How to Scale a Business?

Is your business ready to scale up?  Curious about how to scale a business? Check out these five tips at Finnovating to help you expand. Work smarter, not harder!

Planning a business means precise decisions and finding opportunities to grow.  Understanding how to scale up a business or organization will help you reach a point of consistent revenue growth, without delaying growth or adding extra costs to your bottom line. This article will provide you with helpful insights on how to scale a business and when you’ll need to apply this tactic.  

What does it mean to scale a business?

Part of the business jargon is the process of scaling up: “to increase the size, amount, or extent of something.” This lays down a path in which to grow your company or even to expand proportionally and profitably. There is more to knowing the definition and then applying it to the business. The goal is to increase revenue while also increasing productivity but at a much faster rate than the costs. It’s important to know that growing the company and scaling the company are two separate tasks, but both play an important role in moving the business forward.  

Think of an increase in revenue in your business; the demand is high for your product or service. To keep up with the demand, you need to increase production. In order to produce more, you’ll need to get more materials or add to your staff. The ultimate goal would be for you to keep well below the increased revenue in order to focus on the profit that could be made. Invest back into the business and see how upgrading the way it works can be improved.

Business scaling does not need to be done at the birth of the company. A solid foundation needs to be built for the business in the day-to-day production. Taking a look at the business model will show how the business can scale. That will depend on physical inventory and the overhead but if there is less of that, it will be easier to scale. You’ll know when you’re ready.

 

5 Steps to Scaling a Business 

Now that the basic understanding of business scaling has been explained, the next step is moving forward with the plan.  When the company is stable enough, it’s time to expand. If there is a commitment to move forward, this is the first step. The following are also helpful steps that can explain the best way to scale.

1. Strategize the Plan – Have a plan for obstacles that may arise during the scaling process. There is much that can happen in a business. If you’re looking to survive then know what to expect and how to manage it.  
2. Evaluate your tools – Businesses have access to a variety of software from automatic replies to FAQ’s. Use social media to your advantage by keeping your profiles engaging and advertise to attract new customers. Invest in inventory management software to keep a tally of the products with a click of a button leaving employees to put their skills to better use.  
3. Find funding – With growth, you can take the profits and invest back into the company. Would a small business loan be beneficial? There are steps in the growth and scaling plan that will require improvement in the bottom line. 

4. Maintain sales – If there is more going into the bottom line for production, you must understand how to manage the goods or services produced by the company. This is where leads are important to flow into more sales. Are there enough staff to help close the sales and keep up with the demand? Do you have the room to handle the influx of new sales? This step needs a closer look into how efficient it is to get sales done and the products or services into the hands of the customer.
5. Look at those who work within the company – In order to grow, manual labor is needed, and this is where the employees come in. How many would logistically be best for the goal that the company is trying to reach? Management can help determine how to function successfully, so the supply chain is able to maintain sales, and those working with clients face to face are being managed.  

The scaling process is the path to expansion for the business. It is a plan that must be worked, and reworked, until its efficacy is able to increase the revenue without raising costs. This is especially important for startups and gives them the ability to set up for success in the long run. What you put in will certainly pay off in time if scaling is done right. Now that you’ve learned how to scale your business, what do you hope to accomplish next?