For a small business – whether that be B2B, B2C, online or off – growth is always going to be the ultimate goal. The well-known metaphor about the shark that must keep moving or die certainly applies in the case of small businesses. Growth is the only way to survive, but it should offer you much more than that as well.
Obviously, growth means higher revenues, but it also means more responsibilities. And it is here, in fact, that we come across one of the major problems of growth – it can be poorly organized, become chaotic and, ultimately, can collapse. What we might therefor conclude is that there is only one thing better than growth for a small company – sustained growth. This is because if growth is not sustainable, it will not last.
So, what can you do to encourage sustainable growth for your small company? Well, the advice is diverse and depends a great deal on what type of company you are actually running. However, we might say one thing with certainty: it is a matter of organization. As business operations expand, there is simply more to do, more payments to make, more sales to make, more employees to pay, and more services to enlist the help of.
Sustained Growth for Small Businesses
As it happens, we can offer some tips to help a small business through a period of growth once it has started. You need to think in terms of momentum and how to keep it going. More often than not, there will be a clearly identifiable reasons why a small business has started expanding. The problem though usually involves, in some way or another, cash flow.
Cash flow refers to the availability of cash when it is needed. Total profits might, on paper, appear to be ample for your financial obligations, but when is that money actually coming in? When your business expands, you will have more profits and more things to pay for, but do the timescales for both of those sync up? Small business invoice factoring company FastFACTR says that their services are very frequently sought by companies on the cusp of extended growth and facing precisely these cash flow related issues.
Tips to Encourage Sustained Growth
So, what can you do to ensure that your growth isn’t just a flash in the pan or, worse, that it doesn’t derail your business with cash flow issues? Here follows a handful of useful tips:
Review Financial Policy
After growth starts, it is time to devise a new financial policy. The old one simply won’t do, and your old forecast methods will no longer take your new success into account. It’s not quite “rip it up and start again”, but it’s not far off.
Audit Regularly
The thing about growth is that it is not a new set of circumstances for your business to adapt to; it is an ongoing process. Depending on how fast you grow, it could only be “business as usual” for a short period of time. Accordingly, it’s time to audit and review much more regularly – at least until you get abreast of what is actually happening.
Outsource
It’s a new expenditure, but you’ll have the money for it too. Your business is getting bigger, so it’s time to stop doing everything internally. Be careful here, but there are many things that can be effectively outsourced. Outsourcing accounts receivable management is one way to get payment running much more smoothly.
Ultimately, encouraging growth is all very well, but you need to know how to steer the car onto the fast lane.
