Your business is starting to earn consistently, and now your customers are asking for more. But you can no longer accommodate new business opportunities and started turning them down. You managed to achieve your initial small business goals and now has a strong cash flow. This only meant your business is now ready to scale up. But how can you manage if you already used most of your profit for other purposes like saving for a rainy day fund?
Add Resources Slowly
Scaling requires adding the right system, technology, and manpower to your brand. But since you have a tight budget to work on, it can be hard to fund the things and people you need to better support the impending growth. The good news is, you don’t necessarily need to immediately buy everything just to start scaling the company.
For example, you’re a small business owner who creates gadgets for local consumers. When introducing a new product or when upgrading your current offers, you will need new equipment to create the prototypes. This enables you to bring your ideas back to life.
But since you’re still a small brand that can’t afford another costly investment, you can instead hire a PCB prototype assembly service. This way, you can still create your required printed circuit board prototypes at a cost-effective price. Local prototypers have the right technology and quality tools needed to craft your prototyping needs.
If you need additional manpower, you have two options to consider. For one, you can count on your current workers and offer incentives in exchange for them working overtime. You can also hire part-timers who have the kind of skills needed to accomplish your time-sensitive deadlines to avoid the cost of training and hiring new employees full-time.
Establish a Joint Venture
When it comes to scaling business on a strict budget, you can take advantage of a joint venture instead of a business partnership. A business partnership aims to make a profit and can last for many years. As for joint ventures, this is merely a contractual agreement that will end once the specific goal is accomplished.
With a joint venture, you can gain more resources that can boost technical expertise, which you can use to scale your brand. You can even access new markets and even make use of your partner’s specialized staff without looking forward to borrowing funds from other investors. You can use this to boost your company’s exposure, lower your research and development costs, and take advantage of your partner’s customer database to promote your products.
Encourage Client Referrals
Word of mouth marketing is the easiest and most effective way to gain new client referrals. This is since recommendations from people you trust weigh more than the reviews one can get from the internet. If you can encourage your current customers to refer your brand to their loved ones, this increases your chances of securing new clients.
- The following are some tactics you can use to boost client referrals in no time.
- Host a contest incentive
- Offer freebies or kickbacks
- Go for an incentive program
- Add a referral card after every successful purchase
- Craft customer experiences worth-sharing like a grand unboxing experience
- Share engaging content with your customers that they can share with their friends
- Publicly show your gratitude to customers who successfully referred clients (with their consent)
Grow Your Existing Customer Database
Organic growth is another cost-effective way to start scaling a small business. This way, you can save money from trying to attract new customers. This makes it easier for you to satisfy your customer’s needs since you already have an idea of what they want and need and what their expectations are.
You can offer clients a free newsletter. This allows you to increase your email list and share free but valuable content exclusive to your existing clients. They will get to know more about what you have to offer and why your business deserves to be on their good list.
You can also use short surveys and feedback forms to learn more about your customers. Ask about their pain points, expectations, and feedback. Make sure to show you’re listening to their opinions.
Use your website and social media to stay relevant. Consumers nowadays are hungry for knowledge and almost always share any content they find engaging and useful. They want to learn more about your company, the latest industry trends, and see how your plans can benefit them.
Of course, you need to make sure you get to improve the quality of your offers and maintain outstanding customer support. You want to make sure all staff are providing your customers with a positive experience.
When your business shows signs that it is now ready to scale, but you can only work on a limited budget, you can use other tactics to make your new business goal a reality. There are affordable ways you can use to slowly but surely start business growth. Tap on your existing resources, take better care of your customers and consider outsourcing services so you can save money, and alleviate your budget-restriction stress.
