7 ways to scale your small business to £1m

13 Secrets for Growing Your Business Quickly

With hardworking employees dedicated to your company’s success, your business will be better equipped for continued growth. In addition, delegating tasks to focus on important work will free up your time and energy, allowing you to perform at your best and cultivate a collaborative work culture.

Rather than trying to acquire new customers, direct your attention to the core customers you already have, suggested Bill Reilly, a Wisconsin-based auto repair entrepreneur. You can do this by implementing a referral or customer loyalty program or trying out marketing strategies based on previous purchasing behaviors to encourage repeat business, he said.

“In the past, we would highlight our business goal to become a franchise, which didn’t resonate with banks,” Reilly said. “We learned to emphasize that there is a large market for what we do. This would pique a banker’s interest, because they care about the return on investment more than your business aspirations.”

Tip: Maximize your current customer base by implementing a customer loyalty program or trying out marketing strategies based on customers’ purchase histories.

Create a clear value proposition

To grow your business it is important to identify a clear value proposition. Is there room in the market and do people want more of what you want to sell them? Mark Pearson, founder of Myvouchercodes.co.uk, created a crystal clear proposition for his site in which all parties benefitted.

“Our growth was fuelled by the fact there was value for everyone involved,” he says. “The website visitors save money by using our vouchers and offers. The retailers make more money because we send them customers and the business makes money because the retailers pay us a commission on sales generated.”

This virtuous circle saw sales double monthly initially. In the first year turnover hit £300,000 on a £300 initial investment; by year four the figure was £10m. A large part of the business’ growth story to this day is that it satisfies genuine demand.

On the Money

Scaling a business is going to be expensive, no matter which way you swing it. Most small businesses don’t even turn a profit for the first year. According to Forbes it can take 18 months to 2 years for most businesses to start turning a profit.

But that means if you’ve already reached profitability, you may be doing better than the majority of businesses. Even so, this may still be a financial hurdle you’ll need to get over. Renting new retail space or designing and manufacturing a new product is fraught with financial stresses and unknown factors.

If you’re ready to scale, you will have to have a clear financial overview and the funds to back up the project. If you don’t have the funds you can look to involve investors or get a business loan from your bank. However, make sure you’re very clear on your budgets and projected growth and sales, this is going to be important to your financial stakeholders.

Investing in Professional Development

Maintaining your future success means investing in learning and professional development. This could be organising some training for your staff such as a customer engagement course or it could mean investing in your professional development to help you run the most successful and efficient business you can.

The perfect course for a small business owner just starting out is the Certificate III in Entrepreneurship and New Business. This course is designed for small business owners and aims to give you all the tools you’ll need to succeed. In the course you’ll learn how to:

Final Thoughts

Scaling your business can be a difficult task. It takes a lot of research, sales projections, money and time but if you do it right it can be the best move you can make. If you’re thinking about scaling your business and you want to find a course that will help you do it, you can check out our small business courses here, or get in touch with our friendly course advisors, they’d be happy to help you find the right course for you.

Sources:

https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7690-rapid-business-growth-tips.html
https://startups.co.uk/strategy/7-ways-to-scale-your-small-business-to-1m/
https://www.asset.edu.au/how-to-scale-your-small-business/