When you sow a seed in the ground, water it regularly and tend to it lovingly, it becomes a source of constant joy as you see the plant blossom and grow into a big tree over due course of time. This is growth. Taking a shoot/seed from it, planting it at another fertile soil so that it also grows into a tree is expansion.business
In business, we often tend to swap the words growth and expansion. There are huge differences which need to be observed and more importantly prepared for. Let’s dig at this a little deeper.
Business Growth
Acquire more customers : You know your customer segment well and have a vast understanding of market economics for your product, thus a deeper market penetration can grow your business substantially. Adding more customers using the strategies which you know have worked earlier is a safe bet.
Add a team : A growing team is a healthy sign of your business doing well. More people means you have more customers or accounts to handle which is symbolic that the previous point is happening; you are selling more.
Elevate operations : Getting service providers, consultant or experts on board is indicative of you assisting yourself with skill sets and expertise that an expanding business needs. After all, as a solopreneur, there is only so much you can do. So when you collaborate, acquire or partner with other businesses to add new verticals in your business, you are expanding it.
“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement,achievement and success have no meaning.”
– Benjamin Franklin
Business Expansion
Adding new product lines : Introducing new products or investing significantly in new product development is expanding the horizons of your business. Like Apple developing Ipod after Mac or OYO diversifying into co-working space after hotels. It’s an unknown territory you are entering into which needs the same learning, testing, unlearning and trying as you did with your first product.
Opening new locations : Whether you open up a branch of your fashion boutique in a new locality of the same city or another city or other part of the globe, you have expanded your business. Even switching from offline to online or vice versa which is a mammoth task is like starting a new business altogether. Going Global needs deeper insights into your target market which means that business the expansion needs you to start from Point A again.
Franchising your business : This is like having replicas of you doing the same things that you had been doing and know have worked. You do not have to get much into the learning of new geographic area, culture and customer because the franchisee is well versed with it. Adding to it, they are also infusing more capital in the business. A smaller form of it is the reseller programs which you may add at absolutely no additional costs. A small manufacturer can have resellers online or offline retailing their products to a local clientele. This is a great way to climb up the ladder of growth.
“A ship is safe in harbour, but that is not what a ship was built for”– William H Shed
Maintaining the health of a tree needs certain resources. Nurturing two trees or an entire farm needs you to ramp up not only your resources but also your skills and appetite. So before you embark on a journey of doing more in your business, take a moment to answer, which way you are headed and then plan the details. Sustainable business growth is a prerequisite before thinking of expansion.
Author’s Bio
Roshni Baronia is a Go-Global Strategist and Influential Speaker. She helps women entrepreneurs build sustainable and global businesses through her consulting sevices and coaching programs. Roshni is the author of ebook ‘How to revolutionize your Sales mindset’ and curator of ‘Authentic selling style test’. To know more about Roshni, please visit www.roshnibaronia.com
