Measuring your success as you develop a small business

There are few things in life more exciting than the chance to develop a small business. There's a lot that goes into that process. You begin with just a basic idea for a product, but everything builds from there. Eventually, you put together a staff, a marketing plan and a well-defined vision for the future.

This brings us to an interesting question. As you're developing your business, how do you know if your efforts are going well? What sort of system do you have in place for measuring your progress?

It's hard to adjust your strategies and fine-tune your business if you don't know how you're performing. So let's talk about measuring small business growth.

Keeping tabs on the right factors

So – as you measure your progress with business development, what exactly are you watching? According to the Victoria State Government, there are a small handful of critical success factors (CSFs) that tend to indicate the success or failure of a small business. They include:

• Financial – Quite simply, is the business making money? If not, you obviously need to change things up.
• Customers – Are the people who patronise your business going home happy? Are there improvements you can make?
• Learning and innovation – Are you pushing the business to learn more and improve every day, or is creativity beginning to stagnate?

Sales and marketing – 2 areas of focus

The typical small business has a number of little departments, and all of them can be measured in various ways. However, Entrepreneur Magazine recommends that instead of generalising, you focus your efforts primarily on sales and marketing.

Fine-tuning your marketing strategy is a key component of growth.

Some entrepreneurs tend to look more at abstract concepts like "building a brand," but the reality is reeling in customers and making sales is far more important than the abstract stuff. You need cold, hard, tangible cash you can use to drive further growth.

It also can't hurt to have good chartered accountants on your team who can help track all that cash.

Let us help with strategic planning

If you're going to run a successful business for the long haul, you need to be dedicated to strategic planning. For a little help in this area, you can reach out to Wilson Porter, and we'll connect you with a business development consultant who's up to the challenge.

To track your success as you move forward, you'll need to draw up key performance indicators and watch them as you go. We can help with that process, ensuring your business will be in good hands from here on out.