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Thinking about expanding? The good news is that there are many tools to help you plan and support your growth. Nonetheless, the competition is fiercer than ever and the caprices of the economy have hobbled many an ambitious growth-hungry SME.
Growth must be carefully planned and built around the key performance indicators that signal the time is right for expansion.
Here’s how to determine if you’re ready for the next step.
You have more business than you can handle.
Perhaps the most obvious indicator that growth is warranted is that you can’t keep up with consumer demand. However, it’s important to consider potential false flags before charting your path to growth. Could this inability to match consumer demand be an indicator that your operations could be more efficient? Implementing small changes like contactless payments via a handheld terminal can help to make operations more efficient, improve customer turnover and boost revenues.
It’s also hugely important to look for signs of sustained demand rather than good revenue from seasonal events or special promotions. If you have a POS system with analytics baked in, it should be easy to track historic sales by month. This ensures that your growth is built on a strong foundation of sustained demand.
You have a solid team of employees.
Finding great employees is tricky – and retaining them in a competitive landscape is a discrete skill of its own.
Successful brands are built on the back of talented, enthusiastic and invested teams. This means ensuring that not only do you find the right people, but you make sure that they are well-trained, highly motivated, looked after and managed efficiently. The right team management platform can ensure that teams are managed effectively and efficiently. They can even help with tip management, to ensure that gratuities are shared fairly and in accordance with new legislation.
You’re running out of space.
Sometimes you know that you need to expand because you literally have no more room. If you’ve been hiring to keep up with demand but your staff is cramped and grumpy, it’s time to secure a space with more square footage.
You have a plan for growth.
Growth doesn’t just happen. It’s the result of myriad operational decisions built around long and short-term goals that form a roadmap for sustainable growth.
While these plans are shaped by lived experience and a degree of gut instinct, operational decisions should also be backed by good-quality data. Business intelligence tools can help to provide quick access to key data. This can yield invaluable insights that guide strategy and provide an evidence-based approach to growth.
You’re meeting goals.
It’s one thing to have a roadmap, but you also need to be reaching the milestones that you have set. If you are, and ahead of schedule, then maybe you can speed up your plans. But if you’re consistently falling short, then take a step back and reassess. It doesn’t mean you have to scrap your goals, but you might have to change your timeline and path.
You have enough cash.
Liquidity is absolutely essential in fuelling growth. If a business is not solvent, its attempts at growth will inevitably be stymied and the consequences could be disastrous. Managing cash flow effectively requires a watchful eye and a proactive approach to operations.
For instance, invoices must be tracked with automated reminders when payment is almost due. Indeed, businesses may wish to incentivise faster payment even if it slightly impacts on their profit margins. With the right analytics capabilities, businesses need look no further than their POS for the insights that drive cash flow management.
Your customers are seeking you out.
If customers are requesting your products in stores, or if they’re telling you how much they’d love to have your business in a certain location, that’s an indication that you have the word-of-mouth support and the built-in clientele for ramping up production or opening a new shop.
While this is always wonderful to see, never fall into the trap of taking your customers for granted. Their custom should be met with consistently great service, transparency and, where possible, rewards.
A dual-screen register, for instance, can be a great way to bring transparency to every transaction. Likewise, a customer reward programme can be an excellent way to show your customers that you care while incentivising them to keep coming back.
Your industry is growing.
Take a look at the landscape for your industry: Is the market saturated? Or are you just scratching the surface? If you have little competition and a large, untapped customer base, you have better odds for successful growth.
How to grow with Square
Square’s suite of business solutions can help provide the raw materials for sustainable growth such as healthy cash flow, operational efficiency, and loyal repeat customers. Square POS is precision-engineered with operational efficiency in mind and powerful analytics to manage cash flow effectively.
With growth, however, comes new challenges – especially if that growth requires managing a business across multiple locations. With Square’s cloud-based POS platform, businesses can track payments in real-time across multiple locations, and manage their company finances, wherever they are.
