Quite interestingly there’s no real rocket science to growing a small business. In actual fact there are only four (4) ways to grow any business.
One:
You get your existing customer to buy more of your products/services. Pull your Debtors Age Analysis and look at who buys what from you and, more importantly, what of your product/service range are they not buying!
Two:
You get new customers to buy your existing products/services. Plot your customers on a matrix of key demographic or psychographic values and see if there are any gaps that you could fill eg you’re really strong in one region, but very weak in another. These gaps are quick and easy to fill as you simply need to expand your existing products/service to these new areas.
Three:
You introduce a new, value added, product/service to your existing customers. By link selling a new benefit you could increase your existing customers’ spend with you and leverage off your good name, reputation and loyalty to improve profits.
Four:
You diversify completely and introduce a new range of products/services and target an entirely new customer base with these. Note that this option is the most risky as you probably have limited knowledge of the new product/service, have no track record in its delivery and are trying to reach new customers you’ve never dealt with before. Not only is it risky but it is often also expensive both in terms of time and resources.
With these in mind take a look at your current situation to see where you can expand to capitalise on opportunities. Don’t forget to develop an effective marketing plan around this new strategy.
