How To Expand Your Offering

04/04/10

By Victoria Pooley, Managing Director, The Data Partnership

Expansion and growth involves careful planning; once you have a good cash flow, a solid customer base and an optimistic profit forecast, it seems like the obvious next step is the expansion of services and staffing levels.

If you have a strong position during a recession, it's often a great opportunity to expand your offerings, sorting the wheat from the chaff and setting you aside from your competitors. It's also a time where others choose the safest stance of 'Business as usual'.

Also, when thinking of expansion people often forget that this can...

...include deepening your relationships with your existing customers, thereby increasing their spend with you. Quality, customer service and new products can set a business apart from others in the industry that continue to concentrate their efforts on new business development, often at the expense of penalising loyalty.

Expansion doesn't have to mean massive changes in the way your business is run, but the decision to extend your business offering must be a result of thoughtful consideration of an array of factors, including the financial, communicative, even emotional readiness.

Connecting with employees

Regular contact with your employees is crucial at all stages of a business expansion. In The Data Partnership we have regular staff meetings where we discuss most aspects of the company business plans with team as a whole. I believe this really helps with keeping the staff motivated as well as allowing everyone to be 'singing off the same hymn sheet'. If staff feel like they are kept in the picture then they feel part of the expansion. Often their comments can throw fresh light onto ideas and they feel listened to, meaning they really believe in what they are doing.

Financing an expansion

When it's time to investigate finance to... continued on page two >

 

 

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