To grow or not to grow your business is the ultimate question, but how do you know when and if you’re ready to make the big leap?
Growth brings excellent opportunities, but before you can reap those benefits, you must consider what it could mean for you, your business, finances, and goals. Many are the horror stories that we often hear of businesses flying too close to the sun and burning their wings. While growth and expansion are a natural progression, the process can also be terrifying. You can never know if it’s the right time to leap growing your business, but there are some questions to ask yourself before making the decision.
5 questions to ask yourself before growing your business:
- Do we have enough operational bandwidth and employees to help us grow?
A robust support system is essential to a business’s growth, such as a trustworthy team of contractors, vendors, employees, and investors. In addition, having a team with high morale, passion and drive will make it easier for your business to grow successfully.
- Do we have enough momentum?
The Product-led Institute states: “If you’re not sure you have momentum, ask yourself this question: Does it feel like you’re pushing a rock up or down a hill in your business? You’re most likely ready to expand your business if it’s the latter.” When your business already has traction, expansion is easier to accomplish.
- Is our current infrastructure profitable and working effectively?
How is your overall organizational structure working? Is it profitable and running like a well-oiled machine? It may be a perfect time to explore expansion opportunities if you have a good contingency plan and are financially profitable.
- Do we have consistency in demand and cash flow?
If your business’s cash flow is consistent, your customers are loyal, potential clients are incoming, and demands keep growing, it could be a perfect time to grow your business. Increasing demand and cash flow are some of the most concrete signs that it’s time to grow to fulfill your customers’ needs. However, you must design your growth plan carefully and ensure your goals are financially balanced and sound, always keeping your customers’ needs in mind when making changes to your growth objectives.
- Are we outgrowing our current resources? Are our resources sustainable?
Your inventory might be running lower than usual. Your employees might struggle to complete tasks due to being overworked, sustainability might become an issue, and the increase in demand might be a barrier due to a lack of resources.
If this is the case, it’s essential that you start planning accordingly and researching for new and more sustainable resources. On the other hand, an expansion might mean more profits that could eventually allow you to afford better and more sustainable practices that are important in promoting a better, greener brand and world. Additionally, a greener brand brings a more extensive base of consumers who would be loyal to your brand due to your promise of more green and sustainable practices.
So, is it time to grow your business?
In short, business growth takes time, planning, money, and hard work. Utilizing data, in-depth knowledge of your market and consumers, and advanced analytics to plan your next steps and expansion decisions will go a long way. Make sure your business is structured in a way that helps you create revenue and resources to financially support and help you in your everyday and future endeavors. Remember, it is perfectly normal to outgrow your surroundings and current business model.
Marketing analytics helps us see how everything plays on each other to decide how your company may want to invest moving forward. Re-prioritizing how your team spends its time, and the resources, channels, and efforts you invest in, are critical steps to achieving marketing success and improving sales. At DuartePino, our analytics experts analyze your business’ data to evaluate better the performance of your marketing, content, and products and use your analytics insights to reach the right people. Contact us to learn what our trust advisors can do for you.
*This blog post was written by Gabriel Marrero, Lead Intelligence Advisor & Head of the Analytics Practice at DuartePino.