Scaling Your Business: Practical Steps for Expansion and Success

Eventually, the time comes to grow a business, but doing so can feel daunting and overwhelming. There is a lot that goes into scaling a business, but we have practical steps to help you on your way to expansion and success.

The Benefits of Scaling Your Business

Regardless of the industry that you operate in, there are a number of benefits that come with scaling your business, such as:

Cost Effective – As you scale your business, you are likely to find the average cost per unit decreases. As your production ramps up, your operational volumes will increase, but the individual cost will decrease. This leads to lower production costs and higher profit margins.

Increased Revenue – One of the main benefits of scaling a business is the increased chances of boosting revenue. By reaching new markets or expanding your existing ones, it’s possible to access additional sources of income, such as new customers and demographics.

Improved Efficiency – When a business is scaled, its various processes are streamlined, which boosts efficiency. It’s the ideal time to adopt more efficient technology and improve workflows.

Employee Retention – A growing business usually needs to hire more staff to keep up with the increased workload. This is the perfect time to attract talented professionals, especially those who are looking for career progression. Plus, a growing business is likely to retain its existing employees, as growth often leads to more professional opportunities.

Expand Into New Markets – When you scale your business, you have the ability to target new markets, both geographically and in regards to customer demographics. By reaching new markets, your business becomes less dependent on a single market and has multiple avenues for growth.

Boosted Brand Recognition – Scaling a business can lead to increased brand recognition, as it’s likely that a growing brand will be at the forefront of the industry. It’s also likely that customers will trust the brand, as they can see for themselves the growth that’s taking place.

Mitigate Risks – Expanding your business into different markets can help to mitigate risks, especially where economic crashes or changes in consumer behaviour are concerned. A diversified business tends to be more resilient, as there are multiple streams of revenue to rely on.

Important Steps When You Are Scaling Your Business

Assess Your System – Before you commit to scaling your business, take a moment to assess your current system. A system covers everything from invoicing and marketing, to day to day business operations, ensuring all aspects of the business are organised. It’s important that your system is able to keep up with the demands of a growing business. Once you have assessed your systems and predicted your growth, you can plan ahead. You don’t want to kickstart your scaling efforts, only to find that your business’ system can’t keep up.

Set SMART Goals – When you are scaling your business, it’s important to have measurable and definitive goals. Goals should be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound – and within reach. Avoid any goals that are too vague or hard to gauge, and focus on goals that you can realistically achieve. Once you have decided on your goals, give yourself a deadline to achieve them. Not only does this help you to stay on track, but it enables you to measure your success along the way.

Increase Your Team – Scaling a business usually means taking on more tasks and boosting your output, and it’s unlikely that your existing team will be able to keep up with the additional workload. It’s important to hire new people if you need to, to avoid overworking your employees and hindering productivity. Focus on hiring the top talent in the industry, including those with strong leadership skills, as this will help you to drive your business to success.

Support Your Team – As well as hiring new people, take the time to support your existing team. When a business grows, so does the workload and employees need to feel supported during this transition. Create a workplace that employees enjoy being in, and a company culture that makes them want to excel in their role. Positive feedback and rewards will make them feel appreciated, which leads to improved employee engagement and satisfaction.

Focus on Customer Service – Customer service is hugely important to a business, and yours shouldn’t dip simply because you are scaling your business. Referral programs and promotions will encourage customers to continue to use your business, even if you are growing and scaling your operations. From beginning to end, a customer’s experience of your business should be flawless. When a business provides excellent customer service, customers are likely to return, which boosts growth even further.

Optimise Your Conversion Rates – One of the key factors of whether scaling is successful is your conversion rate. This is the percentage of your website visitors who acted on your website, whether that means clicking on a specific webpage or making a purchase. The majority of businesses have multiple conversion goals, and optimising yours can make successful scaling a lot more likely. When you optimise your conversion rates, you increase your revenue, get more leads and lower your customer acquisition cost. This helps your business to grow.

At Profici, we know how important it is to scale and expand your business, but we also know how complicated that can be. This is why we are on hand to help with a variety of digital marketing and business consultancy services. Get in touch to find out more.