How do I grow this business?
A delegate at one of our More Profit events asked, “How do I grow the business?” My reply was pretty much as follows.
The three obsessions of the successful business are:
- Strategy
- Marketing
- Teams
Two other aspects key to successfully growing a business:
- A willingness to take on external funding
- A willingness to take on external advice.
What holds back most entrepreneurs is their fear of letting go of the ownership, and of the management of the business.
In order to grow a business, to grow your sales, there are ‘Three Plus One’ key levers to massage:
- Get more customers
- Get customers to buy more
- Get customers to buy more often
The impact of working on these aspects of your business is quite staggering. Small changes, when combined, can have a massive impact.
And what was the ‘plus one’ factor? – to slow down or stop the rate at which existing customers leave you.
A warning: increasing turnover is a hiding to nothing if profits are not sufficient – you become a busy fool. To increase profits, there is a particular order in which to do things. The number one tool is to increase prices.
But the key to it all is action – making things happen! Being systematic, being rigorous, being thorough, and being obsessed with the customer experience – giving them legendary service that makes them want to come back for more.
