You have a start-up business which has just crossed
the break even. You know that you can sustain but need a thrust to take your
business to the next level.
You need more minds to think for you and take a
right decision at the right time. You may need to take the help of market
research agencies, financial analysts, consent of creditors or financiers, and
of course your own gut feeling to move things forward—in right direction.
Though there are many to occupy your priority list,
we have formulated top ten tips you should consider while planning to expand your
business operations to the higher level.
Understanding
market trend
Your product might have found a place in the market.
But the trend keeps changing as competitors always wait for opportunities. So,
before any new move from your side, you should do a thorough market research to
understand the trend and future prospects of your product. If you find emerging
opportunities, you should first hit the market. This may be an unplanned move but
will help you consolidate our business in the long run.
Set
clear goals
Before you take a final decision on expanding your
business, you should analyze how much capital you are going to infuse into the
market, incubation period, prospect of ROI, effect of failure on your
established business, etc. Make sure that your goals are measurable, specific,
achievable, relevant and timely.
Quality
check
Before you make a foray into the next level of your business, which may be the
introduction of a new product or expansion to new areas, you must ensure that
you have the best quality product available to the new consumers.
New
areas of expansion
Always look for new areas to expand your business.
If you have a business which has more local interest, then there shouldn’t be
any stone unturned from your end to utilise the last available opportunity to reach
maximum customers in projected areas.
Ways
to reach more customers
Marketing is the time tested strategy to reach wide
array of customers. Technology has given us more options to find prospective customers
in sophisticated ways. Apart from doing traditional marketing, you should
expand your horizon to find new customers through new marketing tools available
in the digital world.
Look
for new business alignments
Partnership is one of the ways to expand the
business. This will reduce the capital expenditure and risks. Though you may
have to part with some of the profits, the long term benefits are more while
you take your business to the next pedestal.
Think
globally and target other markets
If you feel that you need to expand your business
beyond your established local area, understanding the trend, customers’ need
and marketing strategy to be adopted at the new planned area/s, should be
essentially learnt before your venture into the new territory.
Invest
on quality staff
Motivated and talented workers bring much needed improvements
in your business. Learn how to motivate your staff to higher levels of
performance.
Improve
customer service levels
Satisfied customers are the brand ambassadors of any
business. You should spend more time and energy to fine tune your customer
service personnel which will help to connect with your existing customers when
you launch new products in the market.
Draw
up a strategy to outwit competitors
Always be geared to outwit your competitors. Even if they introduce better product/s in the
market first, you should not hurry to launch a counter product without spending
adequate time and energy in research and development as inferior product will
erode customer base and benefit your competitors.
