Critical Steps to Take When Scaling your Business

A wider reach of customers, more sales, increased revenue, a bigger infrastructure are the major perks of scaling. Scaling up your business, if done rightly, comes with a lot of changes that put you in a strong position in the marketplace.

If you’ve decided to scale up your business, it’s right to know the stages involved and how to get started.

But first, here’s a recap of what we learned from the previous post:

• Scaling means setting the stage to support and sustain growth in your business.
• Being profitable is not enough reason to scale up
• Scalability hinges on capacity and capability
• Your business is ready to scale if: You’re turning down clients, have a steady cash flow, you’re surpassing all your business goals, have a firm infrastructure, and a supportive team. 

Below are critical steps to take when scaling your business:

Draw up a plan 

Establishing a business plan scaling is the first step. But before you draw up a plan, you need to make an evaluation. Assess your business to know if it’s time to scale it up. It will help you know if you are really ready for growth. If you have established that you are, then go ahead to draw up a plan. Your plan should begin with a detailed sales projection of the sales you want to achieve at the end of the month or quarter. It should include the number of new customers you want to target, with orders and revenue you want to generate. Have a spreadsheet that helps you break down the numbers and include timelines you desire to achieve your target. Your spreadsheet puts the plans and actions into timelines. 

Having done that, you then do an expense projection. With scaling comes expenses, and your expenses will go up. You would be expanding and putting in new systems to handle increased sales and manage new customers. Look at your current expenditure and see how your expenses might be affected. Also, create a spreadsheet that breaks down expenses needed to meet your sales forecast.

Source for funds

Scaling a business isn’t cheap. With growth and expansion comes hiring new staff to handle new sales orders; adding equipment and storage facilities to meet manufacturing demands; installing new technology to stay updated on new business processes, and creating systems for automating repetitive tasks. You might want to establish new sales outlets to reach out to your new customers.

All of these, among other expenses require adequate funds to successfully scale up your business. Make a list of your expenses to have an estimate of how much you will. Then, consider these financial methods to help you raise funds and get started on the one that perfectly meets your business’ financial needs.

Put a good team together

We’ve earlier stated how important it is to have a team of individuals who are passionate about the future of the business and are fully committed to the success of your business. Ensure that your employees have an understanding of your product/services and what your business stands for – you need good hands who have the capabilities to scale up your business. If you need to recruit new people, ensure they have the right mindset that fits into the culture of the business and are people who trust and believe in your vision and strategy.

As the business grows, you might need to let go of some old hands who can no longer keep up with your business expectations.

Invest in technology

Technology provides endless solutions for today’s business owners. Utilising it to its fullest potential is crucial for growth and expansion. With technology, you can:

• Create a digital filing system to make it easier to sort, save, share, and find documents
• Promote your business with a website and/or online advertising
• Use a comprehensive accounting software to streamline your business finances
• Use online budget tracking to keep on top of – and reduce – your expenses
• Use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. to promote your business, products, and services
• Use social media to conduct customer service
• Use online surveys and questionnaires to get customer feedback
• Develop an efficient email management process that makes it easier to stay on top of the flow of messages

Remember that scaling requires you to stay on top of your game, being innovative, and adapting to new changes. It is also not a solitary task. Invest in your networking skills. Build collaborations and establish partnerships with people outside your organisation. You need the right people in your corner who can support you in your growth plans.

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