Every week I meet with new and existing businesses who want to grow. Typically when I ask the simple question of ‘Why did you choose me?’ they don’t necessarily know what they need. The only thing they know is that they need me to grow their business, and usually this means more leads.
Whenever someone tells me they want to grow I always tell them to stop and make sure they have some basic things in place first. You see growing a business is far less about leads, leads and leads and more about making sure you have everything in place to help you work smart. Once you get more leads, can you handle them? Is there a smooth process?
Here are 6 of my top tips on how to set up your business to grow.
Processes
If you live and breathe processes they become second nature. They don’t have to be boring. Back in the day when Damteq was a tiny business we still had processes in place for most of our important daily activities. By putting processes in place early, as you grow and recruit more staff they’ll be able to follow your already proven strategies.
Some example processes might be:
- What is your sales process?
- What happens in your follow up process?
- What is the process of handling client projects?
Organisation
Learning to be organised in your work is so important, from how messy your desk is to how to organise and time manage your day. Being more organised can truly help you structure your growing business and as things get busier you’ll be able to easily structure your working day.
Nowadays there are even tools you can download to help you organise your work. Project management software like Asana can help you with your daily activities and Capsule CRM can help you organise your customers and prospects.
Setting up tools now will help you later. Planning ahead is so valuable in a growing organisation.
Leadership & Ownership
Having a solid leadership structure in your company is a vital part of the puzzle. Employing quality leadership principles will help your employees respect and work with you to grow your business.
Growing a business is an extremely stressful experience and it will be met with ups and downs. Having a leadership team which empowers employees with positivity will help improve productivity and creativity.
Allowing your employees to grow in their own careers by taking self-ownership on daily activities will also help they feel more pride in their work and truly feel valued as people. Involving your team with regular one-to-one and in-house surveys will also help you grow more efficiently by collaborating in key decisions.
Culture
Creating a culture in your business will reflect on all of the work you do. Building a culture around your whole team also builds your company into something incredible. The brand you build is the story people remember, so showcase your culture wherever you can. For example, our culture shows through on our website, our documents, our social media profiles.
5 years ago ‘creating a culture’ to most meant having an office with a ping pong table in the corner and beer in the fridge. Now though, a culture can be much more than that. Ultimately your company culture can become anything you want it to be. From a relaxed working environment and early finishes to a weekly quiz and bacon butties you can make it whatever you see fit. To us, having a culture makes you into a brand that stands apart from the competition. It empowers our team to be themselves, so work doesn’t feel like work.
Enablement
Many business leaders are still 5 years in the past. Fact.
If I had a pound for every time I hear ‘I tried that 5 years ago, it didn’t work’ I would be a multibillionaire. The fact is that when you tried ‘it’ 5 years ago you probably either didn’t do it right or didn’t have enough money to go ‘all in’. Of course, sometimes things don’t work, but 5 years is a very long time not to at least give it another shot.
Enablement needs to be a massive part of your strategy and often it means stepping out of your comfort zone. If one of your team or a supplier says something is a good idea, try it.
Ultimately growing a business takes a huge amount of time and investment and as long as you can make strategic decisions through well-thought-out planning, most things become a no-brainer.
Enabling your team to work on their own ideas and enabling your marketing agency to use extra budget will be a good thing, even if it makes you feel uncomfortable in the beginning.
You
You only have yourself to blame. That age-old saying and when growing a business it’s so true. As a business owner, you need to be self-aware of the things you do every day. You need to lead your business by example and more often than not you’ll find if you follow your own strategic planning you will succeed.
You can grow your business, and you have got what it takes. Growing a business doesn’t start with how many leads you get, it starts with you. If you have the right forward-thinking mentality and the right planning techniques the business will take care of itself.
When a member of your team doesn’t quite do something the way you want, look at the situation and work out how you can educate them into working smarter next time. Ultimately you are a team and you are growing up fast. It’s new to them as much as it’s new to you.
I hope following some of these basic principles you can start the process of growing. I run grow your business workshops where I will show you how you can do it. Why not book one today so I can show you how you can do it!
