and reaction to make sure that all aspects of your business support this growth activity. Remember that you need to maximise both your time and the money invested to make the most of your returns.
What am I going to achieve today?
Once you have created a clear plan and objectives, don’t just rely upon recruitment to complete your to do list. Stay lean and make the most of your time and resources by looking for ways to automate. There are a wealth of software packages and systems available that can make your time much more efficient.
Small business can be a breeding ground for chaos, but it’s also incredibly nimble and therefore a hotbed of innovation and automation. Put your innovative thinking into action and dissect your business process-by-process.
By finding opportunities for automation you’ll free up your most valuable asset – your time – which can be much better spent drumming up quality new business.
Keep your customers close
For every business big or small, the customer is central to success and growth. Small businesses have a unique opportunity to add the authentic, personal touch by following up with customers and exceeding their expectations. Dealing directly with customers can offer a real point of difference and a valuable tool for gathering feedback on your product or service.
Use every interaction as an opportunity to create the WOW factor and your word-of-mouth marketing will take off. During a busy day of ticking boxes, it can feel like a ‘nice to do’; but in fact it is one of the simplest ways you can fast track growth without having to invest significant capital.
We believe in business staying lean and unearthing all opportunities to grow without adding unnecessary debt to the bottom line. Some simple in-the-business approaches (like those mentioned above) can be highly successful for small business.
Of course there are times when an injection of capital is needed, and at those times, we can help. But importantly, we help with business finance solutions that support healthy margins and long term growth.
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