Growing a business isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be that way. As is the case with most journeys in life, it helps to have a map and a guide to lay out the right path. And statistics show that growth is indeed possible, even during the pandemic; a Capital One survey revealed that approximately 75 percent of small businesses have sustained or grown their staff since the start of the pandemic. So, here are a few of the basic questions any new LLC will have to consider for growth.
Best Practices and Processes
One of the keys to growth is to know what’s being done right and what areas need improvement. The business model needs to establish what's working based on best practices in the industry, then establish a path to have those things become best practices. The process of doing this isn’t hard, it just requires rigorous research and scrutiny.
Let's take social media as an example. Many people starting an LLC are reluctant to embrace it right out of the gate, but studies have shown that even a few hours a week devoted to social media can have very positive results. According to HubSpot, approximately 84 percent of marketers were able to drive more traffic to their businesses by adding just six hours of work on social media each week.
The benefits are multiple. Once any good business starts to understand its pluses and minuses, those pluses can lead to growth. There are no guarantees, obviously, but sometimes this growth can be explosive and exponential, so the effort is well worth the time and expense.
Quality Maintenance
Establishing and maintaining quality is closely tied with best practices and processes, even when initiating an LLC. So much so that it may be beneficial to do them both at once, then separate the results if necessary. Maintaining and improving quality is essential to growth, so once again the time investment is worth it.
According to studies conducted by the MIT Sloan Management review, there's a strong positive correlation between quality and profitability, especially when it involves selling products with fewer defects or field failures. This results in an improved ROI, which can increase both sales and market share.
There are many things that go into maintaining and improving quality, but knowing how much business to take on is an essential part of it. Taking on too much business can compromise quality, which is obviously counterproductive. It can also lead to unhappy customers, which can also have a reverse effect, so finding a happy medium in this area is especially critical.
Forecast Accurately
Every business forecasts revenue, profits and margins, and for many LLCs this is the most important aspect of defining an effective plan for growth. It’s impossible to anticipate every fluctuation, but knowing how business cycles work is an integral part of this process. Growth should always be sustainable and strategic.
These are the basic elements of a plan that can lead to business growth. Go off script and improvise, and the risk starts to increase in ways that can be daunting. Implement them effectively, and chances are the business will be successful.