Do you know the potential to grow your business?

If you want to grow your business you must first assess its potential for growth. To do so, it is important for you to have a thorough understanding of the market space in which you are operating, as well as your capacity to take on new clients.

Knowing your market will allow you to put measures in place to deal with competitive challenges, as well as enable you to refine your value proposition and align your resources to take advantage of potential opportunities.

In reality, you must know what you're up against, otherwise you will continually run into roadblocks. As a result, you could waste valuable time reinventing yourself and re-evaluating your approach to growth.

Here are some tips to help you assess the potential to grow your business.

Know your competitors

Identify businesses which offer products and services that are similar to yours.

Find out as much as you can about them, including the products and services they offer, their areas of specialization and any niches they might be serving. This information will allow you to implement strategies that differentiate you from the pack. The more you know about your competitors, the better you will be able to face off against them.

Know your target market 

Different markets have different characteristics. Ask yourself questions such as: Are you targeting the broad market or are you planning to serve a particular niche. Do you have an idea of the size of the total market or the segment of the market you are planning to serve? Research will help you to identify new and emerging needs among target members of your market.

Plan for growth

Persuading clients to choose you over existing providers or to switch their business to you can be challenging. Find out if there are any unfulfilled needs in your target market, which may give you an opportunity to attract the interest of potential clients.

Once you have developed a strategy for attracting new clients, you should also create a detailed plan with clear timelines so that you can track your growth. For example, how many new clients do you plan to recruit on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis?

Evaluate your resources 

Executing your growth plan must take into account your ability to handle an increase in your client roster, your assets under management and the services you provide. Assess whether you have the resources to implement your growth strategy. Do you have the staff, marketing support, systems and funding to pursue and take on new clients? If necessary, fill any gaps.

Also, take advantage of your strengths and fix the weaknesses that would prevent you from achieving your targets.

Market yourself

Being able to get people to choose you over your competitors is a challenge to growing your business.  In addition to finding out if there are any unfulfilled needs in your market,  get involved in trade shows and other events aimed at members of your target market. 

As well, revisit your center of influence relationships. Look at institutions that offer services to groups you have identified and spread the word about your services. If you believe opportunities lie within groups of engineers, or farmers, for example, offer to conduct lunch-and-learn sessions or educational seminars, with these groups.

Keep track of your success 

Devise a process to track your progress, which should help you determine your rate of growth in new clients, assets and revenue. Should your growth targets fail to materialize, your tracking process should tell you why. If you are not achieving the growth you projected, then you should re-evaluate your strategy.