How to Create a Growth Plan

At some point, your business has to grow – This is essential for its existence. Whether this means growing a customer base, a product or service list, physical expansions, or hiring more staff, it has to happen sometime. That’s why you need to create a growth plan.

Micro businesses, freelancers or sole proprietors should aim to grow their business, even if it is just to afford an accountant. Small businesses might strive to add more staff to better divide tasks and duties, introduce a new product or service or move from tiny facilities to a larger space. Medium-sized enterprises might scale to become large corporations, or expand their national footprint, like opening additional stores or branches.

Whatever growth might look to you, you need a strategy, like a growth plan, to help be your roadmap.

Types of Growth

There are many different roads to take to grow your business. Which route you take depends on the destination or goal. Hubspot distinguishes between four types of growth. These are as follows:

1. Organic

This category is evident whenever a business uses its own profit to scale in instances such as doubling production.

2. Strategic

With this type of growth, strategies that build towards long-term scaling. These often require lots of resources, time and planning.

3. Internal

Internal growth is very different from the examples mentioned above. This type of growth focuses on streamlining processes and procedures.

4. Mergers, Partnerships, Acquisitions

In some instances, scaling is made possible by mergers, partnerships, and acquisitions. This means combining resources, increasing a footprint or expanding into new markets.

Elements in a Growth Plan

Certain factors need to be considered when you set up a growth strategy. These elements must be included in your business growth plan.

• Start with an executive summary that is clear and actionable. It addresses why the plan is being created and what the ideal outcomes are.
• A customer analysis will show how your business understands its customers and how growth will benefit them.
  Market- and competitive analyses highlight the positioning of your brand and will set the foundation for the goals of your growth strategy.
• Goals, specifically SMART goals, indicate what needs to be achieved, and this is the whole point of your plan.
• Strategies and processes will define the steps that help you reach your goals.
• Resources will list the human, financial and physical resources needed to achieve your goals.
• Financial projections will outline how growth is funded, how much the project will cost, and what expected returns will be.
• Risk factors should be part of most plans, but especially in your growth strategy. It indicates all the potential risks that can prevent you from succeeding in your plan, as well as how you will mitigate them.
• Timelines are vital for any endeavour. Every project you start must have an end, so indicate by when you plan to reach your goals.

Creating Your Business Growth Plan

Now that you understand the structure of your growth plan, you are ready to create your document.

1. Collect The Information

Collect all of the information that you will need for each point as stated above. Investigate your needs in depth. Don’t just guess what resources you need; sit down and conduct research.

2. Be Detailed

Within every section of your plan, you need to clearly define each step of the way. When you outline your executive summary, financial projections or any other part of your growth plan, you must write every part of your journey. Remember to include who the responsible individuals are if there is more than one person working on the business’s growth.

3. Define The Metrics

Defining the metrics for indicating each milestone you reach is a very important part of the process; after all, this is your motivation for growth. Ensure that you define the metrics for your goals.

4. Draw Your Growth Plan

Combine all of this information into a document that is easy to understand. You will use this plan to set up your individual tasks that need to be completed in order to gain traction on your growth.

5. Implementation

This speaks to everything you and your team will do to bring growth according to your plan to life. Disseminate the document to all relevant individuals and arrange a meeting to discuss next steps. Your plan won’t succeed if no one is on the same page.