Business Growth Strategy: 7 Actionable Steps That Work

Have you ever wondered why you’re lagging behind the competition? Why are customers leaving or why is it that they tend to be contented just making a single order then never come back? Which business aspects do you need to develop and improve? These are questions that you need to ask if your business is to develop and expand.

Nobody ever wants to own a failing business so if you feel like yours is travelling towards that road then you need to start building up a concrete strategy for growth. Don’t be too confident with the marketing strategies that you already have in place because the truth is without the other ingredients that we’re going to talk about in this article, you’ll still end up with a weak customer base and a business that hangs on the mercy of fluctuations that happen in the market.

Having that solid and actionable growth strategy will assist you in expanding the business as it allows the systematic implementation of some crucial steps. Major decisions like releasing new products to add to your existing product line, adding new branches, or investing in promotional efforts and advertising all need a clear action plan. You need to define the what, where, when, and how for each step that you want to take so your brand or company goes smoothly towards the direction where you want to take it in the upcoming years.

Plan, Strategize, Execute

Planning is an important stage in your overall growth strategy. Having that plan outlined clearly and putting it as a center of discussion among your business partners would bring a solid starting point for the other steps that follow. Major business decisions like releasing a new product update or bringing in a new product line all need some careful planning. Research what your customers really want and time the release perfectly to ensure that it gets accepted and eventually patronized.

Once you have that solid plan, your next move is to strategize so the final execution goes smoothly. Depending on the kind of business that you want to grow, your strategies can include the ones listed below:

- Putting up new branches

- Investing in promotion and advertising to boost acquisition of new customers

- Expansion of new product line or release of additional products

- Updating of products to new versions

- Opportunities for franchising

- Starting an online presence and selling the products/services to customers on the Internet

You decisions will largely depend on the industry that you’re in and the market that you want to target. But for every business, customer acquisition really plays a big role in business growth and overall development. Customers are your business’s lifeline so definitely make sure that acquiring new ones is part of your strategy and execution plan.

If you’re still floating around at this point then here are some methods that you can use as basis for achieving growth and overall expansion for your business.

Step 1: Find and Template for Your Growth Strategy

No matter what type of business it is that you own and to which industry it belongs, there will always be competitors who are doing really well and have already achieved growth in one way or another. So as a startup business seeking expansion, you can start by looking into these top competitors and studying the steps they took until they achieved that growth that you’re seeing right now.

It will not hurt if you first do some research and the best examples for you are those businesses that are already doing great at the top. You may also seek help from online resources and learn from them. For instance, there are some downloadable templates for overall growth strategies that you can take advantage of and start using as samples.

Every successful business owner once had a dream and that dream surely has been fueled up or inspired by another entity within the industry so don’t ever hesitate to spy around and learn some strategies from the best examples that you know.

Step 2: Zero in On The Areas That You Want To Grow

The general idea is growing your business but if you want to make that growth happen then you need to first define the areas where you want to grow. Without being specific on this, you will end up in an abyss of indecisiveness and uncertainty so be sure to zero in which aspects it is that you want to grow and make your every step carefully towards that goal.

Some areas that you may want to see growth and development on may include the following:

- Increasing the number of employees to serve more customers

- Launching new products or releasing a new product line

- Bringing the brand to new locations, cities, regions, or other countries

- Growing your profit and overall business revenue

- Expanding that warehouse space or extending the office or retail shop

- Opening new branches around the city

- Putting in some new services to offer

- Expanding selling and purchase locations like launching an online store or new stores or booths in shopping malls

- Improving customer retention

- Increasing customer acquisition

Your growth plan may include one or more of the areas listed above and every time you execute steps that target any single one of them, the result will encompass the others. For instance, extending your selling points to include the Internet will definitely grow your overall revenue and putting up more store locations will result in a significant increase in sales. What’s important in this step is that you are clearly defining the areas where you want to see growth.

Step 3: Perform Research Within Your Market or Industry

After zeroing in on the areas that you want to grow and develop, your next step is to find out whether it is reasonable to grow on those aspects or if growth in it is even possible. There is no other way for you to achieve this other than doing market and industry research.

You may choose from a variety of methods that are available like giving out a survey among your existing customers or those prospective ones. You will need to perform some detective work at this stage and do deeper research on your existing market and industry.

Every detail that you’re able to learn will greatly help your decision making and even define those growth goals and overall expectations. Doing that all-important research will also assist you in setting up a timeline and arriving at estimated budget requirements in order to achieve your overall growth.

Step 4: Set Some Clear and Achievable Goals

After answering the questions about what you want to grow, why you want to see that growth for your business, and if the growth you are thinking about is even possible given the current conditions within your market or industry, the next step is to identify exactly how much growth you want.

You should base your goals on the end result that you have in mind and where you want to see your business going in the upcoming years. Just be sure that they are all realistic and not just based on fantasy or science-fiction. That is the reason why performing the previous step (step 3) on market and industry research by heart is essential.

Towards the end of this step, you will need to make sure that the goals you’ve set are quantifiable. This means that metrics should be able to measure it and the timeline you’ve set should be achievable. So instead of setting a goal like “increase overall sales”, you can write it down in greater detail as in “achieve 30% increase in sales every quarter in the next 2 years”. This way, you have set clear values to an otherwise general goal statement.

Step 5: Define Your Course of Action

This next step will now require you to outline and put your overall course of action on to a paper that you and your team can base on. Define how you want to achieve your goals and assign them to the people who will become the focal person for the task. Put in the actions that need to be taken, people who are assigned to it, the needed tools and resources for accomplishing the tasks, and the deadlines for each. Be sure to get it updated so your team will know the overall progress and ensure that everything is taken cared of every time.

Step 6: Identify the Tools Needed and Other Requirements

At this stage, you will need to define any tools or requirements that you need before starting with your plan execution. Be sure to let your team know so they have a clear knowledge on what the budget is and the software or tools that will be made available for them to use. When you have these details identified right before the execution of your business growth plan, achieving the goals with efficiency and accuracy will be an easy task. Some of the requirements and tools may include the following”

- Software and Other Tools: Look into the software and tools that are currently available and will help make the tasks easier and faster to perform.

- Added Expertise: There are certain of your growth plan execution that may need experts in the field like consultants, planners, engineers, architects, designers, etc. Be sure to know which experts you would need and contact them ahead to avoid delays and missed deadlines

- Projected Expenses and Funding: Appropriating expenses for every stage should not be that hard so be sure to have it prepared as you plan for the funding. Your plan can either use internal budget or a capital investment depending on its size so plan this ahead and get it prepared before moving to execution.

Step 7: Plan Execution

After planning, sourcing those needed tools and expertise, and setting those actionable goals along with some clear strategies, the next step is executing the business growth plan so you can start seeing some concrete results.

As you go through this last stage, you’ll need to make sure that your assigned focal persons are doing what they are supposed to do and are delivering results on time. Don’t forget to monitor the overall progress and examine initial results with the growth that have been forecasted in your goal to see if the results are good or if adjustments are needed before proceeding with the next steps in your plan. Don’t just be contented with performing the plan but also focus on the results as your team performs the tasks that have been assigned to them.

Keep an eye on the results. If something doesn’t seem right then be sure to look into the tracks and see where things went awry that eventually resulted in the fault you’re seeing. Make adjustments as you go. That’s the secret in proper execution and eventually achieving your desired growth

Own Up To Grow Up

It is true that the first step is finding a growth strategy template but before that happens and even before the idea of business growth is conceived, you must first learn to own up and submit to the idea that your business badly needs some growth. You can’t effectively think of any strategy if you’re too confident about the current status of your business.

Check every aspect and see whether you’re gaining or losing. If you’re on the negative side of the balance then learn to accept defeat and start your growth strategy by looking into the steps we’ve discussed above. Owning up is really the first step and once you’re done with it; the rest will follow like a breeze with the help of partners and stakeholders.

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