Every
small business hopes to grow and evolve. Some grow faster than others, and when
your startup experiences its first “growth spurt,” you’ll likely want to
capitalize on it and scale up as quickly as possible.
Of
course, this is easier said than done—if you want to scale successfully, you’ll
need the right strategies in place. Below, a panel of Forbes
New York Business Council members shares their tips for handling
rapid growth as a small business. Follow their advice to smoothly scale up.
1. Lean In To Growth
As your small business grows, it
is important to consider resources and how you can "lean in" to the
growth. While we are used to doing things on our own, to scale what you do, you
need to bring in resources to help. In order to double and even triple your
growth, you need to identify and possibly train people that can help you,
develop better and more efficient processes and work smarter. - Rochelle Cooper, Success
Leaders
2. Prioritize Customer
Service
During times of rapid growth, it
is important to stay consistent and continue to offer great customer service.
Customers often provide valuable insight and immediate feedback about your
business. Having the right team of employees and keeping customers happy will
aid in consistent growth. - Adam Butler, Jiffy
Junk
Forbes New York Business Council is
the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners in Greater
New York City. Do I qualify?
3. Plan For Fast Growth In
Advance
Just like people say, “Prepare
for the worst,” you must also “prepare for the best.” You have to have a plan
ready for when you sell out of a product, or have a million orders, or engage
with a massive clientele, etc. Those are all good problems to have, and when
just starting your business it’s important to be prepared for your own success.
- Hoda Mahmoodzadegan, Molly’s
Milk Truck + F'in Delicious Beverages + BAḴT Global
4. Shift Your Mindset About
Frugality
Being frugal about expenses is
Survival 101 for small businesses. For many owners, frugality becomes muscle
memory. You don't even think about it. But when an opportunity for rapid growth
presents itself, it is this penny-pinching that will prevent you from grabbing
it. Run your business mindfully, not mechanically. Develop judgment for when to
switch paradigms and change your behavior. - Sriram Padmanabhan, Cymorg
Inc.
5. Build Your Talent Bench
You will need great people to
service all of your new business. Don’t rush into hiring. A bad hire can
actually end up costing you 30% of that “wrong fit” employee’s salary. You
should always be hiring, even if you don’t have an opening. That way, when you
need to scale headcount, you don’t have to scramble. You’ve got a stable of
pre-qualified “right fit” talent you can immediately reach out to. - Tom Conlon, North Street
6. Monitor Your Cash Flow
Consistently
Keep an eagle eye on positive,
free cash flow generation—which is the lifeblood of small businesses that don’t
have access to big credit facilities—to ensure that you aren’t applying brakes
on the rapid growth. Enjoy the ride! - Karthik Krishnan, Britannica Group (Britannica, Merriam Webster, Britannica Knowledge
System and Melingo)
7. Find A Mentor
Being a leader is a lonely
place. When you experience rapid growth, it is both exciting and challenging.
Having a business leader support group to exchange ideas is a great way to
start. Or, if you are lucky enough to have a successful mentor that can
challenge you and teach you, that's priceless! It can save you a lot of
headaches and money. - Adolfo Mendez-Nouel, Manhattan Physio Group/MPG Essentials
8. Prepare, Assess And Adjust
First and foremost, you need to
be prepared. I recommend having a stable of trusted freelance talent in your
arsenal. Cast the net wide to develop a relationship with solid go-to resources
you can depend on. If the growth continues, use this opportunity to monitor how
much money is being spent on outside labor and whether or not it would make
sense to add additional full-time staff in its place. - Jason Mayo, Chimney
9. Build Infrastructure And
Automate
Do you know what Sheryl Sandberg
focused on in the years leading up to Facebook's IPO? Automating manual
processes, inefficiencies, redundancies, data silos, and other non-revenue
generating activities. Before you start adding headcount too fast, consider
streamlining and automating your processes. These days, robotic process
automation may help save your bottom line and help you to grow. - Scott
Amyx, Amyx Ventures
10. Focus On Quality
Control
After digging deep, working long
hours and building the right relationships, rapid growth is what every
entrepreneur hopes for. This is the most critical time in the lifecycle of your
business. Since your new customer is trying you for the first time, their
experience has to be moving. Increased volume means you need to double down on
delivering quality and assuring you are creating raving fans. - Jonathan Amoia, Sandhill
Investment Management
11. Create Standard Operating
Procedures
Create solid standard operating
procedures (SOPs) to make onboarding new employees much easier. This should
ideally help increase the learning curve and reduce room for error on the job.
Great SOPs should virtually make any position or person within a company
replaceable. This will become very valuable for companies in certain niches
that experience high volatility and turnover rates. - Dean Scaduto, Dino's
Digital Marketing & Advisory Firm
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