Practically every business has the same goal in common: growth. You want to continue to expand, bringing in new customers, getting a large portion of the market share, and growing your employee base.
There are numerous ways to grow a business and these ways are changing all the time. The best methods to use today are not necessarily the ones that worked a few years ago. With that in mind, here are some things you can do to keep your business growing through this modern age.
Find Ways to Automate
Identifying processes within your business that can be automated is a good place to start. There are likely some tasks in your company that take up more time than they need to. The more time your employees spend working on these tasks, the less efficient they are. Luckily, there are now a lot of software options available that can help you automate most of the processes within your business.
For example, let’s say a major part of your business is to send out custom quotes to prospective clients. Right now, you’re typing an individual quote in a word processor, sending it out, negotiating with the client, revising the document, sending it out again, and so on.
What should be a simple process – giving your client a quote – now takes a large amount of time. To fix this, you could implement quoting software. Quoting software gives you the ability to quickly send out quotes and make real-time changes based on client negotiations. By automating this process, and others like it, you free up time for yourself and your team so that everyone can focus on more important tasks.
Make Use of New Marketing Methods
One of the biggest advances in the modern age is the number of marketing methods that are now available. It’s easier than ever before to reach a wide audience, sending out your marketing messages to potentially millions of people instantly. However, to reach these people, you have to work to implement these new marketing methods.
A key place to start is with social media. Social media allows you to interact with your audience, learn more about them, and perhaps best of all, it’s free to get started. The first thing you should do is set up accounts on all the major social media platforms. Then identify which ones your target audience uses most and work on building up your following on that platform.
For example, you could set a goal to grow Instagram followers organically. To do this, you would need to start implementing more hashtags in your post, running sponsored content, or working with Instagram influencers. The key to social media success is developing a strategy, finding tools that can help you, then sticking with your plan over a long period of time.
Widen Your Talent Pool
Another key benefit of the modern age is that you no longer have to limit your employees to those who live in the same area as you. With remote working becoming more popular than ever, this means you can hire people from practically anywhere and have them work for you.
The next time you are looking to add to your team, give yourself a wider talent pool. Make it your goal to find the best person, at the right salary, no matter where they live. You may have to make some adjustments based on timezones but this is likely worth it when you consider the value you’ll get back. Just be sure you have the right tools within your business so that your remote team can work successfully.
Outsource What You Can
Finally, you should be on the lookout for areas that you can outsource. Outsourcing specific tasks or departments can help your business cut costs, while still performing vital functions. Cutting costs without sacrificing productivity or quality is a key ingredient if you want to grow.
For example, you could outsource some of your HR tasks. By working with an HR firm, you could have them process paychecks, keep track of PTO, and administer your insurance coverage plan. Since HR companies are optimized to handle these sorts of tasks, they can likely do it faster and for a lower cost than if you were to do it yourself.
Take some time to think about which areas of your business are the most expensive then see if there are outsourcing options available to you.
Bring Your Business Into the Modern Age
Modern-day technology has a lot to offer new businesses but only if you take advantage of them. It’s a good practice to regularly analyze your business and see if there are ways you can improve by using modern technologies.
You may find that implementing a social media marketing campaign or hiring from overseas makes a dramatic impact on your business, allowing it to grow faster than ever before.
Steve Jones
