3 Proven Business Growth Strategies You Can Start Doing Today

As the end of the year draws near, it’s typical for business owners to be more mindful of your company’s financial standing. How far have you gone since you set your goals earlier this year? What are your plans for the coming year or the one after that? It’s also around this time when speculating about ideas on how to increase business growth long term becomes a pressing issue. But what does business growth exactly mean for your business?

Business Growth: What does it mean for your business?

Contrary to what many believe, business growth isn’t linear. It doesn’t necessarily equate to a surge in revenue over time. Your brand can, in fact, go back and forth as a growing company, and there are several aspects where you can achieve growth. Below are the different manifestations of business growth:

• Product development – this is when you create a new product or branch into a different product line that either supports your current one or answers a similar need. For example, if you make handmade soaps, you can create a version that is specifically targeted to people with sensitive skin.
• Brand awareness ­– you can still grow your business even without having to add a new product or service. When your brand awareness is boosted, many people get to know your brand and you have higher chances of winning over new customers.
• Market expansion – this type of growth happens when you penetrate a segment of a market or increase your user base. You can expand your prospects by adding a new product, bundling your current ones, and lowering your rates. Rebranding is also another way of expanding one’s market. For instance, when Redbull introduced its tropical flavors, it became more inclusive and earned more customers among women and younger people.
• Diversification – In business, this means growing your brand by joining entirely different markets. Diversification can either be as far out as dabbling in a new industry or as simple as targeting a different demographic for your current product. An example of the latter is when you drop a version for men of a product that was previously dedicated to women.

Because there are different types of business growth, there are also different ways to approach developing a growth strategy. The good news is that you don’t need to venture far and wide to push your company forward. Of course, some strategies need to be specific or unique to a certain form of business development. For example, you need to do a comprehensive market investigation and supply research if you’re planning to add a new product.

Driving new business development also means having strategies with repeat value that you can apply instantly. Such are these 3 proven business growth strategies that you can start doing today:

1. Listen to customers and adapt.

Apart from answering basic service inquiries or direct customer concerns, make it a point to check out how people rate your brand.

Entrepreneurs today have more access to customers, thanks to social media and Google. Through Tweets, mentions, and Google reviews, you can listen in to what people are saying about your products and services. Perhaps you can make your order process simpler and faster. Maybe you can shorten your response rate from 24 hours into 2-3 hours only. Often, customer feedback shows their pain points. By going out of your way to solve these issues, you make it easier for customers to choose you over others. More importantly, you encourage word-of-mouth recommendation, which remains as a strong form of promotion even today.

2. Save even for sunny days.

If you’re only saving for the rainy days, then you’re highly likely to splurge when business is going well. Being financially responsible takes discipline. And discipline is achieved by doing small, deliberate acts every day that support your goals and align with your vision.

Set aside a portion of your income for emergencies, retirement, and re-investment. What is left is only what you should spend for current needs or wants. Saving also means being budget-savvy in your business finances. Make sure you’re not doing any of these 4 budgeting practices that harm your business.

3. Get better with asking for help.

A good leader identifies the need for task delegation. As an entrepreneur, if you want to better manage your business, you need better ways of delegating responsibilities. In a similar vein, this means knowing where to seek quality help.

This is what makes virtual assistance an ideal fit for both startup and established brands. For one thing, it is an easier, more affordable employment arrangement. For another, you can delegate different tasks to someone or start building a team of virtual assistants without breaking the bank – or running risks with the IRS.

Here’s a short list of the different ways a virtual assistant can help your business:

1. Creating content for your social media, blog, and email
2. Answering customer inquiries and comments
3. Processing orders and updating inventory
4. Marketing
5. Website development
6. Bookkeeping
7. Managing events and appointments
8. Research
9. Public relations
10. Creating and editing videos

For small business owners and solopreneurs, working with a virtual assistant can initially feel daunting or excessive. Wouldn’t it be risky to work with someone you can’t personally meet and manage? Isn’t virtual assistance a luxury for established brands? If you feel the same way, know that:

1. Working with a staffing agency such as 20four7VA makes the hiring process seamless and VA management easy and collaborative.
2. Not working with a virtual assistant can be more costly. It’s easier to see the worth of this investment if you consider how these 4 solopreneur challenges are made manageable by working with a VA.

Growing your business need not be a complex set of rules. It can be simple tweaks in how you handle customer concerns or money no matter the season. It can be the simple knowledge of the things you can use a virtual assistant for, so you can find the right person fit for the job. Whichever way you envision your business to grow, you can get closer to your goal by doing these 3 growth strategies today.