Business scale-up tips from EJ Dalius

Deciding to scale up a business is one of the happiest moments for an entrepreneur because the sense of growing the business gives immense satisfaction. Scaling up a business is the reward of your hard work, but before you get ready to take your business to the next level, be sure that you can grow. The business systems and infrastructure, along with your team, should be able to accommodate the growth, feel Eric J Dalius because he sees scalability as a function of capacity and capability.

You must never look back once you decide to scale up your business. Any false step could see your dreams crumbling as orders would be falling through the cracks, you would fail to deliver, and miscommunication and inadequate manpower would leave customers unhappy.

Scaling up your business means setting up the stage to support growth with proper planning and funding, and the right processes, staff, systems, and technology along with the right partners. 

Follow these steps to scale up your business.

Evaluate first and then plan, says EJ Dalius

Where you are and how far you can leap are the factors to consider before scaling up your business. Take the leap only when you are ready. Look at your business to understand whether it has the capabilities to support the growth plan. If you are convinced about it, you must start planning by creating a sales forecast based on new customers, the number of orders, and the revenue you want to generate.  Breakdown the numbers by month as it helps in creating a realistic sales acquisition plan. Do a similar exercise for projected expenses for incorporating technology, infrastructure, people, and systems required to handle the added sales.

Arrange for funds

The growth plan means expansion by adding more resources, which will involve some expenses, and you must arrange for the funds to drive your business towards growth. To find the money the fuel – the growth engine for your business, you can take to bootstrapping, but it will take longer to grow. Instead, you can approach your bank for additional funds by approving new lines of credit or a loan by figuring out how much you need.

Augment the sales team

Achieving higher sales is the only way to grow your business, and you must have or create suitable sales infrastructure to support the lofted goals. Have a close look at your sales and marketing team to ascertain if the team can generate additional leads and whether there are enough people to follow up leads and close sales.  Having a robust system to manage sales orders is essential. An equally robust billing system and receivables function will ensure timely collection of outstanding to maintain healthy cash flow.

Invest in technology

Reduce the cost of expansion by incorporating technology like automating business processes to minimize manual work costs. Integrate the systems to eliminate complexity in communications that can increase management problems.

Consider the staffing and, if needed, outsource some business processes to achieve better efficiencies.