The market has been bumpy so far in 2022, but employment has been at all-time levels. With more people working, that means there is higher discretionary income for people to spend on all sorts of consumer and business goods. So how does a business grow its operations and sales 24/7 in 2022?
Planning Your Business Growth
The first thing is to create, or rewrite, your business plan. How do you plan on growing your business? Are you looking to launch new products that are different from your current products? Think about a company like Disney. What began as a movie business has seen its reach to include owning theme parks, cruise ships, consumer products, and entertainment lines, including sports, news, and the like. After deciding the type of growth you’d like, prepare your finances and write an executive summary.
Financial Statements
A financial statement is crucial to your business plan as you look to grow. It will be used for finding funding in the future, so it is the first thing you need to do. Preparing your finances will include creating budgets, an overview of financial liabilities and assets, revenue generated, profits, and losses. However, managing all those items and effectively detailing them would require a team of accounts that may be too costly for you to utilize.
Say, for example, that you run a business in fulfillment. You could have a third-party agreement with Amazon to fulfill orders or be a drop shipper for various consumer goods. In either case, having detailed logistics and operational planning is crucial. Add to that, managing the finances as well as keeping inventory and logistics in line with each other can be a monumental task.
In that case, warehouse management software would simplify and make your operations more efficient with fewer people, saving you money on labor. Additionally, having a software track and managing your finances will allow real-time data of inventory, expense reports, and other key metrics needed as you grow.
Executive Summary
When writing an executive summary, understand that it is a macro view of the company and business performance. The details are in the financials and not the executive summary, which is used as a synopsis of your products, who you may target as your market, and the projection of growth.
It is a statement from the executive toward potential lenders and investors and possibly a statement to your employees toward the direction and foundation of the company moving forward.
Targets, Operations, Summary
Finally, fleshing out your business plan with how you plan to target customers, operational details to see those customers’ needs met, and are basically a concise overview of the company and its business operations. Once you develop your business plan, you can focus on increasing your sales. However, in order to increase sales, you first need to enhance your lead generation strategies.
Enhance Your Lead Generation
Now that you have a plan in place, a roadmap for the type of growth you want for your business, and the direction to get there, generating a larger pool of potential customers is next. This phase of business growth is the phase of lead generation.
Much like writing out your business plan, lead generation is the strategy you’ll document to expand your brand and increase sales. The first thing you need to explore is understanding that not all leads are the same. However, every lead type should have a plan in place on how to get them from potential customers to finalized sales.
Cold Leads
Some leads are long-term leads. These leads are called “cold” leads as they are people that aren’t familiar with your brand. These types of leads come from a general ad campaign designed at the outset to create better brand awareness. They can be an ad on traditional media, a sponsorship, or another passive way to get your brand exposure.
Warm Leads
The next type of lead is considered “warm.” These leads are familiar with your brand but haven’t become consumers yet. They could be looking at price comparisons, online reviews, or not sure if they’re ready. Moving a warm lead to a hot lead is challenging.
Hot Leads
Finally, there is what is known as a “hot” lead. This type of lead is a person familiar with your brand and ready to make a purchase. It’s your job to help them achieve their objective of purchasing your products.
Combining a planned out multi-pronged lead generation that parallels your business plan is the best way to set your business up for success to growth over time. Every year, you should revisit your business plan, iterate those successful things, and edit those things that held you back. Moving your business from one phase to another effectively requires a detailed roadmap and plan.
Like all business plans, you may need to tweak it over time to become more efficient, but utilizing a strategy and tools that supplement your staff, such as accounting and management software, will help you analyze what’s successful and pivot as needed.
