There are numerous ways of growing your business, it all depends on the level of risk you are prepared to take to get to where you want to be.
As illustrated above, growth can be for a variety of reasons from extending the products or services you offer existing customers through to entering new markets. Your aim might be to dominate one corner of the market or to be a player in many. The mechanisms used to grow can also be varied, ranging from organic growth through to acquisitions, with owners using a combination of these to drive the growth they seek. Whatever the reason or method of growing your business, it often comes down to individual acceptance of risk as to how you grow and at what rate.
Is your company strategically aligned?
Decisions around growth start at the top, i.e. providing strategic direction as to:
- why you want to grow?
- what type of growth you seek?
- how you plan to obtain it?
- who you need to help in that journey?
As mentioned earlier, your drive and ambition may be to dominate a particular sector or niche in the market or to be more diversified and operate in several sectors including different markets.
Whatever the mission, all require clarity as to the strategic direction you want your business to head and an as clear action plan outlining how you intend to pursue it. Within that is the need to:
- Evaluate the market itself, it’s size, it’s state of growth and the competitive forces that impact it,
- Assess the competition and their influence on the market,
- Look at the strengths and weaknesses of your business and how they help or hinder your prospects for growth.
Look at the products or services you provide and how you have positioned, priced and packaged them in that market.
- Look at how you promote your business and your product or service offering
- Really get to know your customers and their needs, how to connect with them and tailor your services to satisfying those needs.
It’s important that business owners use strategic planning tools and processes at least annually, not only to reflect on what they wanted to achieve compared to what they did achieve, but also to review how relevant the “latest” strategy is in today’s market, especially in situations where that market is changing its own dynamics.
It’s important to be at least aware of market trends as they may have a direct impact on how you should go about your own business. In NZ generally, the 2015 trends include:
1) The construction boom continues:
2) New Zealanders return home: Returning Kiwis are being met with open arms by employers who want to fill jobs with experienced locals.
3) Skilled trades & labour sought: Demand is very high for skilled professionals across all areas of trades & labour such as building services, carpentry, hammer hands, flooring and welding.
4) The evolution of digital marketing: Mobile optimisation has driven a lot of web redevelopment projects in the past year and we expect this to continue in 2015.
5) Convergence of IT and marketing: The rapid evolution of digital marketing is transforming organisational structures and the gap between IT and marketing teams will narrow.
6) Big data in the workplace: Experts agree that big data, alongside the right data mining technology, can provide unprecedented new insights.
7) Doing more with less: Hiring intentions remain positive for 2015, yet most businesses continue to be under pressure to control costs.
Failing to keep abreast of changing market trends can have catastrophic consequences – one classic example of this is:
“Kodak, a former heavyweight in the analog film business, finally formalised what had been expected for years – it’s gone bankrupt. In the past 15 years, digital technology changed photography dramatically, and they got left behind.”
Even the biggest of corporations are vulnerable to change. Don’t be the next Kodak.
