10 ways to grow your business

Growing a business is never easy - whatever your size, structure or industry. It’s also a long and often arduous process that affects all areas of the business. From cash flow and process management, through to research & development and customer loyalty, you need to have it all sewn up.

And while growing a business has many complexities, it often helps to start with the basics. To take a good look at how you operate and use this to leverage better management all round.

Here are our top ten tips on how to grow your business...

1. Think about employee engagement

You may have the greatest product for miles around, but without the support and commitment of your employees, you’ll soon struggle in delivering it to market. Consider that a lack of motivation can lead to low levels of productivity and poor customer service, which inevitably impacts attrition rates and of course, recurring revenue.

Take the time to look at how well aligned employees are with corporate goals and how appraisal and assessment structures could affect this. Try to strike a balance between an employee’s career path and the business’s aspirations - tying them together where possible.

But don’t go it alone. Employee engagement is a sensitive issue that must be handled professionally and in a way that’s appropriate to your people. Seek the advice of an HR expert and be patient with results – where emotions are concerned no-one likes to be hurried.

2. Look at how you communicate

Internal communication can be one of the biggest barriers to growth, impacting not only how your employees communicate with each other, but also the standard and consistency of customer service. For example, in an organisation where internal delays are rife and or information is badly communicated, customers will usually receive confusing and unprofessional service. This is often the case with larger organisations, but can creep in at any stage of a business.

Take a look at the ways in which people communicate, for example, is there a general reliance on emails to address difficult issues, when a conversation would be better? Are there particular departments where hostility has been allowed to fester over time, for example between marketing and sales, or HR and payroll?

These problems can’t be solved over night and there are a variety of strategies you can adopt. However, involving employees is essential to finding a workable solution. Whether through communication workshops or steering groups, your people must be included in an acknowledgement process of where problems lie and be active participants in solving them.

3. Be kind to your marketing

With a recession under our belts, most of us will know the pitfalls of immediately slashing the ‘non-essential’ marketing budget in favour of other resources. It may seem necessary in the short-term, but questionable when it comes to long-term growth.

Of course when times are tough some cutbacks are inevitable, but do try to remember why you invested in marketing in the first place. A strong brand presence communicates stability and thereby trust in your business. This is never more important than in competitive markets, where weaker brands often fail, regardless of product viability or strength of service.

4. Take time to plan

It may seem obvious, but taking the time to review your business plan is one of the most fundamental tasks that a leader should undertake. It’s also one of the most neglected.

It doesn’t matter when you do it, but allocate time each month to look at your business plan. This way it remains an ongoing concern, rather than a weighty task that’s put off until it becomes unmanageable.

Don’t forget that this is a business rather than a personal plan, so it needs input and support from everyone. To this end, involve other board members at least once a quarter, to gain from their feedback and ensure that they are integral to executing the plan.

Equally, make sure that other employees are aware of your aims for the business through annual updates. Depending on the size of your company, you may choose to present the plan via a one-to-all email, a webcast, or a series of face-to-face presentations. The more personal the better.

5. Stay focused

When it comes to meetings, it’s all too easy to spend hours in the board room frittering away time, with little or no outcome.

When arranging a meeting be sure to outline objectives, to keep all members focused on the subject at hand. Refer to your objectives throughout the meeting and use this as a way to make the discussion both relevant and constructive. Should matters arise that need further attention, request that the individuals concerned arrange a suitable time for discussion outside of the meeting.

Never attend a meeting unless you’re required for its purposes. With so many demands on your time, you need to spend it wisely where you can.

6. Look at who you hire

Employing the right people is vital for any business. You need to be sure that your people possess not only the necessary hard skills, but also softer skills that support your brand values. For example, if yours is an unusual or quirky brand, you may want to hire those who have a little more about them and will convey your brand in the way that they communicate.

Likewise, a brand that emphasises customer care must employ considerate, professional individuals. You know that expression ‘People buy people’? It may be irritating, but it’s true.

7. Make efficiency a priority

Inefficiency is the scourge of any business, whether due to high levels of bureaucracy, a lack of process management, outdated technology or even micro-managing.

What makes you inefficient changes from business to business, but it’s important to recognise where inefficiencies lie to address them. For example, could you increase responsibility lower down in the organisation to prevent unnecessary delays due to sign-off processes? Could you streamline procedures through more sophisticated or integrated technology? Would departments like HR benefit from better involvement from the line?

Know that any inefficiency will take time to rectify and may require some spend, so have an idea of quantifiable outcomes to justify your action.

8. Love your customer

Whatever you do, don’t simply focus on new business sales at the expense of your customer. All successful businesses know that customer care directly affects a large chunk of business revenue, so give it some thought.

Put yourself in a customer’s shoes. What service would you expect in terms of responsiveness, attitude, delivery timescales and quality of product and/or service? Then better it.

9. Innovate

Recent media reports suggest that the British economy is suffering from a lack of innovation and that only by the power of entrepreneurs will we finally put the recession behind us.

But it’s not just about new businesses. Entrepreneurial spirit has to be in the veins of every organisation, from inception to exit. Make sure that budget is always available for research & development, to keep your business ahead of the game.