As your business grows, it will be essential to learn how to focus on your current clients while still expanding your business opportunities. By implementing a strategy long before you begin expanding, you can ensure that you are crafting the perfect balance between present and future success.
Fine-Tune Your Vision
As you begin ramping up your business, take a step back and fine-tune your vision. What did you define as success when you first started your business? Would you define it the same way now? Are there any immediate adjustments that you need to make to get to a place where you’ll be happy and healthy running your company? As soon as you have all of these parameters outlined, you’ll be in a good position to implement a plan to make changes happen.
Look at What’s Missing
It’s natural to hit some unexpected hurdles as you begin to expand, but many of them are easy to predict ahead of time. Will you need to hire more help in order to double your client base? Do you need to implement new technology to help automate your workload? Examine the average amount of time you spend on each task every week and see if there are solutions that might cut that wasted time down to the bone. As your business scales up, you can afford to implement new software and tools to free up your time for what matters most.
When it comes to hiring, a good approach is to set a certain profit goal. Once you pass that threshold, you know your business is ready to bring on another set of helping hands. When hiring, evaluate all the possible skills that this hire will need to service different parts of your business. For smaller companies, it’s ideal to hire someone who’s adept at many tasks rather than hiring an expert in a single field.
Explore Other Options
Almost every business starts with a single focus and grows their services over time, and it’s important to take an annual look at the market in your area as you plan ahead. In order to scale up your business, do you need to make any huge adjustments to your current plan? Take a look at how many potential clients are in your area that may benefit from your services. If the target market is too small, it may be time to expand your specialty or offer additional services.
Don’t Change What’s Working
Even as you make core changes to your business, be mindful of what brought you success in the first place. If you’re known for friendly, face-to-face interactions with your clients, don’t sacrifice that for the sake of volume. If the core of your business rests on a certain service, it would be counter productive to stop offering that service for the sake of bringing on new clients. Strike a balance between old and new and ensure your existing clients still receive the full value of your time!
While it can be stressful to drastically ramp up the scale of your business, it’s essential to stay focused on what has worked—and what needs improvement. Take an objective look at your business model and decide if any changes need to be made as you begin recruiting new clients to take your business to the next level.
Related:
The Importance of a Consistent Brand Strategy as You Grow
