Rapid business growth and becoming an overnight corporate success sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? However, you and I know that it’s not as easy as they make it look on Dragons’ Den. Instead, let’s focus on the more realistic side of business ownership. Let’s talk about growing your business sustainably – one where you maximise the rewards and minimise the risks.

In this article, Burton Beavan will explain the best approaches to take when you are looking to grow your business, as well as what to avoid.

Grow your business – go back to basics

There are several fundamental parts of your business that you need to get a good grasp of in order to achieve sustainable growth. These areas won’t come as a surprise to you that these areas aren’t new and innovative – they’re actually rather simple if somewhat difficult to fit into a daily or weekly routine. But it’s doing these basics well that will set your business in a good standing in order to grow at a manageable pace.

Here are three basic ideas that you can use to propel your business forward:

Supply chain management

It’s very difficult to deliver a consistently high-quality service to your customers if you aren’t receiving the same from your suppliers. No matter the size or complexity of your supply chain, you need to make sure that it is both reliable and efficient. The best way to get the service you want is to call your account manager and tell him/her the service you need from them to operate at your best.

Customer needs

No business can succeed without customers but you would be surprised at just how many businesses decide not to listen to the feedback that they receive. Understanding your customers’ needs is a key part of keeping your business delivering the products and services customers want in the way they want it. If you are selling x and your customers want, you’ll find it difficult to increase sales.

Focus on delivery value for money to existing clients

It is easier to keep a customer than it is to find a new one. And the best way to do this is by delivering good value for money and taking time to get to know your client. This is applicable to any business transaction. What stops people buying from your company in the first place isn’t necessarily anything about you and what you do. Most likely, they’ve never heard of you before and it takes being seen a few times by a client for them to gain the necessary confidence to make a purchase. Always, always tap up your existing clientele for your new business as they’ll pay for your hunt for newer ones.

Grow your business – your staff are your greatest asset

Your staff can alleviate pressure, they can train them to take over the specialist roles you’re currently responsible for, and they can keep your business open and trading when you want to take some time off. But that’s not all. Here are three ways that keeping your staff happy can lead to sustainable business growth:

Higher productivity

Your staff work harder when they are happy. This might sound obvious but when you need to boost productivity, many business owners become tempted just to increase the pressure on their staff. While this might result in a short-term productivity boost, it might lead to more of your staff taking sick days or it might even lead to them leaving the business altogether

Lower staff turnover

If your staff are happy, then they’re far less inclined to leave your business. The longer you can retain staff for, the more specialised they can become as you train and nurture them. The more involved and responsible they feel, that’s the real reward – even more so than a decent pay rise.

Better quality customer service

You can ask anyone in retail just how difficult it is to put on a smile in front of a customer when they are miserable at work. Or more specifically, when work makes them miserable. This can very easily become a wider and critical business issue because customer service is so valued highly by customers. In fact, customer service is, for many, the deciding factor on whether or not they’ll buy from you or not.

Grow your business – be adaptable in everything that you do

The final point that we’d like to make is that your business needs to be able to change to the circumstances that surround it. Imagine various scenarios that could happen to your business and then come up with a plan that you would execute if something bad did come to pass – should that problem ever come up.

One example might be – what if the person in your business who is great with computers suddenly becomes very ill and while he is away, you can’t get the information you need to make sales, carry out marketing, or look after customers. This could potentially bring not only your growth prospects but your business to a standstill until they’re back. In this scenario, you would need to find somebody to outsource this need to.

You might want to consider building up a network of freelancers that you could fall back on in case of an emergency.

We can help you grow your business

One part of sustainable growing your business is sound financial management and knowledge. This can be both complex and very time consuming – so let us help. To get in touch with our team, call us on 01606 333900 or email hello@burtonbeavan.co.uk.