Expanding Organisations: Moving beyond the first customers, product and market – scaleably

 The Challenges

Growth plans – business plans can be simply numbers to keep investors happy. What kind of plans are appropriate for an expanding business, and how do you create plans that serve as a useful roadmap to keep you on track?

Target market – the target market for expansion might be deepening the one you started with, or could be a new segment or even new geography. How do you evaluate and select your next target market, and attack it effectively?

Smart alliances – even (and especially) the largest firms recognise that there is power in collaborating with others to break into new areas, even erstwhile competitors. How and when do you assess and engage partners, and without losing control?

Branding – with every customer and market interaction you are building your brand, whether you mean to or not. How do you decide the right brand to support where you want to be, not where you are, and how can you build it cost-effectively?

 How We Help

Co-developing pragmatic strategy and business plans for the next phase of growth, linking these to the day to day running of your business including sales, operations, finance etc. Working with your investors so that their expectations are set appropriately, and if necessary, identifying that further investment may be required (from existing or new investors)

Analysing target markets and evaluating which ones could provide the right level of revenue and margin vs risks associated with attacking new areas. Linking this to sales plans, lead generation and target customer profiles.

Developing partnerships and alliances which would enable growth in specific areas more effectively than going it alone, and support you in negotiations with the first partners. Developing a scaleable alliances function for future growth

Establishing a desired market positioning and putting in place the mechanisms to develop this without investing significant resources in inappropriate activities. Young brands can be built though word of mouth and existing sales channel activity if well managed, and doesn’t need expensive advertising campaigns or fancy logos.