Operations often doesn't get the proper attention when you are pushing for business growth. Too many owners focus their efforts on first expanding their product offerings. They want to make sure they have the best feature and functions when compared to competitors. Owners then will build sales and marketing to ensure prospects know about the product and when they should buy. It's only after the orders start to ramp up that they think of operations when they have a growing business. At this point, it can be too late to avoid chaos at your company.
This happened to me in 1993 when I ran a business to business mail-order catalog company (later, we sold on the relatively new internet). We started managing our sales and inventory on software that operated on one computer. When we made this choice, we never considered that someday our business growth would be so high that our order entry and fulfillment would require the software to be on multiple computers simultaneously. We eventually grew so fast that we had to switch operational systems twice over a five-year period. Because of our lack of planning, these were costly and painful migrations to make.
Here are the areas of your infrastructure you'll need to work on when your business is growing quickly.
1. Review and document all your procedures.
Too many companies run each day like it's a new improvisation. Despite many repetitive processes that happen constantly when you're serving customers, many team members seem to be just reacting without a plan. Well-documented and proven procedures are the “jet pack" that will help improve employees' productivity and results. Ensure, at least annually, that these procedures are reviewed by the best team members and revised to meet the current conditions. These approved processes need to be in every area of the company, including marketing, sales, operations, development and finance.
2. Pick the best technology.
Today, this can be the competitive advantage for every business. With cloud computing, even the smallest company can take advantage of enterprise-level technology while growing their business. It is now easy to start out as a single user and migrate seamlessly to a large staff without any migration interruptions. Pick an integrated solution that can do most of the functions in your company instead of individual apps that don't communicate data to each other. Use a cloud communication phone system like Nextiva or Vonage so calls can be dynamically forwarded offsite or to smartphones.
3. Delegate.
Most companies initially grow as a hub and spoke organization where everyone reports to the founder (or they make all the real decisions). This makes it very difficult to grow if everything needs to go through one person. Founders can sometimes be poor delegators since they may think they can do everything better themselves. If employees complain that something is too hard or if they poorly execute a task, the frustrated boss just decides to do it themselves. This is why it is critical to delegate increasingly more responsibility to the managers in your company that you trust.
Too many companies don't build their infrastructure for business growth. Planning ahead will help avoid costly problems and disruptions later.
4. Train your staff.
Too many businesses have on-the-job training, which may mean no training at all. In fact, in my last company, we even had the inside sales people build their own desk before they started making calls. When they were done, they were handed a script and told to pick up the phone. We justified not provide training because we were so busy. Unfortunately, most people left, and we had to do it all over again. Eventually we learned that if we trained our staff properly, they would have more success and would stay with the company.
5. Set specific goals and targets for business growth.
Create the specific growth that you want, not just whatever happens. Focusing on written objectives will help your team get there. These goals should be set and reviewed at least monthly, but can be reviewed weekly as well. Departments, teams and individual performers should also have goals that all roll up to this company target.
6. Review efficiency and effectiveness.
There is an ongoing conflict with business growth. While efficiency can accomplish tasks at a lower cost and higher profit today, companies are only sustainable if they can effectively solve their customers' problems. It is nearly impossible to be both effective and efficient simultaneously inside any business. Most companies focus on one method and then shift to focus on the other. To improve on anything inside your business, take any action that has been effective before. Once completed, go back and make changes to make it more efficient. You can iterate this repeatedly by making small changes. Over the long run, this can help you find the balance between the effective and efficient solutions that fit your company.
7. Set up feedback loops for customers.
Focusing on the customer experience will help ensure that you develop not only customers, but fans that keep coming back. Getting comments can be scary, but it's the only way to definitively know if you are delivering what they really want. Encourage customers to fill out formal surveys or leave comments on review or social media sites. You may not always like what you hear, but you will learn from hearing it. Even if you get criticism, replying with empathy can create a satisfied customer.
Too many companies don't build their infrastructure for business growth. Planning ahead will help avoid costly problems and disruptions later.
Photo: Getty Images
