Every business needs to grow to succeed, but this growth needs to have purpose and direction. Uncontrolled and unstructured growth is like building a table with spindly legs – a bad investment and a disaster in the making. That’s why scaling is so important. Scaling your business as it grows gives you a firm, reliable foundation.
Scaling will Support Growth
There’s a critical difference between growth and scaling: Where growth adds more customers and more revenue with proportional increases in investment (and expenses and work), scaling lets you do more for less. Scaling is all about tweaking your existing setup for a revenue boost, with only an iota of added investment. It involves shoring up your weaknesses and making your strengths work for you better.
Scaling your business will support your growth and make it sustainable long-term. Below are 10 strategies to help you scale quickly and effectively:
1. Raise prices
The most effective way to scale is by raising prices. Essentially, you make more money for the same product and service, without investing extra time, effort, and other resources. You have to be savvy about how and where you raise prices, though. Customers will happily pay extra for an especially useful product or service, but they will turn to a competitor if you go overboard. The more popular a product or service, the easier it will be to price up.
2. Streamline your offerings
You can make higher prices more palatable by streamlining your products or services. Streamlining is creating clear, transparent, and easy-to-understand pricing. Successful companies do this by breaking down their offerings into distinct tiers, with extra options tacked on to the higher ones. If you allow your customers to choose and give them full control over what they are buying, they are more likely to say yes than no. It’s a bit of a psychological trick every successful company uses to good effect.
3. Automate
Automation is an enormous time and money saver. Why hire a worker who draws $50,000 in yearly wages when a machine can do the same work at the fraction of the price? You can automate in almost every area you can think of, from customer relations and sales to operations and logistics. Stockpile Reports is an old hand at automation. We can team up with you to automate your inventory replenishment through a VMI (Vendor Management Inventory) solution. When you’re about to run out of stock, your vendor will automatically replenish your inventory, no manual intervention necessary.
4. Audit and keep control over your expenses
Do you know where your money is going? Frequent, accurate audits are crucial to the financial health of your business. If you have accurate data about your expenses, you know where you are spending too much. You can make cuts and budget more effectively. Stockpile Reports inventory monitoring solution gives you an accurate snapshot of your material levels in hours for an instant audit, without the need for expensive surveying teams.
5. Market more effectively
Acquiring new customers is expensive and time-consuming. Every business spends a certain amount of money per new customer or lead. You can spend less by narrowing your focus and targeting groups that work instead of casting your net too wide. You may get results from generalized marketing, but the cost is usually too high to be justifiable.
6. Simplify
Complexity is the bane of every growing business. As the business grows, it adds more layers, making it less accessible for customers and employees alike. It requires more maintenance, communication, and upkeep. The more you can simplify, the easier your business will be to handle, and the better you will engage with people both externally and internally. Successful business leaders like Steve Jobs are famous for seeking simplicity.
7. Use data instead of speculating
How much money do you lose because of bad estimates? When you make data-driven decisions instead of speculating, you’re much more likely to reap better returns on your investment. Thanks to modern technology, it’s much easier than before to get up-to-date data from every aspect of your operations. For example, SR can give you real-time data about your inventory levels on demand. You can measure an entire worksite in an hour if you need to and make more informed decisions.
8. Accept feedback from customers
Not every brand listens to its customers, which inevitably ends up being their downfall. Incorporating feedback from your customers and acting on their suggestions can help you grow in the right direction. This includes considering both positive and negative feedback. It can be hard to accept that your business is falling short of expectations, but it’s how growth happens; through mistakes, constant learning, and being better than yesterday.
9. Invest in your employees
Your employees can be your biggest asset. It’s simple: If you take care of your employees, they will take care of you. The most successful companies in the world, like Google, offer generous packages and perks. More importantly, they invest time in their employees, help them, and foster an inclusive culture. Happy employees working toward a common purpose are more likely to work harder and perform better. It’s one of the most effective ways to scale.
10. Focus on your customers
Remember that, ultimately, every business is a service business. Keeping your customers satisfied should always be a primary goal, whether it’s before sales, during, or after. If your customers have a good experience with you, they are bound to come back. You can make your customers without spending money. This involves listening to their concerns, engaging them through a personalized email, or simply accepting minor requests from time to time.
Conclusion
Scaling your business isn’t work you can accomplish in an afternoon. It’s more of a constant endeavor and involves a significant commitment on your part. But your efforts in that direction will always be worthwhile, and you will be rewarded with sustainable, long-term growth. You can team up with SR to make your business more scalable and sustainable through the use of our industry-leading data-gathering solution. Call us now to learn more about what we can do for you!