Most often we plan for the worst-case scenario, ‘If we get no orders, no requests for service and no new customers’, but what if the complete opposite happens, your business takes off over night? Here is our top list of to do’s…
- Take a moment to reflect on what is going on within your business, you may have thousands of unexpected orders or requests for your services, stop and take a breath.
- Speak to your management team about what is happening – its okay if you don’t have all the answers yet to their questions but write them down.
- Enact a Triage protocol or quickly brainstorm with your team to develop one. You will need to start delivering some of what you promised to your most valuable clients or at the very minimum contact all those lovely new customers to explain that there are potential delays, but you will keep them updated. I always find that looking after your existing customers first is a good way forward, then maybe your most profitable or work on the orders you can deliver.
- Communicate to your customers, what the implications will be both existing and new.
- Seek out your trusted advisors and develop your direction. Talking your challenges through with the people you trust and already have a relationship with will help you to not fall prey to someone with ill intent. You will need to ensure that you have enough financial, personnel, systems, and business resources to satisfy the growth demands.
These people are:
- Accountant (Assess your tax, cashflow and budgets)
- Financial Planner (Asset Protections, Asset Structuring)
- Lawyer (Contracts, Business Law and Legal issues)
- Copywriter (Intellectual Property, manage your communication content)
- Financier/ Mortgage Broker/ Bank (Funding & Deposit Requirements, Transactional Banking)
- Suppliers (Establish trade terms on your increased needs, seek new ones if necessary to fill the requirements)
- Marketing Consultant (Expert marketing campaigns and strategies)
- Business/ Professional Coach (clarify objectives, Goals and assess resources available)
- Be adaptable and flexible, you may need to make some quick changes to your business processes, hire new support staff or even find a bigger premises. Communicate everything that you are doing to your team, they need to know how to support you along this change process.
- Delegate, and Review. As your business is growing your role within it will change from hands on day to day, to receiving management reports and assessing your return on investment. You will find that you will need to delegate some of your responsibilities to improve the business processes due to the increasing complexity of a larger business.
- Revisit and reset your personal and business plans and strategic directions.
If you are experiencing rapid business growth and need cash flow to help fund that growth, reach out to Brunswick today.