Growth is fundamental to a business’ survival. Roughly 66% of businesses survive their first two years in operation, about 25% – 30% make it to the five-year mark, and just 20% will celebrate their tenth anniversary. Those numbers are remarkably consistent across most industries — but they also highlight how important it is to plan for growth from day one.

In 2019, 53% of Australia SMBs planned to grow and 22% planned to hire additional staff this was pre Covid19. That marked an impressive uplift from the 2018 figures of 46% and 9%, respectively. A concrete growth strategy is more than a marketing strategy, it’s a crucial cog in your business machine. Without one, you’re at the mercy of a fickle consumer base and market fluctuations.

So, how do you plan to grow?

Growth strategy allows companies to expand their business. Growth can be achieved by practices like adding new locations, investing in customer acquisition, or expanding a product line. A company’s industry and target market influences which growth strategies it will choose.

Strategize, consider the available options, and build it into your business plan. Depending on the kind of company you’re building, your growth strategy might include aspects like:

• Adding new locations
• Investing in customer acquisition
• Franchising opportunities
• Product line expansions
• Selling products online across multiple platforms

Your particular industry and target market will influence your decisions, but it’s almost universally true that new customer acquisition will play a sizable role.

Not sure what that looks like for your business?

Here are some actionable tactics for achieving growth.

• Use a growth strategy template.
• Choose your targeted area of growth.
• Conduct market and industry research.
• Set growth goals.
• Plan your course of action.
• Determine your growth tools and requirements.
• Execute on your plan.

Business Development.

It’s usually confused with sales, often overlooked, and only sometimes given the strategic focus it deserves. Having a business development strategy, however, is crucial to long term success and ensuring that everyone in your company is working toward a common goal.

Business development is the practice of identifying, attracting, and acquiring new business to further your company’s revenue and growth goals. How you achieve these goals is sometimes referred to as a business development strategy — and it applies to and benefits everyone at your company.

It’s not unusual to mistake business development with sales, but there’s an important distinction between the two. Business development refers to many activities and functions inside and outside the traditional sales team structure. In some companies, business development is part of the larger sales operations team. In others, it’s part of the marketing team or sits on its own team altogether.