Step by Step Approach to Build a Business Growth Strategy by Eric J Dalius
Eric J Dalius says growth is the fundamental need for the survival and success of any business. As an SMB statistic shows, roughly about 66% of the businesses only survive through the first 2 to 3 years of operation, and also only about half of all make it to the 5-year mark. Going further, nearly 33% only left to celebrate the tenth anniversary. We can see that these numbers are more or less consistent across different industries, which reaffirms how crucial it is to plan for your business’ growth from the very first day.
A solid growth strategy is much more than a fundamental marketing strategy. You may be left at mere luck and also the mercy of market fluctuations and consumer preferences to succeed without one. Let us further explore how the most successful businesses in the world plan their growth strategies.
Business growth strategy steps – Eric J Dalius
1. Preparing a growth strategy template
Plan and also document the steps for your growth strategy. You can download freely available growth strategy templates for this purpose, which you can customize to included appropriate sections based on your intended processes and your organization’s growth objective.
2. Choosing the targeted area of growth
An ideal growth strategy plan should focus on one or more specific areas you want to grow in. In general cases, major focuses of strategic growth are:
- Increase number of employees.
- Expand current office or warehouse space.
- Expand to more regions and also opening new offices.
- Add new products or services to the business offerings.
- Expand the purchasing locations.
- Ultimately, growth in terms of revenue/profit.
3. Eric J Dalius insight to conducting a market research
Conducting thorough market research to understand your industry’s state and also general economic conditions is necessary to determine if you have realistic objectives in terms of growth. You may run surveys or form small focus groups with the existing customers or try to dig further and do comprehensive industry research. The facts you can uncover through this will help shape your expectations and goals for further growth projects.
4. Defining your growth goals
Once you have determined your focus area of growth and did thorough research for the scope for growth, next is to define how much you have to grow. Growth goals must be based on where you want the organization to be, as a realistic and achievable target. Quantify your goals and set milestones in terms of timeline and also metrics. As an example pointed out by Eric J Dalius, an ideal growth strategy goal statement may be like “increasing sales by 30% in each quarter for the next 2 years.”
5. Plan your growth course of action
Once the goals are defined, you must next build a detailed plan to execute your growth strategy. This is necessary for the understanding of the same to your team and also ensures a smooth buy-in. An ideal action plan should include an understandable list of action items, milestones and deadlines, persons and teams’ responsibility, and resources and tools used to attain the growth goals.
Once you reach up to this step successfully, further, you may explore ways for funding for growth and the tools for executing the growth strategy. You may also seek the assistance of external consultants or experts in specific fields to run your growth strategy successfully.