Now that you know what growth strategies are, it’s time to learn about 10 actions to help you put them into practice. Check out!
1. Understand your company’s expansion moment
To begin with, it is important to understand when your business is expanding. For example, there are situations in which the entrepreneur visualizes the potential of his company and makes decisions based on the future.
However, even if the organization has high revenues, it is necessary to consider the present before adopting more aggressive expansion strategies. Therefore, before investing in more inputs or infrastructure, for example, understand if the operation has already reached its maximum capacity.
Also, make sure there is pent-up demand. That is, more demand for the product or service than the company can offer at the moment. If the answer is yes, you can start planning for expansion. But if it is negative, it may not be time to make large investments yet.
2. Find out if your business is scalable
Scalability is the process of rapid growth, so it is important to adapt the business. A company in which the owner is the key to success for the operation to work will probably not be able to grow by opening more units, for example.
After all, there is no way for an entrepreneur to be everywhere at the same time. However, he can devise a protocol to replicate his working method and thus achieve scalability — teaching his technique to more people.
3. Assess your company’s competitive edge and entry barrier
When considering investing in expanding your business, you also need to understand what sets you apart. This factor is what makes your business stand out in the market against competitors. Furthermore, it is important for the customer to choose your service or product over another brand.
To do so, you must do a self-analysis and discover the characteristics that distinguish your organization from others. Another tip is to understand what takes your business to another level compared to the solutions available on the market.
Among the main examples are quality service, excellent service, speed and agility in delivery, meeting deadlines, etc. It may be interesting to invest and develop other differentials, if applicable.
The barrier to entry is the obstacle that prevents competition from copying your business. It must be elevated to ensure that your company‘s differentiator remains relevant.
4. Know your audience
Knowing your audience allows you to guide various actions within the company, such as marketing targeting, new product launches, and pricing. With this, it is possible to develop methods to meet the needs of consumers.
To understand your audience, it is necessary to understand their consumption habits and demands. This consideration can be made through analysis of surveys carried out directly with customers, based on data about the company’s sales and other market information.
5. Face the competition
There are entrepreneurs who limit the growth of their business for fear of not being able to overcome the competition. However, if you want your company to grow, you must face competitors and show your value in the market.
In addition to the competitive differential, it is important to seek innovations and add value to your business. And for that, you can’t lose sight of your competitors. Then look at what the competition’s strengths and weaknesses are.
Based on this information, you can work on your competitive advantage and position yourself in the segment in which you operate. Still, it is possible to learn from the competition and adapt what worked with it to your business. The name of this practice is benchmarking.
Remember that this conduct is not the same as copying or plagiarizing competitors. It is just an inspiration for the success of other players for your company, enriching your strategy.
6. Look for allies and business partners
In the business market, it is very common for companies to form commercial alliances in order to boost business. A strong and well-executed partnership is able to leverage sales and expand the company.
This is because these allies leverage the strength of the brand, expanding the field of action and winning over new customers. In this sense, you can look for partnerships with investors, suppliers, brand promoters, or even salespeople who work on a commission basis.
7. Value your company’s human capital
The human capital of a company is the value added by employees through their skills, competencies, technical knowledge, and other qualities. In an expansion project, it is even more valuable — after all, companies do not grow alone.
It is necessary to count on people engaged in the same purpose, motivating and valuing them. For this, mechanisms must be found that reinforce their importance in the organization. This is possible by promoting performance bonus campaigns, for example.
Furthermore, it is important to practice transparent actions, have efficient communication, and recognize achievements. An organizational culture structured in the sense of valuing employees is a strategy that can be used.
In this way, the team will understand that each member’s effort contributes to the company’s growth — and that this is also advantageous for the company.
8. Keep the company’s financial health up to date
The financial health of a company is related to the control that the organization has over its capital. This is what makes it possible to bear costs, make profits and plan investments. Therefore, the company that wants to grow needs to have good financial health.
Without this care, growth can generate the accumulation of debts, causing the business to have to dispose of assets to pay them off or to go into debt. In more serious cases, financial problems can lead to the closure of activities.
Therefore, in addition to having good control of finances, it is essential to identify bottlenecks, possible waste, and failures in the processes. Thus, it is possible to understand what to improve to balance cash flow, control working capital, and keep the company’s financial life healthy.
9. Be aware of opportunities
Opportunities can arise at any time. However, to be able to identify them, it is necessary to always be attentive, observing the scenario to evaluate the advantages that each occasion can offer.
When realizing an opportunity, the company must also be prepared with strategies to develop:
- competitive actions;
- products or services that meet new consumer needs;
- innovative processes.
Remember that when opportunities are not identified, there is a risk of seeing them only when the competitor knows how to take advantage of them and generate profit from them. In such cases, your company may lose market share.
10. Look for customer satisfaction
There are companies that seek growth in increasing their revenue through strategies to lower costs and increase sales volume. However, many of them do not consider maintaining the quality of the product or service.
Consequently, customer satisfaction can be negatively impacted. When this happens, the relationship of trust between company and consumer is broken, making your customer look for the competition.
In these situations, the company may even win new customers attracted by the price, but it cannot retain them. Considering that the customer acquisition cost (CAC) is higher than the retention effort, part of the profitability can be transformed into new expenses.
So no matter what your expansion strategies are, never stop looking for customer satisfaction — in order to keep them loyal to your brand.
