Growth is fundamental to a business’ survival. There are many possible growth strategies available to you—everything from pursuing new markets to creating new products and making an acquisition.
Many companies craft their own unique combination of strategies.
Growth strategy allows companies to expand their business and can be achieved by adding new locations, investing in customer acquisition, or expanding a product line.
A company’s industry, and target-market, influences which growth strategies to choose.
Ready to get started and need a helping hand?
It’s easy to lose sight of the broader-picture by getting sidelined into non-strategic growth opportunities. Stay focused. You need to strategically build your business. Here are five growth strategies to do just that:
1: Set a goal
You need to set a goal. Determine what you’re striving for. Growth requires strategy. Do you want to grow your business by 10% or 30%?
2: Determine what you’re selling and how many more customers you need to hit your goal
If you want to hit $100,000, there are many ways to do that. You need to know what and how many “things” you need to sell. Calculate it this way:
- Five $20,000 clients
- Twenty $5,000 clients
- A hundred $1,000 clients.
Whether that “thing” is a product or a service, you need to break down the numbers and figure out how much you need to sell in a year. Then, break it down even further to figure out how much you need to sell on a monthly or a weekly basis in order to hit your goals.
3: Get clear on where your sources are coming from
Now that you know how many customers you need, in order to hit your goal, you need to know where to find them.
- Where do your lead sources hang out?
- Do you get leads from social media?
- Do you get referrals from clients?
In order to figure out where to get your leads, look back at all the business you generated this past year and ask yourself:
- How did they find me?
- How did I get that business?
Get a clear picture on the top three places that generate leads .
It is not profitable to get by with the low-hanging fruit. You can do better than that.
4: Put a customer retention plan in place
Don’t underestimate the value of treating your best clients exceptionally well.
Retention is a fantastic strategy for growth. If you’re not retaining clients, you’re spinning your wheels.
Determine how you can retain your clients so that any new clients are incremental growth on top of the baseline you already have.
Preserve your existing customers and serve them well.
5: Set a goal to increase in your sales and market accordingly
Calculate the percentage increase that you want in sales.
You might want a 100% increase in sales. Whatever the increase, you need to amplify your marketing by the percentage you set.
If you want to double your sales, you need to double your marketing strategy because it doesn’t just happen by accident. This is a cause and effect. You generate what happens in your business and you generate it by the activities that you choose. Give it your attention, focus and effort. Strive for success.
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