4 Stages of Business Growth and What to Focus on During Each, According to Take2Strategy
Only 49% of small businesses have a clearly stated plan for business growth. Take2Strategy outlines the winning strategies to use during each stage of business growth to keep a brand relevant in the long-term.
MIAMI, May 7, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Only 49% of small businesses have a clearly defined plan for business growth, leading to missed opportunities and scaling issues.
Take2Strategy's Digital and Business Growth Consultant Gabriel Shaoolian explains the fundamental stages of business growth for entrepreneurs and SME owners, and how to realize success within each.
The four stages of business growth and the areas to focus on are:
1. Startup Stage
The startup stage begins with a minimum viable product (MVP).
What to focus on in this stage:
- - Recruit the best talent possible
- - Establish processes and follow them with discipline before team growth
- - Focus on the early adopters: Rather than spread marketing resources thin, identify the customers that can convert into advocates and invest in them
- - Focus on customer service to groom relationships with the initial customer base
2. Growth or Scale-up Stage
By this point, the business has grown its customer base and started entering the green zone profit-wise.
What to focus on:
- Recruit top-class executives: Getting one or two seasoned C-level executives will save some trial-and-error and help fast-track the go-to-market process
- Define the specific roles and hire experts
- Outsource the non-core activities to ensure every aspect of the business receives the best quality treatment while remaining agile and focused
- Invest in branding and marketing: Make a trusted name out of the business and grow brand awareness
3. Expansion Stage
Now, the business has become a profitable organization.
What to focus on:
- Though established, treat the business as vulnerable: To maintain stability, keep attention equally distributed between the organization, product/service portfolio and growing the customer base
- Find new opportunities for revenue growth: Popular ways of diversifying and growing revenue sources are 1) evolving the business model to offer more accessible options, 2) introducing the brand to new markets, 3) introducing add-ons and/or versions of the offering that cater to new markets, and 4) growing brand equity to capitalize on prestige or relevance to new markets.
4. Maturity or Enterprise Stage
The final stage of the business growth process is the maturity stage. This is where businesses have created their household brands, build a self-sustaining organization and maximized their market share.
What to focus on:
- Evolve the organizational structure to promote innovation: Provide a constant influx of fresh perspectives necessary to keep the brand relevant in the fast-changing markets
- Intrapreneurship: Hire entrepreneurs capable of running the innovation centers within the organization
- Invest in internal and recruitment branding to attract and retain the best talent on the market
- Focus on building customer loyalty: Loyal customers can provide a source of sustainable income and it costs less to retain them than to attract new ones
Focusing on business growth, the key takeaways across all stages are to build a strong core team, earn customer loyalty, never lose sight of the offering or teams despite success, outsource non-core activities, maintain agility across all stages and foster the spirit of innovation.
About Take2Strategy: Take2Strategy's Gabriel Shaoolian is a digital growth consultant specialized in growing brands online. Take2Strategy provides services to startups and enterprises looking for market-winning business, web and marketing strategy.
SOURCE Take2Strategy
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