Business startups often go through a honeymoon phase wherein opportunity after opportunity comes knocking at their door, and the smart entrepreneur is more than happy to ride the bullish trend presented to their company. And despite the not-so-pleasant circumstances imposed by the Covid-19 global pandemic, many businesses have been able to experience the same honeymoon phase, win out against shortfalls through resilience, and come out stronger than ever before in this recovering economy.
However, one common issue that a lot of these firms face is what comes after the initial startup of their operations, that beyond the first few years, it seems that growth has stagnated, processes are no longer scaling up, and overall performance has seemingly plateaued. And while these gaps trace back to a lack of business development planning and implementation, most companies don’t realize that the responsibility of creating actionable growth opportunities is theirs to uphold and actualize.
Identify New Markets To Enter
Firstly, one of the most reliable ways of creating growth opportunities for your business is through the identification of new markets to enter and to capitalize on a larger market share to scale their operations. Especially given the new wave of business operating on the digital landscape, markets from all across the world are all the more accessible to medium-sized enterprises to incorporate a global reach into their business plan.
- Entry Via Strategic Partnership: One excellent method of entering new markets is via strategic partnership; merging, distributing, or coming to an agreement with an established brand for your products and services to enter a new market. Of course, there’s no denying that this will come at an increased cost and may introduce profit-sharing or commission-based strategies, but it will give you access to an existing audience base as well.
- Aggressive Marketing Strategies: Another reliable method of entering a saturated market with a competitive business climate is through aggressive marketing strategies such as cold-calling potential leads, launching a free pilot for your product/service, and others wherein the risks are high, and the returns aren’t guaranteed. Typically, you’d want to be more analytical and patient with entering a market, but even a wildcard action plan that emphasizes impact and the first impression will help market penetration.
Expand Available Products & Services
In addition to new market entry points, instead of allocating research and development for product innovation alone, we recommend that you expand your current lineup of available products and services to meet growing demands and different niches. You see, there are only so many features and incentives you can attach to your offers until any further investment or resource allocation will just be inefficient, so you’ll want to expand rather than stacking everything onto one item.
- Network With Third-Party Vendors: While most entrepreneurs and small-to-medium businesses enjoy the benefits aligned with a centralized system and consolidated operations management, scaling your firm in the new normal will require networking with third-party vendors. Sure, some would argue that it’s unnecessary, but doing everything yourself will take much longer to accomplish, and vendor management will enable accelerated service delivery and improvement of core business functions.
- Diversify Your Payment Options: Online business is rapidly growing and shows no sign of stopping, and given the massive influx of digital users, companies must accommodate the ever-expanding online market. Therefore, we suggest that you diversify your payment options through merchant services like LoanPaymentPro, cryptocurrency wallets, and many others to empower your customers with increased consumer choice.
Create Stronger Customer Relationships
Last but not least, actionable growth opportunities can also arise from stronger customer relationships, and a well-informed, engaged, and loyal customer base will always triumph in the face of economic adversity and turbulence. Unlike companies that remain indifferent and disconnected from their customers that need to entice their consumers to come back, your audience will become repeat customers by choice and spread the good word about your brand image to others.
- Establish An Online Presence: Branching off from the topic of a more interconnected online landscape, establishing an online presence in the new normal has become increasingly important given that it’s the most accessible way of connecting with your audience for the price of nothing. In fact, you will come to understand that the social media space is ripe with trends and data to follow that can help jumpstart your company’s online relevance and relatability.
- Sponsor And Connect With Influencers: Apart from your company’s online presence, sponsoring and working with influencers is also an excellent way of creating stronger customer relationships. Influencer marketing has grown over the past years, and while it may not be the answer for everyone, there’s no denying that it gives you immediate access to an existing audience base that might be interested in your products.
There Are No By-the-book Rules For Business Development, So Get Creative.
In conclusion, there are no by-the-book rules we can follow to ascertain successful business development, so we must be creative in our efforts to establish actionable growth opportunities. And instead of waiting for something to happen, we firmly believe that one of the best ways to become an industry leader amid these trying times is by carving out your path.