5 Tips for Expanding Your Small Business
Many small-business owners want to grow their companies, and they want to do it fast. But if you rush into expandsion without a plan, you risk losing everything you’ve worked so hard to build. Take Wise Acre Frozen Treats, which hired too many employees and bought too much equipment before they had the revenue or startup capital they needed; the company went bankrupt in just a few years.
To avoid making similar mistakes, heed these five tips for expanding your small business (the right way).
1. Develop a company culture.
A strong company culture is what will keep your small-business team together during times of exponential growth. If you’re not sure where to start, ask yourself and your team questions such as:
Why does our company exist?
Why do we do what we do?
What does our company believe in?
What are our values?
Where do we want our company to go, i.e. what’s our company’s vision?
2. Hire the right people.
The hiring stage is critical to growing your business successfully. It’s important to take your time and find the right people for the job. Do so and things will go swimmingly. Hire the wrong people, and all of your hard work will come crumbling down. To avoid the latter fate, consider recruiting people based on their technical skills and experience.
3. Focus on innovation … in the right places.
When expanding your small business, you might be tempted to spend a bunch of money on improving your product or creating/offering more products. Instead, focus on innovation in other areas.
4. Build brand recognition.
When a consumer sees your logo, advertising campaign, product packaging or slogan, you want them to be able to recognize it as your company. This all comes down to building brand recognition. Take Nike’s Iconic “Just Do It” slogan. When consumers hear that phrase, they instantly know whose behind it. Your small business might not be able to reach Nike-levels of immediacy, but you can still work to become a well-known brand among your target audience.
5. Don’t forget about existing customers.
Many small-business owners focus too much on getting new customers and not enough on keeping the ones they already have. In fact, according to statistics from Small Business Trends, just six percent of small businesses focus on customer retention.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/
How does Bullen embrace these concepts? One area is developing a company culture. We have clearly defined core values, do you have them at your company that everyone knows and lives as part the business? Here are ours:
Promote Safety
No bull…It’s priority number one!
Delight the Customer
Their needs are our focus.
Maintain Integrity
Our word is our bond.
Execute Teamwork
The best solutions come from working together
Practice Good Karma
Pay it forward.
Have great day and even better sales week!
Scott Jarden