Creating and delivering business growth
Guy Lewis, one of the Directors at CDI Alliance, presented a webinar during York Business Week where he shared his simple strategies for planning for growth in a business.
In this blog post, we’ve asked Guy to re-share some of that knowledge to help those who are looking to grow but don’t know where to start.
One of the challenges that Guy often see is that business owners have so many ideas they suffer from decision paralysis – unable to see the best way forward combined with fear of making the wrong decision.
Guy’s simple strategies for planning for growth:
Look for the low-hanging fruit
Take the low-risk strategy, try to sell more of your existing products or services to your existing customers. Find out what other products or services they need and make sure they know about what you have to offer. Ask them if there is another product or service they would be interested in and see if this is within your scope of development.
Identify lapsed customers and reconnect with them
It is 5 to 6 times more expensive to find a new customer, go back to your previous customers and find out why they haven’t reordered. It may be they don’t know about other products or services you offer and it again you can ask them if there are any new products or services they would be interested in.
Find new customers for your existing products.
This is a slightly higher risk and more costly strategy so you should think carefully before you invest time and money into it. Look to new geographic areas that border your existing sales areas in the same sector and research what other sectors may require your existing products or services. You can then establish a Business Development plan and implement it.
Introduce new products
If you’ve followed step 1 & 2, you’ve already asked you clients and previous clients what new products or services they would be interested in you developing or delivering. However, there are a few things you need to consider before you introduce anything new.
- Do you or your team have the existing skills, or will you need to bring someone else in?
- Do you have enough people, do your premises have capacity?
- Is it compatible with your existing products/services?
- How will it impact your cashflow?
- Is there a market for it?
Once you’ve addressed these, it will give you a clearer idea as to whether the new product or service is viable.
We hope you’ve found these tips helpful. Growing your business is an ambitious step to take. We’ve worked with numerous businesses over the last 10 years to help them get their strategies in order. If you are interested in exploring how your business can grow then please get in touch with us through our contact form
