7 Business Growth Tips
Growing a business can be a lot like gardening – just as messy and just as rewarding. Gardening is not rocket science, if you do the right thing at the right time you will succeed. Business is not rocket science either, if you do the right thing at the right time you will succeed! Here are my fail-proof gardening and business growth tips:
1. Planning
If you want to plant anything in your garden you need to start with a clear plan. Take time to study the area that you intend to plant in and take time to study the plant’s needs. Are the plant and the part of the garden that you intend to plant it in a good match? Does the area offer the right conditions to match the plant’s needs? Are there already many plants in the same patch of soil? Are there lots of slugs? These are some of the vital questions that must be well thought out before planting anything! In the same way, if you expect your business to grow you should spend some time researching and planning before you do anything else. If you have already ‘planted’ your business, it is not too late to invest in some planning. Is the area suitable for your business and is your expertise suitable for the people you are aiming to reach? Ice is not going to make a great business in Antarctica! Is there enough ‘space’ for your business or is the competition already fierce? Overcrowding kills businesses! Make sure you can be better or find something else to do. Each question you ask yourself will force you to create a great plan for your business. Each and every time you work on your business plan you could find new and better ways to encourage business growth. Show me your plan I will tell you where your business is going. Not having a plan means you are going nowhere. It could be nowhere quickly or nowhere over a long period of time but nowhere is the ultimate destination. Would you plant in your garden randomly without considering all the necessary factors? The chances are that the plant will die. Most gardeners make sure that they understand the plant’s needs and then plan where to plant based on these specific needs. Drainage, sunshine, water and soil type will significantly affect the growth or death of plants. Write your own metaphor based on these factors and see if it helps in your planning.
2. Preparation
Once you are certain that everything is ready for planting, you begin to execute your plan. The first part of the plan is always preparation! Long before you plan you dig, you water, you add fertilizer or manure and you wait. It might seem pointless, like a waste of time, but in reality the longer you take to prepare the better your crop! Business is no different. Prepare your target audience for your business. Make them excited. Get them ready so that when you announce your new business or your new product or service, they will already want it. Marketing is a huge part of preparation just like digging is for a gardener. Set up at least 20 to 30 different marketing pillars that will underpin your business. Another essential part of preparation is to make sure that all your systems work. There is nothing worse than using something that doesn’t work. You will frustrate your clients. If your business relies on your website, test it and test it and test it again until you are sure that it works the way it should. If your business offers some sort of health benefits, test it repeatedly until you are convinced that your product or service really does work. Dig, prod, refresh or do whatever you need to do to prepare.
3. Planting Seeds
Gardening requires a lot of waiting patiently. After all the hard work and digging is done you get busy with planting. Your word really hard at planting every single seed in the right place and you cover it and then you… wait. Waiting is an essential part of gardening and it is also an essential part of business. Imagine if a gardener planted her seeds and then after one day went back to dig them all up to see if they were growing. If she did that a few times the seeds would die because they have been disturbed too often. Business is no different. It is essential that we plant our seeds through advertising, marketing, word of mouth, social media, press, flyers and so much more. We must plant out seeds but we must also wait. Don’t assume because there is a great deal of silence after all your hard work that your seeds are not growing. They take time to grow. People see your adverts but perhaps don’t need what you have to offer right away. Your marketing is well ‘planted’ but people need to see it a few times before the twig that it is exactly what they need. Many factors could cause your seeds to grow or die but one thing is for sure, you must patiently wait and not be discouraged when you don’t see anything come of all your hard work. In times of discouragement simply look out into a garden and remember how long it takes for those little tiny seeds to form and shoot their tiny little stem up out of the ground. If you can patiently wait then you will reap a great harvest from all your tiny seeds. And while you are waiting, do something else. Work on your bookkeeping or on your admin systems, put a filing system in place or do anything else that will help you manage WHEN your seeds begin to grow.
4. Watering Seeds
Seeds need watering after you have planted them in your garden. That’s a given. Planting without watering would be silly. If seeds aren’t watered consistently they won’t grow, they will die. Business ‘seeds’ need watering too and neglecting to do so is just as silly as not watering seeds in your garden and expecting to see results. Consistency is the key. People need to hear the same thing at least six times before it sinks in. They need to hear, read and see your message several times in various different ways. Eventually they will realise that they need to contact you but only after you have consistently repeated your message to them. Subtly is a key too. Watering your seeds with a pressure hose will just blast them out of the soil and destroy them. A gentle rain like spray is all your need when watering the seeds you have planted in your garden. In the same way, your message needs to be subtle and not a full force sales pitch repeatedly. You will lose people this way. Gently sprinkle your message consistently and in time you will see the little seeds growing and bearing fruit. Pushy sales people usually scare people away. Take time to regularly water your potential clients with an appealing message that will encourage them to do business with you.
5. Protecting and Nurturing
Allowing your tender seedlings to be exposed to the elements will hinder their growth and could even lead to their death. When the seedlings push through the ground and show signs of life they need protecting from the sun, wind, hail, frost, bugs and so much more. Business needs protecting and nurturing too. You simply cannot start a business and leave it, expecting it to grow. Various things are dangerous to business and so it is essential to protect and nurture it. Some threats include money, time and health. It is essential that you make sure that you have enough financial backup to keep you through a difficult month or two. Most importantly, don’t allow yourself to accumulate too many overheads at first. No money equals no more business so a healthy cash flow is essential. Another threat is time! If your time is not managed well you could either burn yourself out or invest too much time in the wrong places and end up killing your business. There are many threats to a small business so including a thorough SWOT analysis in your business plan is essential. Don’t assume that your business is safe, protect and nurture it.
6. Pruning
Pruning is what strengthens and maintains plants. It is a practice involving the selective removal of diseased, damaged, dead and non-productive parts of a plant’s branches, buds, or roots. Reasons for pruning include removing dead parts, shaping (by controlling or directing growth) and increasing the yield or quality of flowers and fruits. Businesses need pruning too if they are to grow into strong, healthy and prosperous businesses. Prune off dead parts of the business, areas that are not producing a good income or are even a drain on the business. Shape the business into precisely what you want it to be. Most importantly, remove damaged or diseased parts of the business, parts that are haemorrhaging money or time or damaging people. One of the biggest mistakes that business owners make is that they feel the need to be the expert at everything. It would be better use of your time to do what you are good at and leave what you do not excel at. If possible leave it entirely but if it is an essential part of your business outsource it to someone who can do it better than you. Cut off people that are bad for business too. Cut off anything at all that is preventing your business from being strong and healthy.
7. Harvesting
Harvesting is hard work but this is also the fun part, the part where all the hard work pays off. If you planted flower seeds then you get to enjoy the beautiful flowers, if you planted vegetables or fruit then you get to eat from your hard work. In business, this is the part where you make your money, you harvest your return. Harvesting is very rewarding but even in the harvesting stage, you still need to focus on the important next steps. After harvesting take time to plan for the next season. Ask for referrals, create an after sales system, focus on customer care and upselling.
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Happy gardening!