There are lots of ways to grow your business, both in management strategies as well as using tools and other support available along the way. These tools can be for a variety of different aspects of the business, for example, perhaps outsourcing some of the processes to help lighten the workload, investing in different marketing strategies and even visiting sites like Sustainable Certification to see if you could obtain any qualifications as a business to appear trustworthy, reliable and competent to aspiring prospects.
However, having said all this, if you think about it, the key to explosive business growth really lies in extreme amounts of focus.
And really, this focus is the key to most things.
In working through the next stage of this blog, I have decided to focus on helping you look at tools that will help you grow aggressively and consistently.
Which requires focus.
But where do you put your focus?
Here are a few places that can have a real impact on your business’s growth.
1. Strategy:
Your strategy is all about three simple things:
- What value do we want to produce?
- Who are our buyers?
- How do we reach them?
To develop an actionable and product strategy, you need to revisit those questions over and over again.
2. Revenue:
Remember that you need to generate revenue or you just have a hobby.
The next step in the revenue aspect is to make sure that you aren’t generating revenue at the costs of profits.
You really have to discover where your most profitable revenue opportunities are and focus more of your time on those things.
3. Sales:
Nothing happens until you make a sale!
You need to understand the sales process from leads, to prospects, to presentation, to closing, and on through the full lifecycle of customer acquisition.
4. Marketing:
Marketing is all about telling your story.
The key in making your marketing effective is that you can’t focus on the new, shiny object. You need to focus on the important things and then figure out what tactics you need to achieve the big goals.
5. Innovation:
Innovation doesn’t mean creating something like the iPhone or iPad.
What it does mean is that you need to constantly look for ways to improve your products or services.
It doesn’t have to be big changes, but the continuous change of constant improvement.
6. Change:
Growth is about change.
Change is a process that you can manage.
The big key is that you need to make a plan for change and manage it in a consistent manner.
7. Leadership:
Growing a business, a movement, or an idea is about leadership.
Leadership is about having a vision and taking the steps to make that vision a reality.
8. Vision:
Vision comes out in the form of how you are going to make people’s lives easier or better.
How will your product or service change your market?
9. Branding:
Your branding can drive your business to tremendous growth.
This happens because your brand stands for something bigger and more impactful than just a product or a service.
Your brand must be aspirational and it must have a high impact.
10. Expansion:
If you are paying attention and your market starts to saturate, you will have begun to notice places that your products and services can go or would create value.
This will give you an opportunity to expand into new markets, into new areas.
11. Partnerships:
Sometimes you can grow a lot on your own, but in other times you need a partner.
Partnerships can be tremendously useful because they often open up new markets, offer you new credibility, and give you the chance to reposition your products or services.
12. Customer Focus:
Having a customer focus is essential to maximizing the value of your product or service to your audience.
Having a customer focus has actually become exceedingly rare, even if we hear how social media changes customer service.
Having a customer focus can be a tremendous opportunity for you.
13. Management:
Management is an essential skill for growth.
Just look at any successful team, there is a tremendous leader there.
Look at the University of Alabama with Nick Saban, he has all of the details mapped out and plans for everything. For his team, he judges them against a standard that he calls “The Process.”
You need to have a process for your own business that helps you manage growth.