What do You Need To Successfully Scale a Business
I was at a cocktail networking event last week, and as I was circulating and getting to know people, I came across a group talking about how they were scaling their operations. This was an exciting conversation – something I’m always thinking about for my clients and for myself.
Who doesn’t want a business that can do more, grow more, and make more money?
I settled into the conversation and some people were so excited to talk about the new clients they had signed, and consequently, the new team members they had hired…When I heard this, I cringed because I didn’t want to be the one to tell them that they aren’t scaling. That they got scaling all wrong… Scaling a business isn’t about adding resources.
Scaling is about increasing your sales while keeping your expenses the same or lower. It’s about getting more productivity out of your team and resources, and it’s about being able to handle more growth, i.e. sales, efficiently.
Let’s take it back a little bit. How many of you have ever felt that sinking feeling in your stomach after you’ve signed a major new deal? Before the ink is even dry on the contract, you’re anxious and worried about how you’re going to deliver the product or service to the client. If you feel this way, then you haven’t scaled your business.
Two things that you need to have in place to scale your business
Here are the two things that you need to have in place to scale your business properly:
- First, clear systems and processes that are defined, outlined, and documented for your team. With this, they will know exactly what they are supposed to do, and how they are supposed to complete work for your business without any of the uncertainty that saps away their productivity and efficiency. Your systems and processes are the foundation of your business operations and they are also your primary scaling tool because it’s your roadmap to optimization and automation. You can’t optimize a system that you haven’t mapped: I’ve seen so many flubs and mess-ups of business owners trying to automate systems that they didn’t fully know. So, they end up automating one part of a system and run into issues automating in the rest of the system because the software or program they chose wasn’t designed to handle automation of the full system.
- Second, you need the right resources – the right team members. Scaling is about efficiency, and making sure everyone is more efficient. You need team members who believe in your vision and want to help you execute it in the fastest, most efficient way possible. I think we’ve all had those hires, who were great at the one thing that they needed to do, but when you get into scaling, you need the right team members who share your vision, are excited about helping build it, and are willing to be creative and dynamic in finding solutions and being efficient with their time spent working in your business.
What should you ask yourself to see if you’re scaling your business properly?
These are the two true secrets to scaling your business. If you are scaling or thinking about scaling, ask yourself:
- Do I have a systems roadmap for optimizing my resources and my workflows?
- Do I have the right resources in places to help my team execute systems and processes in an efficient and productive manner?
If you answered yes to both of these questions, congratulations – you have a properly scaled business.
If this resonates with you, or if you’re ready to talk about building systems and scaling your business, reach out to me. I’m happy to connect and share feedback and brainstorm. Until next time, this is Diane.
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