It’s one thing to start a business and another thing is to make it profitable and transcend, a true entrepreneur is always looking for a way to grow his business day by day.
No matter how small your business is, remember that several of the large companies that we know today started in the garage of a house, it is only a matter of having a great passion for your business and working hard every day and you will see that little by little your business will grow to become the great company you have always dreamed of.
If you have a business and you want it to grow, both in infrastructure and in sales and income, here are a series of points that you must take into account so that the growth of your business is constant and sustainable.
These keys are taken from the success stories of large entrepreneurs and companies, take note and apply them, you will see that in a few years your company will be as big as you want.
1. Motivation
Just as when starting a business, for your business to grow you must be very clear about the reasons why you want it to grow but be careful, you must look for motivations stronger than money (I recommend you read: What motivates you to start your own business? ), remember that undertaking something just for money will make you give up at the first obstacle.
2. Clear mission, defined objectives, and a great vision
Know where we are? and where do we want to go? , are the bases to define the steps that we must take.
Imagine that you are going on a trip, what is the appropriate means of transport to go? The plane, boat, taxi, etc.? The answer to this question can only be given by knowing the place of departure and the place where you want to go, it also happens in the business world.
It is not a difficult task, for the mission just take a sheet and try to summarize the reason for your business by answering questions such as what does it sell? Who do you sell to? How do you sell? Then make a paragraph of between 5 and 10 lines and put it in a picture that you can put on the wall.
To define the vision, answer the question How do I see my business in 5 years? Be ambitious and think big, then based on that projection establish a series of intermediate points that will be “the steps” to reach this vision, these points will be the objectives of your business. Make two more pictures and put them on the wall. Remember from time to time to review the mission, objectives, and vision of your business.
3. Maintain focus
By defining a mission and a vision you will have given a focus to your business, you must maintain that focus.
A big mistake made by many entrepreneurs is to be guided by the need to increase their income quickly and they believe that by diversifying in the type of products they offer they will achieve it, that is how we end up seeing bakeries that also sell clothes and all kinds of items waiting to earn some extra money. On the contrary, a bakery that maintains its focus will stand out and gain preference because it can innovate on its line of products.
To understand a little more about this point, I invite you to read: From Flies, Amsterdam and the Business Approach
4. Be willing to change and innovation
As your business begins to grow you will see that you must make all kinds of changes to adapt.
More customers mean more employees and more infrastructure, you must be aware of this and not fear making the changes that your business requires, remember that to obtain different results you must do different things, you cannot expect your business to be bigger keeping things as they are and how they are now.
5. Listen to your customers
Customers are the basis of your business, if you don’t listen to them, your competition will and you will be giving them the possibility of keeping your market.
Facebook has been one of the fastest-growing companies in all of history, its success is indisputable, but apparently, it is making the serious mistake of not listening to its customers. Facebook users have witnessed countless changes that have generated mobilizations within the social network, for example, the chat sidebar, changes to the home page, a new photo viewer, etc. However, despite complaints from millions of users, Facebook has ignored the criticism and the changes persist. For now, Facebook is still the leading social network, but it has opened the possibility for companies like Google to attack their weak points.
Listening to your clients is not only asking them what they want, the client does not always know what they want, Henry Ford said: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have told me a faster horse.”. Currently, there are neuromarketing techniques and studies (on the Internet you can find very interesting data) that will help you understand the consumer’s subconscious.
6. Work with the best
Andy Freire says: “An entrepreneur A looks for entrepreneurs A +, an entrepreneur B looks for entrepreneurs C “, in other words, successful entrepreneurs always look for the best to work with, companies like Microsoft and Google hire the best engineers and programmers, That is why they are companies that stand out as the best.
7. Define the Growth strategy
You already know where you are and where you want to go, now you can define the best strategy to get there.
There are multiple business growth strategies, choosing the right one will depend on factors such as the type of product you offer and the type of market in which you compete.
In the following link, you can find the main strategies so that you know a little about them and define the right one for your business. Link: Business growth strategies
8. Systematization
Systematizing a business is to make it work regardless of whether you are physically in it or not, it is a complex process but once you achieve it, your business will be ready to grow.
Does the owner of Mc Donalds personally review each establishment day by day? The answer is NO, the key to the success of a multinational is precisely the systematization, Mc Donalds has systematized all its processes, from the hiring and training of employees to The way in which each of their products is made, is how they make their hamburgers taste the same in any of their establishments.
9. Re-investment
For your business to grow you must invest in it, you must be aware that you will have to sacrifice your profits in the short term if you want to increase them in the long term.
The first step is to organize the finances of your company planning the destination of the profits, Robert Kiyosaki proposes an activity called “the 3 piggy banks”, which consists of creating 3 funds, one destined for savings (as a security mattress), another for donations and another to re-invest in your business, the proportion in which you must divide the profits is up to you, for example, you could allocate 45% of the profits to the savings fund, 10% for Donations and another 45% for re-investment, the idea is that you be disciplined and keep the margin.
10. Increase the value of your product or service
Contextualizing a bit, Price is what customers pay for your product and value is what the customer receives, as your business grows you will face tougher and tougher competition, the only way to stay in the fight is by offering more value to your customers, remind them that you are working to improve every day. Give your customers reasons to prefer you.
11. Position your brand
Positioning your own brand is essential, even position your logo, your slogan, and everything that has to do with the identity of your business, if your customers do not remember you they will not have a preference for your products.
12. Implement a Quality Management System
Everyday countries are more demanding in terms of quality, this forces companies that wish to sell their products abroad to obtain quality certifications in ISO and other quality standards.
But regardless of whether or not you want to export, implementing a quality management system can help a lot to systematize your business, in addition to generating more trust with your customers. I recommend you consult the Guide to continuous improvement for SMEs.
13. Have a presence on the Internet
Today the Internet offers countless free tools that allow a business to easily promote their products.
On the Internet you can find new clients for your business, so don’t wait and create a Fan Page on Facebook, a profile on Twitter, a blog, etc., and start growing your business.
14. Perseverance and patience
Your strategy may fail the first time, but you must be persistent and try again and again.
Do not give up at the first obstacle and always remember: “If the road gets harder, it is because you are on the rise.”
15. Beginner’s mindset
I want to end this article with a thought of Steve Jobs, he relates that at some point in his life he had to start from scratch, he had the possibility of being a beginner again. No matter where you are or how far you have advanced, maintain the same passion, dedication, and energy as when you started.
That’s it, these keys mentioned here are not implemented from one day to the next, but in the business world there are no intermediate points, or your company grows or disappears … the decision is yours.
