Growing a business is challenging. Many businesses stagnate and it feels like the effort that goes into growth is often not rewarded. Without a solid and actionable growth strategy it’s very easy for all your efforts to go unrewarded. You also need to keep in mind that growth strategies take time to gain momentum, and many people change tact before they even get the chance to see results. So, how do you prepare for and achieve growth? By scaling your business.
Why is Scaling your Business the Key to Growth and Expansion?
When we talk about business expansion we’re talking about the growth of a business. Everyone wants their business to grow, right?
Growth refers to more business – more sales, more exposure, more income but also often greater expenses. Growth without strategic scaling provisions is typically accompanied with increased expenses to accommodate for the increase in workload. This ultimately leaves you no better off than you were before the growth. If your current systems can’t facilitate your growth, you will be needing to make significant changes at the worst possible time which could cost you even more money.
Scaling however is a growth strategy where your staff are supported with appropriate systems to help your business cope with an increase in demand.
The Keys to Scaling a Business
A successful scalability strategy consists of the implementation of these three concepts:
Where to start with Making your Business Scalable
Why is this process important? It helps you establish a growth strategy that is more likely to succeed.
Build The Big Picture
Let’s get started with some basic questions to build your big picture.
- What is your core offer?
- Who is your idea customer?
- Why do you provide what you do? What is your core motivation?
This might seem like a pointless exercise but being able to articulate what it is you do and why you do it is at the very core of everything you do. Staying focused on your core purpose is integral to setting goals that will help you grow.
Find The Bottlenecks
Firstly, you need to map your current workflow and processes.
- What business systems are you currently using?
- What is the process within and between the systems in your organisation?
Look over your workflow processes and highlight any areas where issues tend to arise. This is a task better done with staff involvement as they will have insights integral to getting the whole picture. Some departments affect the efficiency of other departments, and sometimes you may have departments that work well in isolation but information transfer between them is problematic – particularly if you’re not using integrated systems.
- What makes it difficult for each department to complete their tasks in a timely manner?
- Are there any communication issues or risks for error in the workflow?
- Is each department below, at or above capacity with regard to their workload?
Highlight Repetitive Tasks
Some questions to consider are:
- Are your staff having to input the same data either in the same system or multiple systems?
- Does your team need to manually create orders and/or invoices for each individual customer?
- Do your customer service / support staff have to manually write copy and manually communicate the same thing with various customers?
Review Your Staffing Arrangements
Once you have found the bottlenecks, you need to identify where your current staffing numbers and processes will struggle with increased growth. If one part of your workflow struggles with the workload it will impact the others. You don’t want to be discovering staff shortfalls in the midst of growth because training takes both time and resources which only puts staff under more pressure.
Are your staff working efficiently? The implementation of automated systems can help with this but some staff may need to be upskilled to successfully implement efficiency systems. Dealing with growth by adding more and more staff members is not scaling, so consider what you can implement to support your staff in their roles instead.
Outline Your Goals
Use the SMART goal framework to make sure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Learn more about SMART goals here.
You want to be mindful of your core offer and ‘why’ when you’re writing your growth goals. You also need to consider your ideal customer when you’re strategising how to achieve your goals.
If you’re starting with a large long-term goal, you can break it up into smaller goals that are actionable in the short term. This can help everyone be motivated by the goals and stay focused on what you’re trying to achieve.
You can use a collaborative platform like Trello to map, share and monitor goals within your organisation.
Set Up To Scale
Now that you have audited your business in its current state it’s time to look at what you can implement to scale your business and support significant growth.
Streamlined Processes
All processes within your organisation should be documented for a number of reasons. The first reason is that it makes onboarding new staff members much simpler and quicker. Secondly, your team members work more efficiently. Thirdly, there is a reduced likelihood of error when processes are well outlined.
There are a number of ways you can streamline processes. Documentation is an important part of effective process management. Another is to implement software like Jiwa that helps the staff in your organisation access all the information their need to do their jobs effectively. When information is stored in a central repository there is less duplication of information, leading to more efficient use of time.
Automation
Automation can be implemented in a number of areas including stock management, invoicing and ordering, and to communication with customers. If you’re not automating these tasks your business is not scalable and will struggle with significant growth. Obviously if you’re in the manufacturing industry you can also implement automation for physical assembly which can also help you manage sudden growth. Here are just some aspects of your business that could be automated:
- Invoicing
- Purchasing
- Stock management
- Warehouse picking
- Sales
- Customer relationships
- Marketing
- Assembly
Many businesses find that without automation, an increase in sales means overwhelmed staff members and tasks being mismanaged or forgotten about altogether. When you use automated systems like Jiwa, many of the tasks that would take a significant amount of time are quick and easy for your staff to manage, allowing them to handle more. Automating aspects like stock management and ordering also reduces the likelihood of human error and risk of stock outs.
Automating customer communication using CRM systems is crucial in helping your customer-facing staff to manage a large portfolio of customers. These systems help you maintain relationships with your customers in an efficient manner.
Ongoing Internal Analysis
In order to ensure your business is truly scalable you must review and monitor your processes. As you grow you will identify areas for further improvement if you are monitoring how everything is going. Refer to your workflow maps and look for bottlenecks that may not have been there prior to your recent growth.
If you expand your locations, can your existing systems handle additional warehouses and/or offices? Depending on your goals, you want to make sure your systems are scalable to meet your desired needs. Your processes might be fine for the one location but how well do they apply to 5 or 50? You’re analysing both current performance and also reviewing how your systems will hold up with relation to the goals you have set.
A successful growth strategy and scalable business isn’t built from day one and left to work its magic. If you truly want to succeed in having a scalable business in 2025 you need to continuously review and seek areas for improvement. With advances in technology these days there are more and more opportunities for streamlining and automating processes within your organisation. Even business management software like Jiwa is expanded on a regular basis so you may find you can automate even more on a newer version than you have previously been able to.
In Summary
Gain an overview of who you are, what you do, why you do it and what you want. Work out what works well and where there is room to make improvements. Once you have scalable systems in place it’s time to set and review your growth goals using the SMART framework.
If you’re already a Jiwa customer there might be more ways Jiwa can make sure your business is scalable and ready to handle growth. You can chat with our support team to find out if there’s more Jiwa could do for you. If you’re not yet a Jiwa user, feel free to contact us for a free demo. Our demos are built specifically for you to help you with your unique needs. Contact us today for more information.
