Three Strategic Tips For Creating Sustainable Business Growth

I was stunned while reading this article entitled “Three Strategic Tips For Creating Sustainable Business Growth”

When Dave approached us, he already had a successful construction business. But he had his sights set higher. Dave wanted to break the $1 million per year mark and get help with planning his professional and personal life. After looking at his business, we realized that we could help Dave turn his company into a multi-million dollar business within two years. We took a systematic approach, and this resulted in a growth in revenue of over 20% per year. But hitting all the financial targets wasn’t the most exciting part. What made this collaboration more rewarding was creating a sustainable scaling strategy that would allow Dave to reach even bigger goals. How did we do it? It was a combination of things.?

One of the aspects we tackled was hiring. By adding three new full-time employees, Dave’s business gained an infrastructure to support growth. Then, we implemented a new pricing strategy that allowed for higher margins. Due to the high demand for his business, this increased the company’s overall profit. Additionally, the extra profits allowed Dave to reinvest in his business to build more capacity, which eventually freed up more time for him. He finally started working more on the business instead of inside it. On top of that, the new changes enabled Dave to have sufficient inventory and resources, even when his competitors were falling short. As a bonus, he was able to purchase land that would eventually be the location of his dream home.

Success like Dave’s is possible for you, too. Particularly when you’re following an efficient strategy for scaling. Below, I share three tips on how you can start creating a sustainable growth-oriented blueprint — one that can help you achieve your personal and professional goals faster.

1. Set short-term targets.

Imagine you want to hit a specific goal within 10 years. You have a clear vision of how many employees you need and how many clients you would have to serve. Perhaps you also have a good idea of your price point 10 years into the future and the service you’ll be offering. Achieving these things will require you to work your way back from your long-term goal. You’ll need to understand how you should approach the expansion or consolidation of your business to reach those goals. For that reason, you’ll want to set short-term goals.

Say you want to hit $10 million in 10 years. There could be many ways to get there, depending on your niche. It could mean you might have to hit $3 million in two or three years and do so consistently to work your way up. This is a similar approach to what we used with Dave. We focused on hitting smaller, two-year goals in creating his sustainable growth strategy. You can call these stepping stones.

Working off stepping stones will allow you to determine where you have to focus your efforts to stay on track with your long-term goals. Maybe you have to change your pricing structure. Perhaps you’ll have to hire more people, make different investments, etc.

2. Create high-performance departments.

The financial and accounting elements of the business are perhaps the most vital. After all, understanding your financial information is crucial for growth in a competitive market. You’ll need a firm grasp of your finances to ensure profitability and sustainability, especially during your growth periods. That’s why it’s crucial to have a financial department.

This department keeps track of your numbers and helps you understand their meaning. Up-to-date financial information enables business owners to make valid and better financial decisions, always working towards achieving short- and long-term goals. It’s worth noting that not all businesses have an internal finance department. Many companies outsource this work as it’s more cost-effective and efficient.?

Apart from finances, you should also work on your operations. The operations department is responsible for creating and delivering products or services. If this department isn’t running smoothly, you could be bottlenecking your business and stunting growth.

Another crucial department of any business is the marketing department. It’s a division of your company responsible for generating interest in your offer. Marketing creates leads and brand identity and acts as the primary revenue driver in many ways.

While understanding your finances is vital for maximizing profits, marketing is responsible for your sales. And, your operations division is the business area that either solidifies or ruins your credibility and reputation among clients.

3. Align your strategy with your goals.

Creating a strategy that will help you reach your goals is only one part of the equation. Aligning that strategy with your goals is equally important. After all, this is an ongoing process.?

To ensure proper alignment, you’ll have to continuously revisit your strategy and vision. That’s why doing quarterly reviews is so powerful. Holding meetings with financial advisors, business advisors and employees is necessary to ensure everyone’s on track, not to mention aligned with the same long-term vision of your business. A regular meeting cadence will create accountability and prevent people from drifting away from the overall strategy and targets.

Reaching your goals will require solid planning.

You may have a clear picture of what you want your life to like 10 or 20 years from now. But it isn’t easy to reach your goals if you’re not clear on what you have to do every step of the way. Your company will need clearly defined departmental goals and attributes. And you’ll need a good understanding of your finances, an excellent delivery and solid marketing. It’s also important to always check and tweak your strategy if necessary to ensure consistent alignment with your goals.

Want to know more? Head on over to the full article here for more ideas and perspective. Afterwards, why not drop me an email to share your thoughts at [email protected]; or call me on 0467 749 378.

Thanks,

Robert