Very rarely small businesses choose to maintain their business scale and opt for business growth instead. Expanding a business is pretty much a goal for any small business out there, but that doesn’t mean every small business goes into expansion prepared. On the contrary, business owners often take business expansion lightly, thinking they’ll figure things out during the process – a mistake that often leads to insolvency or even bankruptcy.
Business expansion comes with more (and bigger) responsibilities and if you’re not prepared to delegate them to your growing team you will pretty much forever be playing catch up.
This article will highlight some of the best ways your business can survive a business expansion until you reach the calm waters again.
Getting New Investments
A successful business expansion will require you to get more investments than what you previously needed to run a small business. If you thought you can go into a business expansion simply by starting to make a profit, think again. Operating costs are going to go up, you’ll have more staff to pay for, then there’s the marketing campaign that you need if you’re ever to expand further (more on that later), as well as investing in new products/services for attracting a larger customer base. Getting an angel investor is probably your best shot at attracting more investments, but you’ll also want to work on your brand new ideas and how they can make money in the future.
Fighting Quality Decline
What some business owners tend to forget is that it’s not all about quantity. Too often I see a business fail because they stop investing in quality control and only focus on market expansion. Failing to deliver a product that got you there in the first place isn’t only going to put a stain on your reputation, but you’ll also likely lose some of your most valuable and loyal customers. Retention comes first during an expansion, so keep that in mind before you choose to neglect your quality control. Even the largest companies out there had problems with quality decline, but they were usually already so big at that point that they could take the hit. You won’t.
Customers Come First
You’ve probably heard the phrase, but what does it mean for you exactly during the business expansion? Well, for one, it means you’ll want to do anything you can to retain as many customers as possible to stay loyal to your brand. A good customer service can boost your reputation and attract new customers to your brand, which in itself should be a reason to invest heavily in it.
It’s also a good idea to constantly analyze what your target audience is after. If you at any point fail to satisfy their demands they’ll just turn to another brand for it, and you might lose them for good. The more you know about their demands the better you’ll do, which is why you’ll want to do a lot of A/B testing for almost anything that you’re preparing.
Get a Bigger Office
The last thing you’ll want as a growing business is to have to move while you’re in a middle of a big contract. This is why it’s best to plan for this in advance, maybe even before you’re ready for expansion. Renting an office or buying a property can be quite an investment, but you can hire experts like Team Anderson Property Group to help you out. While you might be in love with your old office (or a garage, it’s not all that uncommon for startups), you have to amount for the extra staff that you’ll hire as well as leaving a good impression on both clients and investors.
Adapting Your Marketing Strategy
You probably had some success with marketing since you’re at the expansion stage, but if you are planning to really start making money and enter the rapid growth stage you’ll have to consider changing things a bit.
Adapting to the needs and demands of your potential customers is vital here, so you’ll want to do everything you can to get to them with the right message. Investing in SEO is a must, but you’ll also probably want to try your luck with PPC marketing and see how it works out for you. Also, do consider that marketing is constantly changing, today the next big thing is modifying your SEO to fit the voice search, but tomorrow it might be something else. Keep up with current marketing trends and you should be fine.
Final Thoughts
While business expansion is certainly a goal for most business owners, it goes without saying that there are certain pitfalls to it. It’s generally much safer to keep a business small then to attempt to expand, as the risk only goes up from that point on. Having a strategy in place for your business expansion is thus vital for success. If you manage to predict how most of the things will work out for your business and prepare for it, you’ll be in a way better position to become a leader in your niche.
