Ask any child of toddler age whether they like being small and many will express a desire to be bigger. From their perspective being bigger opens a world or more possibilities and lets face it – more toys. So if we generally know that at toddler age why is it that so many business owners fail to plan to make their businesses bigger? I am reminded of a quote from one of our nation’s favourite entrepreneurs – ‘Business is simple – it’s the people who make it complicated. ‘ – Theo Paphitis. This is very true because there are ways in which just by changing your thinking you can set yourself on a path to growth. Growth does not just happen – just as that washboard stomach that athletes have does not just appear – they have to work at it and you have to as well. Below are five ways that big thinking can help to grow your business.
5 Big thinking ways to grow your business.
1. Terminology – As soon as you can stop referring to your company as a ‘small’ business or a startup. Yes, you were or perhaps you still are but you must plan for growth and reposition yourself. It will be easier to attract customers, clients and partners if you are not forever labelling yourself small or startup. Startup equals not very experienced in many people’s eyes.
2. Business continuity – We are heading into the holiday season, a time when some business activity slows down. Should you close down for the summer? Absolutely not. If I was American I might have written ‘Hell no!’ because that has the right amount of emphasis. You have worked hard to extend the reach of your company and improve its perception and then you go and ruin it by basically shutting down during the summer sending out the message that you are a one man or one woman band. Instead create a contingency plan that maintains a good level of service and responsiveness which will help to grow your business.
3. Forward thinking – How often do you re-visit your business plan? Or update your strategy? When do you consider what your competitors are doing in detail? There are often fundamental changes in business, here are just a few examples – from high street to online, from desktop ecommerce to mobile e-commerce (m-commerce), from book reading to Kindle reading. Set aside some time each week to consider how your business should respond to changes in your sector and create an updated plan remembering to evaluate the changes that you make.
4. Big dreams – Have a big vision for your business.It plays a crucial role in growing your business. The mistake a lot of business owners make is that they have a small dream for their business and they achieve it and then go no further. Instead of being content with just being a product or service provider how about becoming a company that genuinely solves a big problem? Note this can be done commerically. Click here to see a good example of solving a big problem.
5. Global not local – It is now possible to enter international markets from the comfort of your own laptop. What steps have you taken to do grow your business internationally? Sometimes the effort required is principally a communications task – informing people that you are active in a country and establishing a structure and processes to trade.
Do you need help implementing big thinking for your business? If so, feel free to give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247 or drop us an email via mail@marketingfundamentals.com – We look forward to hearing from you.
We hope you have found this information useful.
Best regards,
Marketing Fundamentals Team
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