Growing smarter

5 ways to parlay growth into success

Businesses come in all sizes, they deal in an endless array of products and services, with different strategic plans, employees, customers, objectives and aspirations. So trying to give one-size-fits-all advice and insights on “growing your business” can be tricky.

But here at d.trio our 14 years of experience has given us some insights that can be useful for anyone who manages growth – whether it’s for a hot line of business, a business division or corporation. After all, this is America. We’re all entrepreneurs at heart, right?

1. Hire the best people you can find.
With growth comes new employees. Choose them with care, make sure they’re the finest individuals available and that they fit, culturally. People with talent, energy, ingenuity and a roll-up-your-sleeves attitude (plus expertise in your industry, of course) will help you maintain your upward trajectory.

2. Delegate wisely.
This is one of the many rewarding options you can derive from “hiring the best.” Building a business takes different skills and focus than those needed to launch one. You need people you can trust to help you pursue your dreams while they benefit by pursuing their own.

3. Deliver uncompromising customer service.
Frankly, this is an obsession at d.trio. It’s so important at every stage of any business.

Happy customers are loyal customers and have a huge impact on your growth. They 1) keep coming back for more, and 2) tell their friends and associates all about how great you are, which is an unbeatable brand of advertising.

Customer service is about sweating the small things that make people feel important, like being responsive, showing them where to find something rather than just telling them, and really listening to a concern and addressing it immediately.

Treat every single one of your customers like a VIP. Because they are.

4. Be careful with “gas pedal growth.”
Firms that grow like Starbucks are exceedingly rare. Since 1987, they’ve added an average of two new stores a day, and now they have over 20,800 coffeehouses in 64 countries.

A problem everyone wishes they had, right? Well, not so fast. Several things can happen when your business grows very quickly: You can handle it well because you have a plan for it, or you can really mess up because you don’t.

One of the big hurdles of growth is it increases a firm’s complexity and bureaucracy. As the number of employees, admins and managers grows, their training needs increase. It’s important to maintain the culture that made you successful and deliver products and services with the same passion and quality as when the company was smaller and its core mission was in sharp focus.

Understanding your brand evolution and communicating your brand vision in a consistent manner, both internally and externally, is crucial to this continuity.

5. Stay relevant. The processes, policies and marketing approaches that work when a business is smaller become outdated when the company grows significantly. This can take leaders by surprise. All these elements have to be monitored so they can evolve naturally with growth. In particular, outdated marketing materials can hurt your brand and leave the impression you don’t pay attention. If your content isn’t relevant to your customer, your brand is not relevant.

Growing in the Garden of Good and Evil
Growing a business the right way takes a lot of care, nurturing and wisdom. And while we’ve only scratched the surface on this topic, we hope these ideas inspire you to help the business you care about get bigger and better.