Resolve to Grow

The end of the year provides an ideal time to take stock of your personal and professional developments, and how to improve them in the year ahead. But, as with resolutions to lose 30 lbs., remodel your kitchen or write your first novel, it’s all too easy to have these pledges end up in the dustbin of good intentions gone astray.
Many factors may curtail your best-laid plans. I don’t agree with the saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Maybe some good intentions venture that way, if they’re perverted into something unrecognizable, but in my opinion, at worst, unsuccessful efforts most often simply revered back to their starting point.
If you can eliminate, or at least mitigate, feelings of uncertainty and fear, it’s easier to proceed. I confess, I’m no expert at developing a business plan or growth strategies. So, I located several articles that may help as you devise plans to improve your shop’s financial state in 2016.
1. Dave Lavinsky, a contributing writer for Forbes, authored “Strategic Plan Template: What to Include in Yours”. His hypothetical, 13-point plan’s facets include the “elevator pitch,” or a brief description of what your business does. He notes its importance: “If your employees can’t clearly and concisely articulate your business to others you inevitably miss out on … sales and other opportunities.” Other components include developing a mission statement, which helps focus employee decision-making; a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis; setting one- and five-year goals, and, among others, analyzing your target customer’s needs and trends within your industry.
2. Inc. Magazine Contributing Editor Darren Dahl, in “How to Develop a Business Growth Strategy”, breaks down steps a business can take to boost sales into a hierarchical chain, beginning with lowest-risk (with potentially, the lowest chance for immediate impact) – essentially, it begins with greater market penetration by selling more products to existing customers. Next is developing strategies for selling more product to adjacent markets (which could mean geographically, or industries similar to those you already serve – for instance, if you’ve found a successful niche for wraps for HVAC providers, why not aggressively target plumbers and home remodelers?). Then, it’s expanding your sales channels (i.e., enhancing your online or social-media presence), developing new products and services for existing customers; and, atop the high-risk, high-reward spectrum, unveiling new products to sell to new markets. He also discusses integrative growth strategies, a fancy term for acquiring other companies, but that’s likely beyond the grasp of most signshops.
3. InfoEntrepreneuers.org, a site affiliated with the Canada Business Network,prepared a straightforward business-plan guide, with some perspective about why a business plan should be a “living”, evolving document — not one that’s developed when a business is founded and then shelved. It outlines the types of operational and financial information that should be included, as well as additional information, such aims and objectives, the management team’s qualifications and product and service descriptions, which should be provided for banks or potential investors.
4. Entrepreneur.com contributor, Rob Biederman – the co-founder and CEO of HourlyNerd, an online, business-consulting service – wrote “7 Key Steps to a Growth Strategy that Works Immediately”. The steps include establishing a value proposition, which differentiates you from your competition; identifying your ideal customers; defining key indicators that impact your business’ growth; verifying your revenue streams; investigating your competitors to see how they may address problems or position themselves differently; focusing on your strengths; and, finally, investing in talented personnel.

I hope one of more of these articles provides assistance in developing your resolutions for your shop’s growth in the New Year. Have a wonderful holiday season, and I look forward to speaking with or seeing many of you in 2016.