Are you a small business owner looking to grow your business? If the answer is YES, the good news is there’s plenty you can do from digital marketing to adopting a growth mindset.
At Better Business at Hand, we support businesses at every stage in the growth cycle from fledgling start-ups to well-established businesses. Here are a few tips from the team on how to boost your business growth.
8 ways to grow your business
- Develop a growth strategy
You might be really lucky and your business will grow without you having to do anything other than create your products and services. But this is rare. More likely you are asking how to increase business growth.
To ensure that your business flourishes you need to plan for growth. You can start by doing a SWOT analysis to assess where you are now, looking at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and any threats. This knowledge could help you expand your product or service offering, diversify your income streams or spot a gap in the market. Better Business at Hand consultant Maria Pombo is a business growth specialist and can answer any questions on how to grow your business. Book an appointment with Maria.
- Get to know your customers
Customer acquisition and retention is key. To grow your customer base and retain customers you need to understand your ideal customer inside out. Create customer personas detailing their likes, dislikes, location, age, gender, job roles, what they read, where they hang out and more.
Get to know your customers in-depth to grow your business. By understanding their needs and wants, you can create products and services that will appeal to them and target your marketing activity in the right place with the right message.
- Understand your finances.
As a small business owner looking to grow you need to understand your cashflow – the money you have coming in and out of your business . Without knowing exactly where you are financially you can’t plan for or measure business growth (and growth can take a lot of cash to start with). Knowing your cashflow will empower you to make better decisions that will give you peace of mind and control as you grow your business.
If you find accounts challenging or encounter any problems, book an appointment with Chartered Accountant Tim Vogel who can talk you through any issues. Book an appointment with Tim.
- Prioritise your digital marketing
If you’re looking to increase your business growth having a strong digital presence is vital. Look at your digital marketing and in particular your website as this is your virtual shop window.
It’s a good idea to audit your website to see what is and isn’t working. Better Business at Hand consultant Stirling Austin specialises in online growth and can help with website enquiries and challenges. Book an appointment with Stirling.
- Track and Measure
As a small business owner you devote a lot of time to developing your business. From marketing activity to business planning, you need to know what’s effective. Track each activity and measure the success. There are very useful apps online that will help you track, but a good start will be your existing accounting system – from Sage to Xero, explore first what reporting tools your accounting system has available and make the best of it.
Through continuous evaluation you learn what works and what doesn’t, you can then repeat any successful activities. This is how to increase business growth.
- Be a customer focused business
The customer is king (or queen). Everything you do is for your customer. Put your customers at the centre of your business and develop products and services that meet their needs and solve their problems. Make sure that every touchpoint a customer has with your business creates the right impression.
It’s crucial that you build a sales funnel to bring your customers closer to making a purchase. You might also want to look at developing a customer loyalty programme to boost customer retention. Better Business at Hand Consultant David Peddy has 50 years’ experience building and growing businesses and can advise on customer acquisition strategies and answer general business enquiries. Book an appointment with David.
- Ask for help
As a small business owner, you can’t know everything. If you want to know how to grow your small business, the answer is simple – ask for help. Growing a business is really exciting and there will be lots of highs and a few lows. It helps to have a team of experts you can rely on for business advice.
That’s where we come in. Better Business at Hand brings together a network of professionals with experience running their own businesses. You can book appointments of 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes to suit your needs and budget. The team can help you solve your business problems and challenges. Meet the team!
- Adopt a growth mindset
When it comes to how to grow a small business, adopting a growth mindset is crucial. Always look ahead for any opportunities and don’t stand still. It’s easy to relax when your business is doing well but you need to have an eye on the future.
Whatever comes up during your business growth journey, the Better Business at Hand team can help. Whether you need advice on tax issues, business start-ups, digital marketing or general business enquiries, we’re here to help. Ivelina Delcheva can advise on operational improvements to help your business grow. Book an appointment with Ivelina.
Key takeaways for how to grow your small business
Growing your business might seem overwhelming but it doesn’t have to be. There are steps you can take to put your business on the right path for business growth.
There isn’t one set route map but the key to success is combining a range of activities and adopting a growth mindset.
If you need support along the way, Better Business at Hand can help.
The team are here to provide bespoke advice when it matters most to your business.
