How to grow your small business

Key points

• Grow your business by focusing on existing customers or acquiring new ones
• Find new markets for your existing products or services
• Develop new products or services

When your business has been humming along nicely for a while, you may start to think about growth. In most cases, growing your business can be achieved by following one (or more) of five routes. You could:

• Get more value from existing customers
• Find new customers
• Find new markets for your existing products or services
• Develop new products or services
• Boost your profit margins

We’ll take a deeper dive into each of these strategies below. In the meantime, though, download our business growth checklist and start ticking things off the list as you take your business to the next level.

Focus on existing customers

Finding ways to get your existing customers to spend more with you can be an easy place to start. After all, they already know your brand and are familiar with your products and services. And you should know them pretty well, too.

First, think about what you know about your customers. Who are the most loyal? Who buys what? How can you create more buzz amongst them? If you haven’t already built a customer database, do this now – and consider how you can segment the database to target different groups with relevant offers.

Next, consider creating a customer loyalty scheme to reward your frequent shoppers. This is also a good way to track buying habits and use the data to influence your future strategies. And don’t forget to think about how you can train and incentivise your staff to sell more, too. 

Find new customers

Attracting new customers is another way to grow your business without having to change your products or services. What you will need to change, though, is your marketing strategy.

To reach new customers, create a targeted marketing plan for new customer segments. Use direct marketing like email and direct mail, along with strategic advertising and search engine optimisation (SEO). Measure the results and adapt accordingly.

Also think about how you can build your business via word-of-mouth referrals. This could be through testimonials or simply encouraging your regular customers to refer their friends and family.

You could also consider creating an introductory offer for new customers as an extra incentive for them to buy from you.

Find new markets for your existing products or services

In a similar vein to finding new customers, you could seek out entirely new markets for your products or services. This, in turn, will expose you to new cohorts of customers, too.

A new market could be an online channel or marketplace if you’ve always operated in a bricks-and-mortar world. Or it could be somewhere interstate or overseas if you’ve only ever sold locally.

Do your research before expanding into new markets to determine whether the initial investment will pay off. Your research should cover things like potential language or cultural barriers, pricing, the competitive landscape, any rules or regulations that apply in the new market, and so on.

Develop new products or services

Expanding your product or service offering can open up new markets and help grow your business, too. For example, a surf shop that sells surfboards and wetsuits could expand into skate and street wear. Or a beauty salon could expand into a wellness clinic, offering massage and other therapies.

Conduct thorough research to explore products and services that complement your existing offering and align with your brand values. Seek feedback from your customers before you take it too far. It can also be beneficial to consult experts for specialised advice and to validate the financial feasibility of your idea.

Some businesses seek out joint ventures with others when developing new products or services, others explore importing products that aren’t currently available in Australia. Both are viable options for growth, but again, do your research first.

Boost your profit margins

Your last option for growth is a simple one. Improve your profit. Crunch the numbers to find opportunities to save time and money. 
One strategy to explore here is to increase the amount of money coming in. You could increase your prices – just be careful here, considering the impact on your customers. Or you could build processes to collect money owing to you faster.

Another strategy is to decrease the amount of money going out. Examine your overheads, looking for ways to save time or money. For example, you could automate repetitive processes, or change processes to lower energy bills and reduce operating waste.

How ANZ can help you fund your growth plan

• Review your current banking with an ANZ Small Business Banker
• Access a business loan to fund business development
• Explore ANZ’s international business solutions
• Set up Internet banking to accept online payments

Next steps

Growing your business is an exciting step. For more ideas and details on all the strategies explored above, download our checklist for business growth.
Need to source funding for your business? Learn more about accessing different types of funding.