How to Grow your Business

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As a business owner, you may be aware of where your business could improve but you may not be sure of where to start.

This guide provides an overview of some of the key steps you can take to start improving your business.

Assess your situation

Before you start making changes to your business, it's a good idea to check you have a full understanding of the factors that are impacting on its success.

These may include your current business practices, market trends or changes to the wider environment in which you operate.

A number of tools can help you assess the health of your business. These include:

  • SWOT analysis: helps to identify your business' strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
  • Benchmarking: measures performance against similar-sized businesses in your industry
  • Market research: investigates your market and industry to identify trends, changes and customer or client demands
  • Trend analysis: uses business data collected over time to identify consistent results or trends.

Set clear goals

Business goals can be as broad or as specific as you want. Writing down your goals clearly will make it easier for you to achieve them. Make sure your goals are:

  • Specific: state clearly what you want to achieve
  • Measurable: make sure you can evaluate success
  • Achievable: check your objective is something you have the time and resources to meet
  • Relevant: make sure your objectives improve profit drivers and improve some part of your business
  • Timely: set a specific date for completion

Once you have written down your goals, prioritise them to decide which ones to focus on first.

It's also important to recognise that some goals will need a long-term strategy because they can’t be achieved immediately.

Identify strategies for achieving your goals

Review your goals and list the factors you think are creating your current circumstances. Think about what strategy you could use to improve the situation.

Depending on the goals you're trying to meet, you may want to think about using the services of a business professional, such as a professional trainer, a contractor or a business mentor.

Think realistically about what you can do yourself and where you may benefit from some support.

Develop a plan for implementing longer-term goals or strategies

Longer-term goals or strategies often include several specific actions or tasks. It's a good idea to develop a plan for how you will do this.

Write your plan in a format that suits you. It should include:

  • Time frame: how long a task will take to complete, including start and finish dates
  • Actions: list the individual actions as precisely as you can
  • Responsibilities: assign accountability for each action so everyone knows precisely what you expect of them and who is responsible for ensuring the work is done
  • Resources: list budget, staff or supplies needed to complete each action
  • Desired outcome: state how you will be satisfied the action has been completed