Looking to expand your business? Here’s some of things you need to consider
Whether you’re looking to develop your family-run business into something bigger, or expand your start-up internationally, there are many factors you need to consider when growing your business.
While it can appear to be much easier to expand a business these days, thanks to technology and more connected world, there are still many challenges you’ll face along the way.
To help you succeed, here are some of the key factors you need to consider when planning to take your small business big.
Investing in your staff
To expand your business, you need a fantastic team of people to help you. So it’s worth investing in high-quality training and development to ensure your existing staff are able to grow with your business.
It can be easy to assume you don’t need to go to the effort and expense of training staff who are already adept at performing their roles. But with expansion comes more responsibility and potentially requires new skills. Training your staff to deal with the challenges expansion will bring will ensure it runs more smoothly.
Ensuring you have a reliable logistic system
As your business grows, so will your orders – either in number or size (or both). This makes it essential that you have a reliable, efficient logistics system in place. After all, if you can’t fulfil orders on time, or intact, you’ll soon lose the clients and customers you need to expand.
It’s even more important to have a trusted logistics provider if you’re expanding internationally. So take the time to choose an experienced global logistics provider, like Whistl, who can affordably and reliably ship your goods to your chosen countries.
Building up sufficient cash flow
One of the biggest reasons why some business expansions fail, is because of insufficient cash flow. So you need to make sure you’re financially ready to expand.
It’s common to think that as your business grows, so does profits. But, while a larger business does mean more profits, it also means more expenses. Which makes it crucial that you account for the additional expenses expansion will bring, such as larger premises, more staff and additional equipment.
Considering the best way to expand
There are many different ways you can expand a business so consider carefully which type of expansion is right for you.
For example, will it be more profitable to set up new stores in different locations? Or maybe you’re simply looking to expand via advertising alone? Determining which type of expansion is right for your business will reduce the risk of failure.
Photo by Charlize Birdsinger
