You have a business, and you want to expand it. You want to bring a greater customer service to anyone who enters your store, you want to take on new and talented people in new and different departments, and you want to innovate new and exciting products that are going to change just one little sector of the market you operate in. Sure, these are long term and lofty ambitions, but they’re ones you can grab onto by the horns – as long as you remember everything you’ll need to do.

When it comes to taking your business to the next level, there’s quite a few elements you’re going to have to keep in mind – so many, in fact, that it’s easy to forget some crucial parts of your next step. So to help make sure you’re never leaving too many details off of the business plan, here’s a few things you’re most likely to forget in your quest to keep your company on the up and up.

It’s back to the drawing board on this one!

 

You Can’t Do it Alone

Just like it takes a village to raise a child, it’s going to take more than you and you alone to expand your business, no matter how hard you’ve worked before now. After all, you’re going to need plenty of contacts on your side, to give you the lowdown on who’s who and what’s what within the sector or country you’re moving into, and that’s not something you’ve had the time to research yourself.

So before you even begin to undergo your expansion, be sure to reach out to the network you’ve managed to build for yourself, and get them to put their feelers out. After all, just because you don’t know a guy doesn’t mean they won’t! It’s the nature of a business circle: everyone knows someone else, and they can put in a good word for you and your efforts.

At the same time, keep an eye on your competitors, and how they’re managing to expand their companies. You could draw some inspiration from their efforts, watch as they break into the market on their own and then track the footsteps they leave for you to follow, and you can even think about collaborating with them. There’s a lot less work for you to do when a business similar to yours has already explored a portion of the market you’re interested in, as they build a foundation you can use as a springboard – you know there’s already an interest for your product, you know you can offer this product at a higher or lower rate, and you can simply use the chance to expand upon the ideas you already have.

 

You’ll Need to Take Care of Your Current Business

If you’re trying to expand your company, you need to be sure you’re not overreaching yourself. After all, you need to be able to look after all the business you’re getting now, as well as take on a bit more work every day until you achieve the expansion you’ve been dreaming of. It’s a delicate balance, one you’re going to have to strike carefully, and you could accidentally tip the scales at any point during this kind of venture.

If you can afford it, it might be a good idea to bring on some more part time staff whilst you’re looking to get another branch set up or to bring your product to a foreign market, seeing as you’re going to need the manpower more than anything else. Seasonal staff are wonderful for lightening the load of a frenzied shopping season, but they’re also wonderful for making sure you can focus on what’s more important right now. You can turn your attentions back to setting up those investor contacts, or establishing a dialogue with a foreign representative – let someone else do the day to day heavy lifting whilst you look after the future prospects of your business.

Not to mention, you can always dial back your expansion efforts if things are looking rough back at base. It’s going to be a lot harder to try and dial back the beginnings of a bad reputation from rushed customer service and limited operating hours whilst you’re try to take your business to the next level.

 

You’ll Need to Look After Your Technology

The technology in your office is something your company relies on, and you’re going to need it in perfect condition with a perfect connection whenever your operating hours are in full swing. Sure, what with the nature of technology, hiccups are going to be expected, but they can’t last any longer than a couple hours at most, especially on the customer end.

So when you try to expand your business, whether that’s moving into a bigger and better location, taking on more staff, or opening up another branch of your store in another country, you’re going to need to pivot a lot of focus onto the technological side of things. You can’t keep up with all the IT demands with your own in house team, especially when you have one or more continents to cover! That’s when you need to bring in the aid of a specialist company that can work the digital wonders for you, for reduced down time and fees that you can sneeze at in the grand scheme of your business.

If you’re interested in an idea like this, be sure to read more here about these kind of solutions. After all, you’ve got a lot of work to do in every department within your company, and they’re all going to be using computers at their desk, on the same network that connects you and your staff to one another – that’s a hefty service to try and look after without any skill.

 

Ready to Get Expanding?

As long as you fully understand and have prepared for the work it’s going to take. Don’t worry, there’s quite a lot of aid out there for small businesses.