6 Tips For Successfully Scaling A Business

Many new business owners work independently for at least the first year of trading. Any successful business owner will however, advise you that, in order to flourish, you must eventually relinquish control and assign tasks to others so that your organisation can scale-up and grow.

In this article, we share top CEO tips for scaling your business, so that you can focus on realising your ambitious growth targets and thrive in a competitive market.

1. Set Attainable Growth Targets

Setting realistic growth targets is the first step to scaling up your business. You might have a general concept of what your business wants to accomplish without defining realistic goals, but without realistic targets in place, you’ll find it difficult to reach your aim.

According to HubSpot, “A concrete growth strategy is more than a marketing strategy, it’s a crucial cog in your business machine. Without one, you’re at the mercy of a fickle consumer base and market fluctuations […] A growth strategy allows companies to expand their business.”

Successful business owners create growth objectives that are both attainable and ambitious because they want their company to provide for more than just their own lifestyle. These objectives provide a business with direction and a target to strive for. They are useful in outlining specific steps for achieving progress now and in the future.

2. Develop Your Skillset

As an entrepreneur, you spend a lot of your time solving problems by yourself. This frequently results in the development of new skills and the wearing of many different hats. It should therefore come as no surprise that when your company expands, it can be challenging to assign duties to others. But one of the most crucial elements of growing your business is to continually expand your skillset.

According to Lee Finkle, CEO, “You have to be willing to not do everything yourself. You have to be willing to delegate and truly lead through others. You can get away with doing every little task yourself when you’re in start-up mode, but that will become a significant impediment to your growth.”

Growth calls for managers and workers with a broader range of abilities who can each more adeptly meet the many needs of your company. This means it’s time to start assembling a team with a broad range of skills that will aid the growth of your business.

3. Use Intelligent Prospecting

Selling in volume can be one of the largest obstacles you encounter when scaling up your business. Whilst you want to expand your clientele and revenue, you’ll also want to draw in customers who will be committed to doing business with you for the long-term.

“Intelligent prospecting is simply sales outreach that uses smart tools and techniques to boost results. It improves your ability to identify your ideal prospects, optimise your engagement, and maximise the success of your outreach,” says Ryan Welmans, CEO at Sopro. “By continually monitoring your results, you can iteratively amend tactics to focus on high-value prospects and optimise each stage of your prospecting process to create more, and better, sales opportunities.”

Utilising sophisticated tools and tactics that improve customer acquisition is part of intelligent prospecting. You can more quickly identify ideal prospects, communicate with them succinctly, and successfully convert them into sales rather than slogging through thousands of unqualified leads.

Starting interactions with the right people can have a significant impact on the success of your company. Using a variety of online sales tools, you can cost effectively target potential customers, strike up conversations that matter and ultimately give your sales staff the best chances of success.

4. Collaboration Is King

As a business owner, you no doubt take great pride in your start-up. You got it off the ground, after all. But development and success don’t happen automatically, working with other people and organisations is essential if you want to expand your company and experience long-term success.

We advise you to create a network of contacts who can help you through the ups and downs of managing and expanding your business. You might think about forming alliances with financiers, businesspeople, service providers, suppliers, clients, and other companies that share your vision and appetite for success. In short, the more connections you have, the wider your net will be cast and the faster your goals will be realised.

The key to achieving business growth is by curating a network of people you can work with. The most crucial benefit of collaboration is that it can accelerate the expansion of your business by connecting you with new audiences and contacts outside of your sector.

5. Create Crystal Clear Business Processes

You must implement scalable processes if you wish to build a scalable company. Micromanaging your company’s operations is fruitless since it will ultimately make employees dissatisfied, create confusion, and severely restrict your ability to expand.

You must adopt simple, standard operating procedures (SOPs) across the entire organisation. You will onboard new personnel more quickly, prevent costly errors, meet client deadlines, and provide work in an organised manner when you have defined processes in place.

All levels of your organisation, from senior management to new hires, should work together to establish clear business processes. This will increase your chances of success and ensure that your company scales.

6. Find The Right People For The Job

When you first start out, it can be tempting to hire unskilled staff. This can can work well in the short-term, whether it’s to assist them in getting experience or to minimise your overheads, but it can restrict corporate growth in the long run.

Just like everything, it’s often the nitty-gritty details that get overlooked in business. Departments like HR, legal, and finance are often piled into the “I’ll get that sorted eventually” pile. And while this may have worked in the beginning, it can have big implications as your business grows.

Whether you have to deal with complaints of harassment, the need for an emergency fund, or incorrect tax filings, trusting unskilled or unqualified workers with these matters could cause your company to fail. Whilst hiring a professional may be expensive, it is a worthwhile investment that will protect your company from long-term risks and enable the safe expansion of your business.

Scaling a business takes time, effort, thought, and careful planning. We hope this article helps you take the right steps for your business so that you can enjoy long-term success.