Dale Stafford, Founder and Principal of the Principal Department shared with us her top 3 tips for growing your business.

There's no such thing as business.

There’s just people doing stuff.

Stuff we call business.

You know, stuff like finding enough customers, selling them something, delivering it with quality and on time so they’re more than happy to pay you promptly, place repeat orders and recommend their network to use you too.

How difficult could that be?  What could possibly go wrong?

Quite a lot, it turns out, as anyone in business will confirm.

So, when it comes to growing your business, what does it really take to achieve results and how are you measuring up?

In answer to what does it take, here’s a hat-trick of tips which may seem simple and commonsensical. But experience shows that simple doesn’t mean easy, and the problem with common sense is it’s not so common. As Chris Tarrant used to say on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’, it’s only easy when you know the answer.

Seize The Opportunity

If achieving success in business was easy, everyone would be doing it. But they’re not, because it isn’t. Various studies report that success rates for high growth in small businesses is fewer than 4%. Having said that, it is relatively simple and much easier when you know how. Which is where people like me give you and your business a massive advantage. We’ve been there, done it and got the t-shirt after all.

"Success rates for high growth in small businesses is fewer than 4%"

What’s more, political parties of all persuasions seem to have cottoned on to how critically important SMEs are to the economy. They’re saviours of the nation as I like to call them, because they punch above their weight in terms of being innovative, creating new jobs and generating wealth. Which means there’s more support out there than ever for those who are commercially savvy and serious about growing their business, and it often attracts funding. So, grab the support you need with both hands and steal a march on your competition.

Don’t Go It Alone

Getting a business up and running usually rests on the efforts of one, maybe two, highly motivated and committed individuals. The quintessential owner-manager. Sustaining that over the longer term and successfully growing a business can’t be achieved in the same way. Critical to your success is how well you’re able to up your own game as well as harness your existing people power, enabling you to move to working on your business rather than working in it, you need to be confident enough to let your team take care of the day-to-day. Your ability to attract the right new blood and deal with any would-be internal saboteurs, all too ready and willing to hold progress back with their negativity and cynicism along the way, is also crucial if you’re to realise the potential in your business.

Dale advises businesses on how to harness their people power

The Winning Combo

You obviously need a vision of where you want to take your business and a focussed plan of action to turn it into a reality. Without that, the vision’s merely a pipe dream and your growth aspirations will probably be frustrated. And even with a great plan on paper, taking yourself and your business to the next level is no mean feat because growth equals change. You might say, growing your business is like going through a metamorphosis, akin to the transformational change that takes place inside a chrysalis as the caterpillar becomes a butterfly. It’s thinking and doing things differently that separates the winners from the losers in the growth game.

For further information or to book a speaker, call us on +44 (0)20 7607 7070  or email  info@speakerscorner.co.uk .