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Ways to grow your business
Growing your business can bring many benefits. For example, you can take advantage of new opportunities, expand your products or services, attract more customers, increase sales, and employ more staff.
Before taking action to grow your business, we recommend you consider why you want to grow, whether your business is ready to grow, and the many ways that your business can grow.
Growing your business is a big step that you should research and plan to ensure your business is sustainable. It is far better not to take on any new business than to take it on and find that you cannot finish it successfully.
If your business is already experiencing growth, there are still key steps that you can take to plan any future growth.
This guide will help you to understand if your business is ready to grow, and introduce you to some ways that you can do it.
Getting ready to grow
Assessing the current performance of your business will help you to decide whether you are ready to grow, and where any growth will come from. We recommend that you regularly assess how well your business is operating. Any growth is more likely to be successful if your business is already operating efficiently.
Analyse your business
Answer these key questions before you grow:
- Is your business improving over time?
- How can you improve your performance?
- Can you reduce expenses?
- How will expanding affect current operations?
- Is your product priced right?
- Do you have a reliable supply chain?
- Are staff sufficiently skilled?
- Are you performing better or worse than your competitors?
- Is there anything holding you back?
You can carry out a resource audit to take stock of your financial, staffing, physical and intangible resources.
As part of your overall business plan, you can conduct a SWOT analysis to consider the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your business.
You can use our market research kit to analyse your market, competitors and customers.
Compare goals with results
To understand where your business is right now, compare your plans and budgets with actual results. Review your business plan and marketing plan to see if you have met, or are likely to meet, your goals. Inspect your financial records and compare them to your budget. Your business adviser and accountant can help you to analyse your business.
When comparing your goals with your performance, ask yourself:
- What did the business do well?
- What didn't go as expected?
- Where can the business improve?
- What changes are needed to achieve the growth you desire?
Record your answers so you can evaluate your business now and in the future. Keep a record of significant events to assess how they affect your business. For example, did your sales increase after a competing business closed down?
You could also benchmark your business against other similar-sized companies in the same industry to compare your performance.
Also consider...
- Use our free business planning tools and resources to help improve and grow your business.
- Gain insight into export markets and find information about upcoming trade missions and industry events.
- Use our business health check to identify changes you can make to help your business survive and thrive.
- View our Growing pains webinar for information and advice about growing your business, including the challenges associated with business growth.
Pros and cons of business growth
It is essential that you research and plan the growth of your business. If your business grows too quickly, or expands too much, you could experience financial, legal, staffing, resource and supplier problems. For business growth to be successful, it should be sustainable.
Common problems caused by rapid growth
- You could outgrow your premises in the short-term. There may not be enough space for everyone to work efficiently.
- Morale may drop if staff cannot cope with the extra work. Productivity can decrease.
- There may be a shortage of cash to meet expansion costs. Taking on more and more work to generate more income places additional pressure on your premises and staff.
- Management may be under pressure, operating reactively rather than proactively.
- The quality of your products and services could drop, causing an increase in customer complaints. You may even lose customers to your competitors.
- Staff turnover may increase due to heavy workloads. Vital knowledge could be lost as staff leave. Hiring and training new staff takes time and money.
- Your business may lose touch with competitors' activities.
Read more about responding to rapid growth.
Growing to overcome problems
Do you want to grow your business because you are responding to strong competition, smaller margins or falling sales? Growing your business may help you to overcome these problems and attract new customers if you move to larger premises and increase your resources and stock.
However, growing your business because you are experiencing problems can sometimes make your problems bigger, with more money and risk involved.
Growing because of success
Do you want to grow your business because the cash is flowing in, profits are increasing and all your hard work is paying off? Your business may become a market leader if you take advantage of strong opportunities. You can capitalise on your success, expand into other locations, and employ more staff to cater for increased demand.
But if you expand too quickly you risk your business becoming unsustainable. Growth can put pressure on staff and resources, as well as financial and management structures.
Ask for help
We strongly recommend that you work with a professional business adviser to help you grow your business.
Also consider...
- Attend an export seminar or workshop to evaluate your export readiness.
- Learn more about risk management.
- Find out more about customer service.
- View our Growing pains webinar for information and advice about growing your business, including the challenges associated with business growth.
Plan for business growth
Business growth can take place in many stages. These stages are a cycle, repeating each time you implement a change to your business. Which stage is your business in today?
- Start-up
The business idea is created. Plans are put in place to start operating. - Commence
The business plan is complete and targets are established. - Operate
The business is operating and coping with any problems that arise. Systems are in place and, ideally, profits are made. - Expand
The business matures and needs to expand. Management changes or expands to deal with the size or complexity of the business. - Review
The business is very competitive. Activities are regularly reviewed and changed to achieve ongoing success. - Diversify
The business diversifies into new markets, products or alliances.
Whether your business has just started or is ready to diversify, it is important to plan growth so that it is controlled and properly managed. The following can help you plan for growth:
Set goals for growth
Establish what you want your business to achieve. Create a plan of short and long-term goals to grow your business.
Involve management and staff
Meet frequently with management and staff to review results and to monitor current performance. Encourage and motivate your staff to be involved in the growth of your business.
To find out more about how the growth of your business might impact your staff, learn about managing people through change.
Control costs
A bigger cash flow does not always mean that you are making a profit. Controlling costs is critical for successful growth.
Regularly review targets
Schedule a monthly review of how your business is performing. Compare actual results with your goals, plans and budgets. If your plan for growth is not working, or you are experiencing financial or operational problems, ask for help immediately.
Develop good systems
Build good reporting systems into your business. You want information to be accessed quickly and easily so you can compare business projections with business performance. A good reporting system can keep you informed and enable you to make prompt decisions when necessary.
Also consider...
- Watch our small business planning webinar recording.
- Find out how to prepare a business plan.
- Learn more about cash flow management.
- Find out how to create a sales plan.
- Read more about responding to rapid growth.
- Learn about collecting and storing customer information.
- Find out how innovation funding strategies can help you plan for growth.
Options for growing your business
There are many different ways to grow your business. Before you decide which option is best for you, we recommend you identify new opportunities or revisit any ideas that you may have for your business.
Here is an introduction to some of the ways you can grow your business.
Apply for grants and assistance
Australian, Queensland and local governments can help your business to expand, commercialise, research, develop, innovate and export. You will need to successfully apply for a grant, rebate, subsidy, incentive scheme, research fellowship or other assistance. Learn how to find grants and business support, and prepare and write grant applications.
Expand
There are many ways to expand your business. For example, you could move to larger premises, buy or lease other premises, hire more staff or increase the products or services that you offer. Another option is merging with, or acquiring, another business.
Export
Exporting gives you access to a large pool of customers. If you can produce your goods and services at a stable and internationally competitive cost, and increase your sales through exports, your business can enjoy improved economies of scale. Learn more about exporting or attend an exporting workshop.
Import
Importing goods into Australia is an effective way to increase your products and services to meet market demand. Learn more about importing.
Franchise
Becoming a franchisor can help you to capitalise on your existing customer base, as well as attracting new customers to an established brand. Learn more about buying a franchise.
Go online
Selling your products or services through an online shop is another way to grow your business. Learn more about the benefits of doing business online.
Raise more capital
If you raise more capital for your business, you can invest in premises, stock, marketing, staff and other resources as you expand. Your accountant, financial adviser and business mentor can help you to decide how to raise more capital for your business. Learn more about funding your business.
Innovate
Innovating and commercialising an idea can help grow your business. Innovation can be as simple as product improvement or creating a new product or service.
Find a mentor
An experienced business person, or a mentor, can help you develop your business skills and achieve success earlier than you may have on your own. You might choose a friend, family member or business contact as an informal mentor, or participate in a formal mentoring program run by a government agency or industry association. Learn more about business mentoring.
Improve customer service
Improving your customer service can help you to sell more to your existing customers and find new customers. Happy customers will refer your business to others providing you with free, favourable word-of-mouth advertising.
Also consider...
- Watch our Support to grow your business webinar for information on available business grants, programs and support from the Australian and Queensland governments.
- Access business support services using the Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ABLIS).
- Learn more about government tender opportunities.
- Find out how to grow your business through quoting.
- Learn about the benefits of being a bike-friendly business.
© The State of Queensland 1995–2024
- Last reviewed: 08 Sep 2021
- Last updated: 08 Sep 2021