Wanting to grow your business is one thing, but being able to is something else. You need to assess your current state and know exactly what to do at what point.
Knowing when to scale is everything. As many as 70% of startups fail due to a premature scaling attempt. So doing every step right is quintessential if you want to succeed and reap the benefits of your growth.
You may be experiencing a rise in demand for your products or services, but there are also other things to think about when scaling. Here are five of the most important ones.
You Need to Rely on Data, Not Speculation
Cold, hard data is the building block of sustainable growth. In an age when everyone relies on business intelligence and data-driven marketing, you can’t be the only one to speculate. Investing in something based on a hunch could lead you to financial ruin, so why do it?
The truth lies in numbers and trends, so measure everything you can to see if you’re making progress. The most relevant data you’ll need to follow pertains to your customers and prospects.
You need to analyze how they engage with you, what makes them stay or leave, how long it takes them to convert, what they complain about, etc.
You should also pay attention to the success of your lead generation and general marketing efforts. What works and what doesn’t? How can you improve your methods?
Your data will tell you if your strategy is working and if you’re ready for the next big step.
You should also analyze the efficiency of your processes to see if you’ll be able to cater to a growing number of customers.
Expanding Your Services Could Necessitate Delegation or Outsourcing
Scaling also means you need to make sure that you have enough staff to cover all the operations without any delay. You can’t expand your services if you don’t have enough employees to work on them. Or can you?
Outsourcing is a popular option when growing a business. It is an inexpensive and efficient way to cover some parts of your process. You can use it for secondary operations, while you focus on your core tasks.
For example, if delivery is part of your business and you need more vehicles, you may consider using a fleet management company. You will benefit greatly from their resources and infrastructure and have the latest technology available to you without having to buy the new vehicles yourself.
As you can see, outsourcing can save you time and effort and also lower your expenses. As a matter of fact, 59% of businesses use it to reduce their costs. Furthermore, you’ll be able to cater to an influx of new customers without having to hire and train more people.
Automate Parts of Your Operations
There are numerous processes you can automate with artificial intelligence. You’d be surprised by how much time and energy you can save by automating manual tasks in your company.
Instead of wasting your employees on these repetitive tasks, you can delegate them to smart systems and AI chatbots, while your people focus on more important things. For example, anything involving data collection and processing can be automated.
Furthermore, you can even automate your interaction with customers to an extent. You can use AI-powered bots to answer any customers’ questions and assist them with subscribing, buying products, filling applications, or completing any other action. These bots have come a long way, and they can understand the natural language and customer intent with no problems.
Automation is the most cost-effective way of expanding your operations since you don’t have to hire more people. You can do much more with your existing team.
Nurture Your In-House Talent
Your employees are not just an essential part of your business — they are your business. The fact that companies with satisfied employees outperform those with unhappy workers by 202% supports this idea.
So if you want your business to grow, you need to invest in your workforce. If your retention rates are low, you’ll never be able to take your business to the next level. That’s because you’ll have to keep looking for new people, who will then have to go through the training process all over again and reach their full capacity in a few months.
At that rate, you won’t be able to speed up your processes, and you’ll struggle to maintain them at the same level.
On the other hand, by nurturing your existing workforce, you will not only keep them happy but also highly motivated and productive. You should work on creating a company culture in which everyone will feel inspired to strive toward the same goals.
What’s more, the best candidates for higher-up positions at your companies are your existing employees. They’re already familiar with all the processes and can train the newcomers with ease.
Make Sure You Have Necessary Funds
If done the right way, scaling up will pay off in the long term and secure you higher profits. However, you need to spend money to make money, i.e., you need to invest in your growth.
Once you make a plan for scaling your business, you need to assess the funds you’ll need in the process. You might need to hire new staff, invest in training, get new facilities, and much more. If you don’t think you can achieve that with your current finances, you need to look for outside sources.
If you want to be completely self-funded, one idea is to create a new and steady revenue stream by offering additional services on the side.
On the other hand, you can choose to seek investors, apply for long- and short-term loans, and even go for an alternative option, such as crowdfunding. Whatever you do, just don’t start scaling up before you secure the means.
Good Luck Taking Your Business to the Next Level!
As you can see, there’s much to think about when scaling your business. However, if you’re smart, meticulous, and careful about it, you can do it with great success.
