Five Things To Do To Expand Your Business

Expanding your business into new markets can increase revenue, but there are some important factors to take into consideration before you leap forward.

The most important aspect is to decide how and where to expand. Developing new markets for your services can be lucrative, but fulfilling lots of small contracts may be at the expense of honouring a profitable deal with a customer who is willing to purchase volume on a repeat basis. Avoid spreading your expansion efforts too thinly.

Shrink the Scope of Your Focus

Identify the one capability or service offering that is robust and applicable across multiple markets and/or industry verticals.

Offer a Service that Is Profitable and Works for Your Business Model

Make your initiative as straightforward and simple as possible. Newly created deliverables should easily fit into your operations model without putting pressure on internal capabilities or personnel and should not involve speculation.

Determine New Marketplaces Where Your Presence Will Be Welcome and Makes Sense

You may feel that your offering is pertinent to multiple markets but try to decide on the most logical marketplace for your initial expansion efforts.

Leverage Your Experience in Established Marketplaces

Create an expert panel of customers from whom you regularly seek feedback. These existing customers will be your most loyal, A-list buyers who have utilised your current service offerings and can serve as references for your new business acquisition.

Target Buyers Who Will Offer Solid Opportunities

Don’t be tempted by small wins that use up internal resources and clog operations for the rest of your customers. Instead, identify potential customers who have the most respect within your new expansion markets and initiate business development discussions with them. They may not buy from you but the goodwill generated by seeking their opinion can be the source of referrals.

What are your business expansion plans for this year?

Adapted from an article by Babette Ten Haken