Scalability is about capability and capacity, and successfully scaling your business means getting it to a stage to enable and support the growth within the company effectively. For a business to be successful long-term, it has to have the ability to grow without jeopardizing the running of the business. This will require planning, funding, staff and putting certain processes in place.

 

If your business has been doing well, and you feel it is the right time to scale up, then these techniques will help you do this successfully. Here, we will go through the main five critical techniques that will allow you to be successful in scaling your business.

 

1.PLANNING AND EVALUATING

 

Firstly, look at you’re your business to see if it is really ready for growth. Make a detailed sales growth forecast. Your forecast should include the number of customers, orders and the revenue you want to create. Use a spreadsheet that breaks up the numbers down into months. Similarly include an expense forecast looking at adding technology, people, infrastructure and systems which will be needed to handle the new sales orders.

 

2. RESOURCE YOUR MONEY

 

It can be expensive to scale a business, as you may need to hire more staff, add equipment, upgrade your facilities and deploy new technology. However, there are ways such as small business investors you could apply to for assistance. Or, you could put some effort into identifying loans, grants or credit that can be used.

3. SALES

If you’re scaling your business, then you need to look into your sales structure to make sure you are able to sell at higher volumes sustainably. Make sure you check you have sufficient leads, enough sales representatives, and a robust system that manages sales orders and billing.

 

4. TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT

 

Investing in technology could allow you to save time and money and at the same time, accommodate higher volumes of sales. You can minimise manual work and lower cost through automation. Look at and evaluate a range of software products that allow sales management, inventory, manufacturing, accounting, shipping etc. In this evaluation also include networks and hardware servers. Or, consider whether a cloud-based service could work for you, negating the need for you to have as much IT hardware on-site.

 

5.MANAGEMENT OF STAFF

 

Though technology can be utilised effectively, it can’t replace people. Look at your staffing structure and focus heavily on these areas, ensuring you are well-staffed to avoid employee burnout. However, do not overstaff if you’re unsure whether your business will sustain the level of growth. It may be wise to consider outsourcing some parts of your business, until such time as the work is sufficient for an in-house staff member. Consider all roles within your business that could be affected by growth, including customer service staff, manufacturing staff, those responsible for inventory, the delivery of products or services and more. Also, look into growing your management team. As your business grows, you will not be able to oversee everything personally.

 

These techniques should have given you a starting point for scaling your business. With the right planning and processes put in place, your business should have the building blocks in place to sustain your future growth. As always the Source Team are at hand to support you, if you need advice about Scaling your Organisation reach out to the team: hello@source-technology.com

 

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