Business scaling is a step that companies take when they want to grow their business to the next level. Companies can scale their businesses as soon as they feel ready for the process of growth. At first, companies that prepare for scaling of their business must develop an idea. After that, they need to build a team that will help in the realization of that idea. Next, they will create a product that is fit for the market and sell the idea to potential customers. In other words, the only thing that companies need to focus on is how to scale a business fast and expand it easily.
Did you Know:
What Scaling a Company Means?
“Scaling a company” means “to grow or expand” a business “in a proportional and usually profitable way,” as defined in Merriam Webster. A business scaling is possible when the company can cope with an increased amount of work while at the same time can maintain or increase its efficiency. Therefore, entrepreneurs may help their businesses scale by increasing both their workload and their efficiency at the same time.
Before companies decide to scale a business, they must be sure that they have already found a strategy that works for them, without the need for experimenting with new ideas. Having done that, businesses can repeat the idea in an effective manner and as many times as possible.
The company’s main focus when scaling a business is about the customer’s needs. Moreover, companies need to also pay attention to the speed of the customer’s adaptation to the product. This will help them prevent their competition from attracting potential customers.
Read below about the seven best practices on how to scale a business that will help with the strategy for achieving the company’s growth goal.
How to Scale a Business?
- Direct the Focus on What is Important
Perspective is everything when you are scaling a business for success! Most struggling entrepreneurs fail in this area because they’re focused on the wrong things. Companies need to look beyond daily tasks and projects on their to-do lists. Instead, they should evaluate their next move, evolve and take it to the next level.
Companies must analyze whether their businesses are ready for growth. If they focus on the essential details, they will know the current and the desired position of their business on the market. However, companies will definitely stagnate if they fail to focus on critical activities that will help their businesses move forward strategically.
To scale a business, companies must determine what they need to increase their sales. They need to think of which technologies and systems they will use, or how many people to employ.
Image source - Identify the Core Strengths of the Business
Another step of the business scaling strategy is to discover what a company does best in its niche and what sets it apart from the competition. Entrepreneurs need to identify the core strengths of their business to compete for clients effectively.
Moreover, companies must analyze the business environment and compare their business scaling strategy with the ones of their competitors. They need to create the most appropriate strategy for placing their company at the top, among other similar companies.
Therefore, a business must first identify what is best done within the company and how the competition may be surpassed. This is usually done by creating a SWOT analysis of the company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Once companies complete their specific SWOT analysis, they will be able to identify the core strengths of their business.
Image source - Develop a Network of Connections and Focus on Using Various Marketing Channels
Developing a network of connections and key relationships is crucial when the company is prepared to scale a business and focus on long-term growth. Business scaling is achievable through both building new connections and fostering the already existing ones. Business owners need to also build stronger relationships with their employees and make new connections with other companies as well.
Companies need to focus more on marketing and indirect channels. Having a good social media marketing strategy is the key to success for building a network of connections online, especially through social media such as: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and even Instagram.
When scaling a business model, entrepreneurs should learn how to generate more leads by discovering what their competitors are advertising on television or online.
Image source - Gather Money and Secure the Sales
When scaling a business, companies are faced with a lot of expenses. One of the most common costs happens when the business scaling strategy requires the hiring of new employees. Increasing the staff implies new expenses and new salaries that the company must pay to realize the scaling procedure.
To gather money, companies need to use certain techniques such as bootstrapping – starting up an enterprise with minimal financial resources. However, this technique is not enough because it takes a lot of time until it gets the wanted results. There are small business contests that grant cash prizes to companies who choose to participate in the contest. Another way to gather money for the business scaling strategy is through getting loans or credits from banks or other financial institutions. Gathering the needed money will help companies secure their sales and achieve their business’ growth.
Image source - Invest in IT Support Systems and Technology
When scaling a business, entrepreneurs need to find a way to automate the process. Investing in technology makes the business scaling strategy easier. A wise investment in IT support systems may result in fewer expenses. Automation of the scaling procedure and investing in a dozen of IT support systems may minimize the manual work, thus lowering the costs of running the company. Alongside the growth of a company, the IT support systems must also grow, so that potential communication and management problems are avoided.
Companies can save resources and time by evaluating their new products on the market by using marketing automation, sales management, human resources (HR), accounting, and other technology systems. They can also set up cloud storage, organize training procedures for new hires, invest in payroll for rapid processing, etc. Companies are recommended to begin early with this practice to see their businesses scale faster.
Image source - Deal with Hold-Ups
As the company grows while scaling a business, entrepreneurs may face a time when things will not be running smoothly or when they may be delayed. In such a situation, companies will have to come up with back-up solutions to support growth and keep operations running well.
The hold-ups may show up in different ways. A hold-up may occur when there is only one person available to complete a task, when tasks are inaccurately delegated to team members, or when team members cannot operate without talking to the business owner. Moreover, hold-ups can happen when failing to bill enough for active work, failing to offer leveraged and passive contributions that do not require much time, lacking systems and process management, and having the need to check and double-check every task. Knowing how to face such hold-ups will help you with the business scaling procedure.
Image source - Find the Most Qualified Staff or Choose to Outsource
The final practice of scaling a business requires companies to hire the most qualified people internally or from a remote location. Companies must have staff in various departments so that their business scaling strategy marks a success. Therefore, they need to have enough customer service staff, employees for manufacturing, inventory, and delivery of the products or services, as well as managers that will supervise each department.
When employers cannot hire staff internally, they can choose to outsource and relocate certain business functions and processes to a service provider that is in a remote location. Hiring staff from another location is better for a business scaling strategy, especially when trying to minimize the company’s time and resources. A third-party service provider may help the business scale better, in a more rapid manner and less expensive.
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These seven practices for scaling a business are important for the growth of a business. Tell us how many of these scaling practices you implement in your company?
Sources:
score.org/blog/how-scale-business
medium.com/to-the-power-of-ai/the-best-way-to-scale-a-business-is-to-unify-it-first-f0b947ba6f10
medium.com/brands-that-matter/7-ways-to-rapidly-scale-a-social-business-a4511ea96e86
entrepreneurship.org/learning-paths/scaling-your-company/starting-to-scale