In this difficult financial time for businesses, it’s important to remember that now is not the time to remain static and set in your ways. Unfortunately, too many business owners are content to stand still, and they forget that it is only through growth and expansion that we continue to thrive. Growth leads to more profit, and can ultimately mean the difference between success or failure. If you’ve taken too long resting on your laurels, trapped needlessly by the daily routine, then it’s time to shake yourself up and look at some of the ways you can grow your business in real time and with surprisingly little effort.

Move online today

Although the goal of a ‘paperless office’ is harder than you'd think, there’s a lot to be said for reducing the financial costs to your company by lowering the need for stationery supplies and printer cartridges. These days, going paperless is about a lot more than reducing your monthly paper costs though, as the concept is broad enough to encompass the use of video messaging to save money on travel costs, cloud computing to reduce the reaction-times of staff receiving important documents, or even something as simple as swapping disposable cups for reusable mugs in the staff kitchen. The small savings add up, and by failing to recognize that you are setting yourself up to mismanage your waste and your costs.

Expand

There are many ways to expand, and each of them has their own benefits. You could rent new premises to maximize your factory output or rent another office to accommodate your latest round of hires. You can switch your current credit card processing to a faster Merchant Services to accept card payments at a lower rate. Whether you decide to expand by outsourcing, updating your technology processes or by providing additional training, there are a number of loans on offer that can give you that added financial boost to get you over the initial month of product diversification, and small repayments are key to ensuring that your business can take advantage of opportunity.

Knowledge is power

Market research is often the decider between a business that fails and one that succeeds. It is only by knowing your customer demographic that you will be able to offer the best service, and it is only by offering the best service that you retain the client base that you have already built. Those that fail to take into account the thoughts of their existing clients run the risk of losing them in the future, and those that neglect to learn about why others are not using their services or buying their products are doomed to never break into that particular market. Market Research is an important part of your day-to-day business management, and by failing to take steps to ensure that you understand what your customers need, you run the very real risk of losing out to your competition.

Business growth is all about adapting to the changing world. With technology providing almost daily changes to our working and personal lives, its little surprise that those businesses that take advantage of rapid transformation are the ones that thrive.