Breadcrumb

How To Scale Up Your Business

Written by

The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless. The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each. The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio

Last editedOct 20212 min read

You’re an ambitious business owner who wants to take their market by storm. In fact, you have your sights set on nothing short of world domination. You don’t just want to make money. You want to grow your business and your brand, and knock the competition into a cocked hat.

But growth is a double-edged sword. Without the correct strategy behind you, trying to grow too much too quickly can hamper your operations and damage your brand. Ambitious businesses need to think less about growth and more about scaling. Here, we’ll look at the building blocks you will need to scale up your business.

Scaling vs growth: What’s the difference?

The terms “growth” and “scaling” are often used interchangeably. But scaling doesn’t just mean growing your business. It means growing your business in a very deliberate and strategic way. A way that combines the incremental accumulation of resources while growing revenues at an exponential rate.

This provides revenue that fuels growth without creating operational bottlenecks that prevent businesses from being able to respond to demand.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the building blocks you’ll need to scale your business effectively.

A clear plan

Scaling up your business requires a clear strategy. It needs to be built on clear goals, with quantifiable performance indicators. You need a clear roadmap with specific actions and clear timelines.

If you expect to scale your business, you need to separate yourself from your day-to-day operations and spend less time in your business so you can spend more time on your business!

Efficient processes and systems

Your operations are made up of discrete processes and systems that facilitate the functions of your company. The more efficient those processes and systems are, the easier scalability will come to you.

Scaling your business means trimming the fat off your processes. Work with your team to identify bottlenecks and labour-intensive or repetitive tasks that could be made more efficient. Reducing friction in your processes is a key step towards scaling up your business.

Automation

Automation is a very useful tool in making your processes more efficient. It reduces pressure on your team and helps you to improve the quality and efficiency of your operations.

Opportunities for automation include:

Using chatbots to relieve pressure on frontline staff
Automating your lead generation funnel
Employing business intelligence software to mine actionable insights from raw data
Using your CRM to ensure a consistently high-quality customer experience

Investment in people

Automation is important, but it should not come at the expense of the personal touch. Indeed, it should relieve pressure on your team and allow them to shine. Scaling your business requires investment in human resources. You need to take time to find the candidates whose skills, work ethic and commitment to your values will help you build your brand.

When you can entrust the day-to-day of your business to your team, you’ll feel much better about dedicating more of your own time to strategy and the big picture.

Careful cash flow management

Scaling your business requires substantial investment. This means that business owners need to keep a close eye on cash flow to ensure a healthy stream of working capital. Taking active steps to increase revenues, maintaining inventory best practices and sending timely invoices can help to keep a healthy distance between your top and bottom line.

Regular reporting helps to keep you and your team in the loop, while providing you with a wealth of data from which you can gain insights.

We Can Help

If you’re interested in finding out more about scaling your business and managing cash flow, then get in touch with our financial experts. Discover how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.