Whatever your goals as a business, it’s likely that at some time in the future, you’ll need to scale up to help maintain growth. But without a properly structured plan that maps out which areas of your business you want to scale up, invest in or rethink, taking definitive action is going to be difficult.  

Having growth planning in place gives you something to strive for as a team and makes the process of scaling more transparent and achievable. But what should you include in your growth plan, and how can you scale your business efficiently?  

We’ll look at the foundations of a good growth plan to help you review your existing strategy or develop a brand new one. The aim is to help you create a company structure that enables you to scale operations and drive you to success. 

What to consider when growth planning?

Growing a company is a balancing act. Too much of one thing, or too little of another could spell disaster – and sometimes all that’s needed is a little repositioning. Mapping out what you need to do, and when, will create flexible guidelines for you to follow as a company.  

Getting your target audience right  

You’ve most likely researched and set personas already, but when? If you haven’t revisited your audience personas in a while, it’s best to review them during growth planning. Are they still relevant to your product, services and the market? Or has something changed?  

You should also consider whether this audience is scalable. Does your product have the potential to reach more customers across a wider region? If not, it may be time to reposition your product or offer a new product to fill the gap.  

Is your current business model scalable? 

Following on from an analysis of your target audience, you should start to think about your business model, and whether it’s going to stand up to the pressures of growth.  

Think about the current market, your competitors and your future plans for the product. Repositioning your company could mean bigger opportunities in another sector or shaking off that stubborn competition as you scale operations up. 

Financials – how much will growth cost?  

Perhaps the most important part – can you afford it? Scaling operations requires a significant bump in capital, so whether you’ve already acquired funding, or are in the middle of applying, you’ll need to make a financial forecast for the future.  

Look at key metrics such as revenue growth, sales growth, profitability over time, market share and more to build an accurate picture of what you want your future business to realistically look like financially. 

How to scale up your team?

Building the right team is crucial to your growth planning. Investing in the right talent as early as possible means less hassle later in the process and added stability during your growth period.  

As a leader, you need employees you can trust to get the job done. Work out a way to find people who invest themselves in your company and are committed to the growth of the business. 

Traditionally, finding the right people with the right skills can be a challenge. However, working with experts with the ability to leverage AI to systemically find desirable skills and relevant experience makes it easier to find great talent matches for your organisation. It also saves on traditional recruitment agency costs – most of whom don’t have access to critical data and take too long to engage with the talent you need to scale.  

Monitoring the way you scale operations  

Once you’ve developed your plan, the job’s done, right? Not quite. You never know when a disruptive event could change the very fabric of your business. Revisit your plan at least quarterly, or even more frequently, to ensure that your predictions and forecasts are achievable, and to adjust based on your findings. 

As you grow, one thing will be a constant: the need for talent. The bigger your business grows the more high-quality team members you’ll need. And guess what? The less time your team will have to spend trying to find them.

Develop a strategy to ensure that you keep quality people in the talent pipeline, starting with growth planning. Then engage with talent and demonstrate your qualities to them regularly. This should include making your company an attractive place to work, with good work/life balance, employee benefits and more.

Harnessing the power of AI to identify top talent and then crucially engage this talent is imperative.   

How can you scale your business hiring strategy? 

Creating an attractive business that employees want to work for and stay loyal to is one thing, but how do you get access to the right talent in the first place? 

talent.ai is the partner you need to help scale your operations with high-quality talent. Our expertise is at your disposal to achieve your growth ambitions.