4 Steps to Take When Expanding Your Small Business

Creating sustainable growth for a business can be a challenge but it is vital. Common mistakes a business can make is losing touch with your brand and your customers. It is easy to take on too many expenses too fast too and jeopardize your cash flow. Whether you are planning on expanding into new markets or investing in marketing strategies to grow your customer base, finding a way to secure sustainable growth that is stable is key.

Cover Your Legal Bases

When your business grows, so will your responsibilities. Keeping up regulations, taxes, and other legal requirements can get complicated fast, so you have to make sure you cover all your legal bases before you get too big. It will also help protect you from lawsuits.

If your business is still a sole proprietorship it is a good idea to look at your other options before you expand. It is recommended that you form an LLC instead because it will shield you from liability and protect your personal assets in case a lawsuit arises. Limited liability companies also get tax benefits and flexible management options. As long as you understand the regulations around forming an LLC in your state, you can register your LLC online to avoid hiring a lawyer.

Outsource When Possible

Your workload is also going to grow as your business grows. Make sure that you are ready to handle the extra demand on your time and resources because it will be coming your way. Outsourcing might be a solution you can consider if you are anticipating obstacles. From bookkeeping to social media, anything can be outsourced. Outsource everything you can to experienced freelancers to free up time so your immediate team can focus on the thing stat matter most like caring for your customers.

Keep Your Customers Front and Center

There is a reason why businesses that are bigger seem impersonal. It is because they do not have the time or resources to care for their customers like small businesses can. As you grow your business, be careful to avoid this. This is a good opportunity to double down on your customer satisfaction strategy. Look for ways to bring more value to the customer experience as you grow. This is a good time to implement customer relationship management (CRM) software so you can more easily manage interactions with your customers and organize customer data in one place.

Monitor Your Progress

Monitoring key business metrics is essential to track your growth progress. You will need to establish some key performance indicators that will let you make sense of all your date and see how well you are achieving your goals. Some examples of KPI’s include gross profit margins, website traffic growth, and customer support ticket backlog. By measuring the KPIs like these will give your team objectives to work towards as you pursue business growth.

Once you are clear on the metrics you want to track, establish a plan for monitoring this information. There are tons of tools online that can help you track your profit margins, cash flow, customer satisfaction, website analytics, and more. Take advantage of these because they will integrate with software easily and using it to make progress as easy and hassle free as possible.

When you begin to monitor your progress, you might find that you will need additional funding. When this happens, it is important to secure the right type of financing that fits your business situation. Remember to be wise about the type of loan you choose because you do not want to overextend yourself.

The Bottom Line

It requires effective planning and attention to expand a small business without any growing pains. Remember to get caught up on your legal obligations, outsource extra work, prioritize your customers and measure your progress every step of the way.