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Smart Strategies to Jumpstart a Growth Cycle
Business growth does not happen all at once. Creating a successful enterprise is a series of steps (and steps backwards) that you take to get yourself in a position to expand. Today, we take a look at a few smart strategies that can help you position yourself for a growth cycle that allows you to sustain your gains.
Focus on your current staff.
Give your current staff the fundamentals they need to handle growth. Structured Strategies
offers corporate training in the Pittsburgh area that can help you and your employees with
coping, customer service, communication, and management skills. Your small business teams will walk away from training with the confidence and knowledge to walk with you into the future.
Dive into data with process mining.
You may not know it, but you already have important data related to workflow optimization, risk management, and unrealized revenue streams — you just need to know how to harness it. Process mining is a strategy that allows you to break this data down into knowledge you can use to re-strategize. The best tools for process mining are those that are easy to use by key stakeholders and allow you to see months into the future so that you can create a timeline for the changes you plan to implement.
Increase brand awareness with simple social media marketing strategies.
The business world runs on social media. The audio, video, and text content that you output to your followers helps them know you better and get better acquainted with your products and services. If you’re not already updating your social media platforms at least a few times each week, you can create personalized banners for any platform using online tools that let you change fonts, animations, and other important elements. Banners are easily customizable across all social media, including the Facebook suite, YouTube, and Twitter.
Test the waters with new products/services.
You do not have to go off into a whole new type of business to offer more value for your
customers. Look for products that complement each other, which the open source, peer-
reviewed site Springer explains is a fundamental factor in driving sales. An example here is if your business currently offers custom sports team apparel. In this case, your target
demographic may have the need for things like towels, water bottles, and trophies. If you’re not sure what your customers might like, ask. There’s nothing wrong with putting out a survey or simply opening up a discussion every now and then with people that walk into your business. And, remember, if your new products are not a hit, that’s not a failure but a lesson learned and an opportunity to pivot in a new direction.
Reduce your risks.
Part of building a bigger business is to reduce or eliminate risk in some areas that might make that business vulnerable to failure. You can reduce risk in many ways. Two examples are to insist that your employees sign nondisclosure and noncompete agreements and to select vendors that are reliable, sustainable, and can grow with you, according to Purchasing & Procurement Center, a Chicago-based procurement training organization.
Reinvest in the business.
Fifth Third Bank explains that most business owners choose to invest between 20% and 30% of profits back into their businesses. This is not a hard and fast number, however, and you should invest what you can afford to invest without sacrificing your personal finances. What’s important is that you do set aside some funds specifically for growth. This could be to add new products or services, hire new staff, or upgrade your current equipment. Remember, growth will not be sustainable unless your capabilities grow with your aspirations.
Contact Structured Strategies today at 412.557.2966 for your free consultation.
Guest Writer: Derek Goodman
Image via Pixels
