Your target market, market conditions, and building a holistic plan are good starting points when it comes to scaling up your business…

Following on from part 1, how do you scale your business up on the back of a downturn?

Analyse the Market

It is important to understand your surroundings, whether that is directly within the area you are working in or the larger economy. Assess supply and demand, is there a need for what you are selling and how can you constantly improve on what you are providing?

One of the biggest parts affecting you developing and the way your company can scale up is your competitors, distinguishing where you are in comparison helping you slide into a gap in the market.

Supply and demand are vitally important, and it may be that the market doesn’t have room to rapidly increase sales so focus might be better spent on looking at efficiencies and “sharpening your axe” so you are ready to ramp up in line with market demands.

Systems & Processes

The beginning is the perfect time to introduce your systems and processes. Unfortunately, this isn’t always a reality and though no business can be scaled without people, systems and processes follow closely behind in terms of importance and you will find this out quickly if they’re not in place.

No matter what has supported your business in developing whether its acquisition, franchise or organic business growth, your company cannot run like a start-up forever. Management systems are a good place to start and you can build around these.

So, continue as you mean to go on and build before it’s too late, as moving forward, your business can decline in quality if it’s scaled up without structure in place. The more people the bigger need for effective systems and processes and if these are already set, scaling up will be an easier and more enjoyable journey.

Expanding on Product or Service

There will come a time when you’re ready to expand. It is very important to gain feedback from those who are using your service, this way you can build on what is missing.

As Bill Gates once said: “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

Analyse all the feedback to discover if you are meeting the need of those using your product or service. This feedback is key! You can then build on what you have or go into different areas that are being missed since market will have changed between start up and scale up.

There have been 7 different points covered to scaling up your business on the back of a downturn, these points are crucial for making a comeback and moving in the right direction. Part 3 will be the final, look out for it next week!