Expansion Plan: Best Practices for Growing Your Business
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 8:37 am
Expanding intelligently and based on good practices should be the mission of every business. But how can this be done in the best way? Through an expansion plan. It will provide the necessary support to avoid mistakes, losses and frustration.
To create an efficient expansion plan that brings good results for your business, follow the article until the end.
Advantages of creating an expansion plan
Creating an expansion plan can bring several advantages to your business. The biggest one is the possibility of planning for the long term and creating an action plan for improvements to be made within the company.
Furthermore, expansion can broaden the customer base, increase business volume, increase the possibility of obtaining better contracts and lines of credit and even attract investors.
If your company is suffering from reduced sales, competition gaining ground, low profit margins and other problems, creating and implementing an expansion plan can solve these issues.
How to create an expansion plan
1. Ask yourself
Before you start planning your expansion plan, you need to guatemala phone number lead ask yourself about some aspects of your business that will guide the plan, such as:
What are the goals with the expansion?
What type of expansion strategy is best suited to this objective?
What are the risks involved?
Which new customer should be reached or how much should the current audience be increased?
What is the estimated increase in sales?
What acquisitions will be necessary for the new operation, such as new equipment?
2. Set clear goals
As the saying goes: for those who don't know where they want to go, any path will do. Therefore, establish well-defined objectives for your business using SMART goals, which are 3 steps to achieving achievable goals and real objectives .
You can choose to increase your revenue by 20% in a year or increase production by 10% in three months, for example. The important thing is that they have a well-defined deadline and can be measured at the end of the period.
3. Define which resources will be needed
Once you have defined your goals, it is time to establish what will be necessary to achieve them. This involves both capital and hiring professionals, renting space or even purchasing new equipment.
Put everything in a spreadsheet and see if it is possible for the business to have a return on this investment, the famous ROI, and how long it will take for this return to be paid. Management software and applications can help control these expenses and earnings throughout the execution of the expansion plan, so that adjustments can be made over the period.
4. Establish metrics and indicators
To complete the expansion plan and monitor its performance, define which metrics and indicators can be analyzed during the period. Some of the metrics that can be adopted are:
Satisfaction level of new customers after expansion;
Evolution of the level of loyalty of previous customers, before and after expansion;
Profitability percentage per sale;
Sales conversion rate after implementing marketing and prospecting actions;
Degree of market share.
Don't forget to collect all data at the present time, before putting the plan into practice, so that it can be analyzed with the results later.
5. If necessary, seek specialized help
Defining your business expansion plan is not enough to ensure that your business truly grows and prospers. You need to dedicate time and effort, as well as master techniques and tools that will help you achieve efficient expansion.
Therefore, it may be worthwhile to count on specialized help through a business consultancy, which is focused on supporting entrepreneurs . Although it is an additional investment, you will be able to have a more efficient expansion plan and achieve your goals more quickly.
Here at 55 Lab, we offer Ignition, a consultancy specializing in strategic planning, digital transformation and new working relationships.
To create an efficient expansion plan that brings good results for your business, follow the article until the end.
Advantages of creating an expansion plan
Creating an expansion plan can bring several advantages to your business. The biggest one is the possibility of planning for the long term and creating an action plan for improvements to be made within the company.
Furthermore, expansion can broaden the customer base, increase business volume, increase the possibility of obtaining better contracts and lines of credit and even attract investors.
If your company is suffering from reduced sales, competition gaining ground, low profit margins and other problems, creating and implementing an expansion plan can solve these issues.
How to create an expansion plan
1. Ask yourself
Before you start planning your expansion plan, you need to guatemala phone number lead ask yourself about some aspects of your business that will guide the plan, such as:
What are the goals with the expansion?
What type of expansion strategy is best suited to this objective?
What are the risks involved?
Which new customer should be reached or how much should the current audience be increased?
What is the estimated increase in sales?
What acquisitions will be necessary for the new operation, such as new equipment?
2. Set clear goals
As the saying goes: for those who don't know where they want to go, any path will do. Therefore, establish well-defined objectives for your business using SMART goals, which are 3 steps to achieving achievable goals and real objectives .
You can choose to increase your revenue by 20% in a year or increase production by 10% in three months, for example. The important thing is that they have a well-defined deadline and can be measured at the end of the period.
3. Define which resources will be needed
Once you have defined your goals, it is time to establish what will be necessary to achieve them. This involves both capital and hiring professionals, renting space or even purchasing new equipment.
Put everything in a spreadsheet and see if it is possible for the business to have a return on this investment, the famous ROI, and how long it will take for this return to be paid. Management software and applications can help control these expenses and earnings throughout the execution of the expansion plan, so that adjustments can be made over the period.
4. Establish metrics and indicators
To complete the expansion plan and monitor its performance, define which metrics and indicators can be analyzed during the period. Some of the metrics that can be adopted are:
Satisfaction level of new customers after expansion;
Evolution of the level of loyalty of previous customers, before and after expansion;
Profitability percentage per sale;
Sales conversion rate after implementing marketing and prospecting actions;
Degree of market share.
Don't forget to collect all data at the present time, before putting the plan into practice, so that it can be analyzed with the results later.
5. If necessary, seek specialized help
Defining your business expansion plan is not enough to ensure that your business truly grows and prospers. You need to dedicate time and effort, as well as master techniques and tools that will help you achieve efficient expansion.
Therefore, it may be worthwhile to count on specialized help through a business consultancy, which is focused on supporting entrepreneurs . Although it is an additional investment, you will be able to have a more efficient expansion plan and achieve your goals more quickly.
Here at 55 Lab, we offer Ignition, a consultancy specializing in strategic planning, digital transformation and new working relationships.