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Last updated: 11 January 2024
Growth strategy ideas for your business
Tradespeople looking to increase their profits rely on strategy for business growth. This article looks at small business growth and how to achieve it.
Small business growth is the way ambitious tradespeople achieve greater profitably. There are lots of ways to grow – with plenty of challenges along the way.
The starting point is to set out a small business growth strategy. A growth strategy creates a template for success. It’s a checklist of what you need to do and when.
You can grow your small business without having a clear strategy. But it will probably be harder to do and take longer.
Business growth strategy ideas
A small business growth strategy covers lots the different elements. Many are linked, so it helps if you can see how they all fit together.
Start by writing down your plans and ambitions. A great way to do this is with our free guide to writing a business plan. You can also outline your growth plans with our free template to create a business development strategy.
These are some of the areas to think about in a small business growth strategy:
Improve your financial strength
Cash flow is crucial for tradespeople. A strong cash flow puts you in a better position to grow your business. There are lots of ways to improve your cash flow.
Small business growth relies on being able to increase profits as well. A growth strategy needs to focus on being more profitable.
Be more efficient
A small business growth strategy should target ways you can work more efficiently. It can be easy to get distracted doing certain jobs and spend too long on them. This can hamper business growth.
A business growth strategy could include making better use of your time. There are apps available to help you improve your time management.
Use marketing to grow
Small business growth is about bringing in a steady supply of work. Marketing and advertising to win business supports a growth strategy.
An effective marketing strategy can increase sales at a pace you can handle. To do that needs careful planning. Our free guide to marketing your business has plenty of ideas for generating business growth.
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Make sure customers are happy
A small business growth strategy should focus on what you do best and find ways of doing it even better. It’s far easier to win more work from existing customers than spending time and money finding new ones.
Keeping customers loyal is an important part of a successful business strategy. This links to having a strong set of business values that customers can relate to.
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Be prepared to say ‘no’
One common problem tradespeople face is getting caught up doing unprofitable work. Often, these are jobs they don’t like doing anyway. It takes courage to turn down work.
It is easier to say ‘no’ to work if you have a clear business growth strategy. This will focus on winning more of what you do well.
Do more things
It sounds obvious, but expanding your skills can help drive your business forward. A small business growth strategy should look at learning new skills. You also have to consider whether the time and cost of doing this will increase your profits.
Grow your workforce
A small business growth strategy will identify if, when and how you need to take on more people. Improving staff skills with extra training can be added to the mix. A growth strategy can also take advantage of training grants.
If you don’t want to take on full or part-time people, then hiring subcontractors is another option. A business growth strategy helps you identify when you need to expand your workforce.
Use technology to be more efficient
Freeing up your time to do activities that grow your business is another challenge tradespeople face. Technology can help.
Think about how to use technology when you prepare your small business growth strategy. Here are some ways to improve your business with technology.
Consider extra funding
As businesses grow they can’t always keep expanding on their own. There comes a point when outside finance might be necessary to support growth. Various business financing options are available.
Take bigger steps
All of the growth ideas we've mentioned here can help a business grow by itself. This is called organic growth. It is usually steady and manageable and suits many tradespeople.
If you are thinking of going on a more significant growth path then various strategies could suit you. These include:
Keep your strategy flexible
Once you’ve prepared a growth strategy, get ready to start changing it. Nothing in business life stands still for long. A successful growth strategy has to be flexible.
You need to be ready to adjust quickly if circumstances change. New opportunities could arise. Or unexpected things could threaten your growth.
Regularly reviewing a small business growth strategy is vital. By constantly checking your plans you can be ready for change. It could also help you anticipate when adjustments may be needed so you can pre-empt them.
Timing business growth
The time span of a small business growth strategy is another factor to consider. You need to grow at a pace that suits you.
Businesses can fail because they were too successful too quickly. It can introduce problems like not having enough resources and finance to handle extra work.
Think about your vision and values
Lots of businesses have a vision and values. These are often set out in a short ‘mission statement’.
Often, they just state the obvious. But that’s the point of them. They don’t need to be complicated. Just a few sentences.
Your values set out the way you want to run your business. For example, they can talk about:
How you will treat your customers, staff and suppliers
The quality standards you set for your work
How you will act openly and honestly
How you are making your business more sustainable by being greener
A clear statement of your values can win business. It reassures customers and makes your business stand out in the market. It also helps staff and subcontractors understand exactly what you expect from them.
Key takeaways
A small business growth strategy helps tradespeople plan their future success
A business growth strategy needs to be flexible as circumstances can change
A growth strategy isn’t just about taking on more work
Having a clear vision for your business makes it easier to grow in the way you want
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