PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Best practices to scale a business

What are the most common issues that arise when attempting to scale a business? Let's begin by noting two scenarios:

1. Excessive spending and premature scaling
2. Waiting too long and not being prepared for opportunities when they present themselves.

As with any good joke, the key to scaling is timing. But how do you know when it's the right time? We've provided three criteria to determine whether you're ready to scale your business.

• Look Ahead: What will the economic landscape look like in the future? Is there a disruption, market shift, or customer demand that you can capitalize on?
• Fulfillment Capability: Are you receiving more orders but lacking the inventory or bandwidth to fulfill them on time?
• Limitations: Do you have enough team members, inventory, resources, time, and so on to ramp up?

What Steps Do You Need to Take?

If you've done your homework and asked yourself the above questions, and you're ready to scale your business, we recommend the following six steps:

• Plan and evaluate: You need a strategy, so thoroughly assess the situation and plan. Of course, do this early in the process, but also frequently to revise as needed.
• Locate Resources: You can't carry out your plan unless you have resources. That means money, which can be obtained from investors or reinvested in the company. Then there's the team that will put your plan into action. You can either hire them or outsource the work.
• Upgrade Technology: To aid the growth process, you'll want to automate as much as possible, which means investing in new management software and tools that can handle the organization's new scale.
• Process of Revision: What procedures do you employ? Whatever they are, they will need to be retooled to respond to the company's new scale.
• Boost your visibility: You want people to know about your progress as you advance. As a result, ensuring that your services are seen by a large number of people is critical to your success.
• Take Advantage of Strategic Business Relationships: Is it possible to form strategic alliances that will help you grow? Find them and cultivate those relationships.

Areas to Assess When Scaling a Business

What aspects of your business do you need to evaluate in order to successfully scale it? We also recommend the following seven areas:

Customer Service: You're expanding, which means more customers and more calls. Make sure you're prepared to handle these communications.

Human Resources: As a company expands, it necessitates the hiring of more employees. Make certain that you can scale up in this regard while still adhering to all legal requirements and ensuring that new roles are clearly defined.

Marketing: What will your marketing look like? What kinds of campaigns are best suited for growing your business, and where will those leads come from?

Sales: With new lead generation, you'll need to reassess your sales force and processes.

Legal: As you grow, you will most likely expand into new areas where compliance must be studied and followed.

Finance: If and when you receive investment, you'll need to consider deal structures and payment requirements.

Operations: As you scale the business, keep an eye on your administrative responsibilities and ensure that your processes and operations are ready for expansion.

Pro-Tip: Growing your business is a project that requires leadership. Strong leaders, on the other hand, are aware that they can always benefit from assistance. That's where a project management consultant can help, as their experience can help you chart a successful course.

Need more insights on the same? Enroll in a PMP Training program today!

Richard Pierce An expert in Pmi and Iiba Certifications.