Growing your Business

It’s something we all want to do. It’s something we rack our brains thinking about. What’s next on the road to improvement and growth?

What can I do that’s not going to cost the earth? My business is now at that point when I’m starting to think about growth and what I can do to achieve that.

You could if you have the money to invest go on a big brand awareness campaign, but how much money will that really take? A closer examination of Dragons Den would suggest it’s a large amount. Sure campaigns need to be targeted to the correct audience and it can be done for less I’m sure with the right people. It’s an interesting one that I bet a million marketing companies would like to discuss in detail.

I think there are ways to look that don’t cost the earth, I also think sometimes we just need something to focus our attention on all the information we have to retain.

At this point, we need to discuss details of the metric we use for analysing the growth your business. There are two indicators that need to be looked at together. The increase in sales and profitability. Obviously, just sales alone may give the illusion of growth but alas it will only be growth in sales not the business as a whole.

Existing & new customers
Existing customers that have bought your services in the past is a good way to drum up more business. Especially if it’s a customer that used your service for a one off job that you can gain recurring work from. If you gained there trust with that job they will be more open to further suggestions.

Complementary products
In our industry, there are many products that compliment a daily service. I remember one customer that had a bout of sickness through the office, we suggested hand sanitizer may help cut the spread of infection. It did help, it was a new weekly sale for us and left the customer’s staff feeling cared for.

Keep up to date with new technologies and trends.
You should keep yourself up to date with the latest trend and technologies. I think this should be done as a regular to do list task, one that you can develop into an efficient task over time, one that won’t take long but will keep you up to speed with all things in your specialist field. Commercial cleaning software(link to home page) is one thing you should consider.

New products/services
Is there a new service or product you are thinking about selling? New services and products can be developed from things you already do. Try this out with an existing customer first on a small scale to test the water. You can analyse the cost and success of the project with the minimum of budget pain.

Business Mentor/Adviser
We often don’t like to ask for advice, but if it’s free or a paid session one thing that can save you time, money, and instil you with a feeling of efficient well-being is to be prepared. If you think this is something that is for you; either paid or you know someone you could get good advice from. Have questions or your ideas wrote down and a plan prepared.

Improve or diversify your service or products
Is there something you do already that could be developed into a new service from something you already do. Has a product you sell got another use apart from the main one it’s known for. It’s very tempting to put an example here but I’ll resist, I’m sure you will have your own ideas.

One of the ways you can organise your backroom operations is to link each member of your team. A good modern cloud based system which will enable instant data sharing. A system that has the right features  for you.

Staff and customer retention is also an area that needs close attention. It can be hard to hire the right employees at times it can seem like you have used the pool of people available to you. But remember it’s worth making the extra effort at the beginning or you will be doing it all again a second time. Your customers also deserve your 110%, it’ such a shame to see customers lost through lack of effort. I know this is part of the business plan for some larger organisations but It’s not for me.

Be as forward thinking as you can. Show your customers you are by embracing technology that will give benefits to both yourself and customers at the same time. Good commercial cleaning software should be part of your business growth strategy and your customers should know about it.