Starting a business is the first of many challenges that you’ll face in your role as a business owner. Once you begin establishing yourself in the marketplace and growing your customer base, you’ll need to make strategic decisions as your business expands with time. Whether you’re a new or seasoned entrepreneur, it’s essential to be aware of the resources available to help you successfully grow your business and take it to the next level.
Establishing Financial Strategies for Growth
When establishing a sound financial plan that accommodates for the growth of your business, it’s critical to utilize the wealth of excellent resources in Lincoln that are available to guide you through each change or milestone as it occurs as well as providing you helpful insights so that you can always be thinking one step (or five steps) ahead.
With growth comes doing business with more customers and therefore, more financial transactions. “Union Bank can provide clients the ability to accept payment through multiple channels which has become more widely accepted–and expected,” says Jim Smith, Vice President – Treasury Management at Union Bank & Trust. “Consumers are no longer carrying cash or even checks so a growing business needs to be able to meet their consumer’s payment expectations by accepting debit, credit, and gift card payments. Efficiencies can be gained by converting those few check payments to an image deposit, reducing exposure and trips to the bank. Some consumers are skipping card use in favor of electronic wallets. Your smart phone may soon be your most common form of payment and point-of-sale terminals can now accept payments with a thumbprint and/or waive of your phone.
• Many businesses are operating much like a larger retailer with a web commerce site that can accept card or electronic payments for sales. With an effective web design and payment shopping cart, you can reach many more potential consumers in different parts of the country or even around the world with a well-designed web site. Businesses of any size can offer their own gift card.
• Your banker can serve as a valued partner for vetting expansion ideas and connecting you to other resources such as accounting or CPA service, legal adviser, business continuity, and estate planning. They can also be valuable in developing a well thought-out plan for as growth strategy.
• Depending on your service or market, you may consider a new physical location or identifying a whole new market as a growth strategy.
Union Bank has aided new and small business owners with our Catalyst and SBA lending offerings. Catalyst’s Business Advocates can help look at your business concept differently and link you to the resources to help your idea flourish. Catalyst is also a space in the West Haymarket to use for creative thinking, collaboration, planning, networking and learning. The Small Business Administration offers guaranteed loan programs for various businesses and situations. Union Bank has individuals dedicated to finding the right program to work for financing your businesses. We now offer an online loan application at our web site you can use to gather information when it’s convenient for you.”
He continues, “The ability to leverage mobile and online sales has allowed businesses of all sizes to market their products and services just like the big retailers. Using these services, we’ve seen entrepreneurs operate initially in small markets or venues to experiment with their products. Using their smart phone with a mobile card reader and mobile deposit, they can offer payment options as if they were at a fixed, retail location. Mobile payment technologies allow a new retailer to operate at almost any venue they choose: home, public market, door-to-door but with the flexibility. POGO (mobile card payments) allows you to accept credit or debit cards for sales using your phone or tablet. Business Mobile deposit allows you to make image check deposits directly to your bank account from anywhere. We also offer more ways for the new or growing business owner to make payments electronically including debit/credit cards, electronic payment portal or bill pay. These options also allow the business owner to operate from anywhere with timely online account and payment information.
As previously mentioned, consumers want and expect multiple options to make their purchase. The last thing a growing business wants to do is turn a customer away for a card payment. Consumers are also very aware of shopping and gathering information about their needs online. Many consumers will not consider a business that does not have an effective web presence of some form, even if it’s not transactional. A good website is a great way for consumers to learn more about your product/service and your company.
Even if your business does not currently need financing, make those connections with your banker and similar network early in the life of your company. Your banker can serve as a great source of advice or ‘sounding board’ as you begin to grow your business.
Along with learning from your own decisions and mistakes, it can be equally as critical to study and learn from others in a similar business or market to yours–how did they grow their product or service? Moreover, make sure to take advantage of the resources available, some at no cost, to a new business including your banker, local chamber of commerce, business networking organizations (Grow Nebraska), the SBA, SCORE, Nebraska Business Development Center or the UNL Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic to name a few.”
“The use of cash management services is important for a growing business,” agrees Brian Wolford, Lincoln Market President of Midwest Bank. “Secure online account access, automated payroll and wire services are tools that save business owners significant time and money. The ability to designate appropriate people to access different account features is a secure and efficient way to manage accounts. These services allow the owners to focus their attention on growing their business.
There are many products available to help maximize your work efficiencies. Businesses can deposit checks using their smartphone or computer. Time and money is saved when businesses no longer need to drive to the bank to make a deposit but can simply click a button to submit a deposit. Technology will only continue to improve and driving paper deposits to the bank will no longer be the norm.
My biggest piece of advice is to prepare for success and the cash that it might require! Keep in mind the need for working capital, or cash reserves, within the operation. When the business is growing, additional capital is often needed to keep up with demands. Additional labor and inventory as well as upgrades to equipment and technology are common requests from growing companies. Cash reserves can help meet those demands but can also be used up quickly. A line of credit or equipment note may be just the product to meet short term and intermediate term obligations.
Also, be careful to not get stretched too thin. There is a limit to how fast a company can grow while maintaining the product integrity and continued strong management. A good banker communicates often and clearly with the business owners to make sure they do not grow too fast at the detriment of the company and its shareholders.
For over sixty years, Midwest Bank has been helping small business owners with their growth strategies. Sharing our experience with business owners can help them navigate the opportunities in front of them and avoid pitfalls. Sharing professional contacts with other business owners can also help them assemble a strong team of advisors as they seek ideas and ways to expand their business.
Midwest Bank can also assist with project analysis, developing cash flows and forecasting financing needs as different options and strategies are considered. Once the direction is solidified, we can customize financing options to best accommodate the business owner and to give them the greatest chance for success.”
Growing a business is strategic and success in this continuous endeavor is heavily dependent upon planning for what the future will look like. Barry Lockard, President of Cornhusker Bank, adds, “When it all comes down to it, as the saying goes, a vision without a plan is nothing but a daydream. Businesses need a plan for growth that includes a focus on SMART goals; those that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. Cornhusker Bank helps our clients design these plans.
Cornhusker Bank’s 360 Model has been expanded and developed over the years and we have created tools and templates to help our business customers grow and navigate the business environment to achieve their goals now and in the future. As advisors to our customers, we participate and help guide sessions around planning, strategy and succession.
Cornhusker Bank works with clients to not only identify risks, but to create customized solutions and roadmaps for success. Unlike a traditional bank that would offer up products or interest rates, Cornhusker Bank associates are there with time tested tools and templates. We also help our customers identify resources in our community and provide the connectivity to those resources. From the start up entrepreneur to the seasoned family business, we are able to coordinate a team of resources in our community to benefit our clients. Examples of this include activities such as helping coordinate with local university and educational resources, providing accounting needs, and assisting with estate and succession planning. The reason this is particularly advantageous is because we can be the bridge for businesses to coordinate and/or manage their relationships and make it easy for them to identify their goals and create a plan to help them execute it.”
He adds, “Above all, it’s crucial to make sure that growth is at the right pace and that your resources and talent are in place to support it. Growth plans should always include plugging in advisors who can be authentic with them and add real value to the business owner’s plans. In addition to having experts in small business lending, we understand how important a great culture and talent are to any program. At Cornhusker Bank we meet with businesses to talk about their leadership development plans and how these factors coincide with the banking services they need to be successful.”
Finding Talent and Developing Company Culture
To sustain the growth of your business, you’ll need to build a strong team that’s an extension of your company’s image and mission.
“People are any organizations most important asset,” emphasizes Kimberly Shirk of Talent Plus. “Selecting the right people for your organization will not only build an engaged culture, but will produce results faster, provide innovation and grow your business more than any one investment. Along with selecting top performing individuals with great potential, you need to develop your teams, identify what their strengths are and how they can work together for the benefit of the organization. We use a scientific approach to identify who has the potential to be a stellar performer in a specific role in your organization and then are able to coach individuals and teams as to how best to work together to move the business forward.
In this ‘War for Talent’ culture we live in, it’s a battle to get the best and brightest into your organization and then give them a reason to stay. We work with all levels of employees from front line employees to managers, CEO’s and senior level executives. We develop high performing teams to meet the need of your business by helping organizations understand your people and motivate them to produce, innovate, and grow for you.
The trends in human resources are leaning toward ensuring that organizations have a data-driven look at their leadership teams, a sustainable culture of engaged employees and that people analytics are utilized to take the guessing game out of selecting the right people. Along those lines, finding ways to deepen the bench strength on teams with a look toward succession planning is an issue that simply cannot be ignored. There is a generation of baby boomers ready to retire and millennials coming in to the workforce with an eye toward social intelligence and companies passionate about what they do. This is a comprehensive hot topic in all industries around the world.
People analytics is the business of Talent Plus. We have core product lines around selecting the best people initially and then developing them into leaders so that organizations can sustain growth even through challenging economic times. This year Talent Plus has launched three new platforms to allow that to happen:
Talent+HireSM is a premier solution for companies that understand the importance of selecting top performers, but haven’t selected an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). We pair highly predictive assessments with Talent+Hire so that employees can source the best front line candidates, direct applicant traffic flow and identify candidates who are a fit for the role and culture. This streamlines the applicant process so that recruiters are only interviewing the very best candidates.
We provide Strength Development Sessions and Plans allowing managers and employees to own their own development by having access to immediate feedback after an interview with Talent Plus and access to computer generate goals and development plans on an individual basis. This allows managers to put development in the hands of the individuals on their teams. They are given feedback on strengths, allowed to develop their own plans and goals and then provided a template that aligns both organizational goals with individual wants and needs to help all team members be more productive and successful at work.
If succession planning is at the top of your list, a new Four Dimensional Succession Planning Grid aligning teams with their potential for success in future roles will help you visually see the patterns of your people and their talents, making it easy to determine who should be promoted to additional leadership roles and how they will best work within a team. This allows forward thinking board members and management teams to focus their efforts on individuals who will outperform in the areas of greatest need within an organization.”
She further recommends, “Use scientific data to drive your people decisions. We are living in a culture that reports on everything and those data decisions should drive your every move. Talent Plus would argue that high performing people are the key instruments that you need to have in this culture. The modern workforce is mobile, fast-moving and employees are motivated by seeking challenges and having a real passion for what they are doing even beyond the number on their paycheck. People don’t often think about scientifically measuring their people, just about measuring their performance. But if you have a scientifically validated way to reliably predict a person’s capacity to perform with excellence, you have the secret sauce. You have insight beyond just performance and insight that can help both the individual and your entire organization grow.
We’ve been talking talent for 25 years now and even beyond if you take a look at the roots of positive psychology and incenting people to perform with excellence which began in the 1950’s. The time is right for true leaders to think not only of their own development so that they can move their companies forward, but also to think about the sustainable long-term focus of young leaders that have the capacity to keep a business thriving for years to come. That can truly be a leader’s legacy.
Scientific assessment of one’s potential for near-perfect performance is reliable data to make wise decisions in the selection and development of your people. And when those wise decisions are made, you see results. Our ROI proves better retention rates, greater customer satisfaction, higher employee engagement, increased productivity and sustained excellence and profitability. Visit our website at www.talentplus.com to learn more about our culture and results or just stop by to learn more about how our scientifically selected people drive our business every day.”
“Business growth usually comes with an increase of human resources,” agrees Terry Wieczorek of The Alternative Board (TAB Lincoln). “Depending on the type of business, each employee may have to be supplied with the right tools including additional technology or upgrades to IT systems. The cost of hiring includes training, support personnel, recruiter and the affordable care act also may come into play as employees are added. Working with your CPA in determining the ‘real cost’ of adding employees in order to grow your business should be considered.
TAB Lincoln has three distinct services that can assist someone whose goal is to grow their business:
1. TAB’s monthly peer advisory board meetings put the power of collective wisdom, accountability, drive and creativity, and clarity of advice in the business owner’s hands to align their business vision. The opportunity to use non-competing local business owners as a sounding board to vet out new ideas and opportunities along with keeping you accountable drives success in increasing revenue.
2. Each business owner that belongs to one of my TAB boards receives monthly 1:1 business coaching. I have a successful business ownership background and offer additional vision to hone in the growth strategy.
3. TAB Business Vantage® tools will aid the member in realizing the need for business improvements by giving the business owner a virtual MRI of their business. This process allows a business owner to focus on specific areas that should be improved and on strengths the company can capitalize. TAB Business Vantage® is a powerful tool when you are working on the SWOT analysis in Strategic Business Leadership® creating the 1Y-3Y-5Y strategic plan.
As previously mentioned, in conquering the financial side of business growth it’s also critical to fully assess your short term and long term financial needs. Capital requirements for expansion generally include building(s), equipment, technology, HR and inventory. Market development is equally important by way of expanded advertising, public relations announcements, website updates, mailing lists, new brochures and exhibits. Watch your account receivables and account payables closely, as business growth means additional revenue which may have a positive or negative influence on your cash flow.”
He adds, “One of the current trends that we see is an upward swing related to branding. Branding is a more efficient way to sell things. Strong branding ‘pre-sells’ a product or service to a prospect; a strong brand leads to a warmer, less skeptical prospect and customers will pay more for a strong brand.
Trust creation is a fundamental goal of brand design, as trust is the ultimate shortcut to a buying decision. Strong brands consistently deliver the experience that they claim they will deliver. Their customers come to expect the consistency of this service. They thereby trust the brand and continue to come back to it. It’s important to remember that the most successful brands are the most consistent brands.”
It’s not only important to recruit and retain the best and brightest talent possible and to take the appropriate measures to strengthen your brand, but also to be smart and thoughtful during the process of growing your team and your business. Sam Nelson, associate director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and assistant professor of practice in management at the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, explains:
“At UNL, we have access to many resources such as:
• Excellent faculty at the College of Business Administration and other colleges at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who produce research on the various aspects of growing a firm.
• Top students in various disciplines who have worked with faculty and will be great assets to any company to help grow businesses regardless of the industry.
• The Nebraska Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a cooperative effort involving government and education based service organizations that provide business and technical services to manufacturers and processors throughout the State of Nebraska. They are currently working with eight companies that are expanding their businesses internationally and will have applications for other companies to work with them.
There is an incredible amount of data available, particularly on consumer preferences and other demographic trends. The companies that are currently successful in growing their business are very thorough at gathering the right data to guide their decisions. There are a few based in Nebraska that are doing amazing things in terms of gathering data and utilizing that data to guide decisions and increase their overall profit margins. Another key trend is the three distinct generations that currently exist in the workforce. We currently have Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials all in the same organization trying to make decisions collectively. The companies that are successful embrace this and use it to their advantage.
1. Ensure that you know ‘why’ you are growing. – Growth isn’t always good as it can lead to increased revenue, but reduced margins. Ensure that the growth provides either a strategic advantage or increases your margins; otherwise it probably is not in the company’s best interest. Too often growth is simply driven by the desire to get bigger and have a bigger slice of the pie and this is not sufficient justification.
2. Expect growing pains – Organizations often mimic natural organisms and with growth comes pain. Understand it and respond to it correctly.
3. Ensure that you manage your culture as you grow. – There is often an energy and passion instilled in companies when they are small. However, it is a significant challenge to keep that energy and passion from being lost as a company grows. The key is to accept that some things are impossible to maintain with growth (i.e. if a company grows from 10 people to 100 people it is hard for a founder to keep the same type of relationship she had with the initial employees). On the flip side, there are many things companies can do to keep a ‘family’ culture that rewards creativity and competitiveness it will just look different when you have a larger company.
Many of the entrepreneurs I’ve talked to have stated that growing a business was one of the most rewarding things they have ever done. It is a very challenging and rewarding journey. Many have stated that the key to success when growing a business is to find the proper balance between patience and taking action. You must consistently drive the business forward, while remaining patient for the results to materialize.”
You may not always need to add to your internal team to accommodate for growth; you can also partner with businesses whose main focus is filling the gaps where you need help. A perfect example of outsourcing as your business grows is hiring a reputable answering service to assist with your higher phone traffic.
“It can take years to earn a client but only seconds to lose one,” stresses Megan Lipert-Murphy, owner of Executive Answering Service. “It’s important to maintain a high level of customer service and responsiveness even during times of growth when you’re stretched thin and busy making adjustments for transition. Thirty years ago the primary function of an answering service was the reach someone for emergencies, but in 2015 there is so much more offered for a large variety of industries! ‘Virtual receptionists’ can save a company the overhead costs of an employee including salary, insurance, and training. Executive Answering Service offers virtual receptionists, order entry, appointment scheduling, emergency dispatch, call triage, the best customer service available, and so much more!”
Building Relationships Through Marketing, Networking and Community Involvement
Your company’s growth also has a lot to do with your visibility in the community that you do business in. People are relationship-oriented and seek to connect on a personal and emotional level, especially when it comes to making decisions on how we spend our hard-earned dollars. Through marketing, networking, joining professional organizations and active involvement in the community, you’ll be working towards establishing yourself in the marketplace and positioning yourself for growth with the relationships that you build along the way.
In order to get new customers in the door, they have to find out about you somehow. It is our strong belief at Strictly Business, as we are a publication that focuses on helping our clients to “Get Known,” that people gravitate towards doing business with who they know, like and trust. Branding isn’t just about your offerings, although they are central to your success, but it’s also about establishing yourself as a reputable source for industry knowledge and expertise in the community and whose image aligns with that of a business that people would want to build a lasting relationship with. Getting your name out there with consistent exposure breeds that valuable familiarity along with delivering your message. Furthermore, not only marketing your offerings but taking the opportunity to educate your audience at the same time will allow you to position yourself as a knowledgeable AND trustworthy resource. For sustained growth to happen it’s important to continuously stay in front of your target audience and generate buzz whenever possible, which promotes top of mind awareness. However, it’s also important to be purposeful with your exposure at the same time. The ultimate goal is to brand your business through a consistent message across a healthy mix of different media which are powerful enough to expand your reach in the marketplace.
In terms of resources that will help you in growing your business, one of the more obvious ones is your local Chamber of Commerce. “You may ask yourself if joining a Chamber is a good idea as a growth strategy for your business and we can assure you this is true,” says Jaime Henning of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce. “Membership can help you accomplish several things: Get your name out there, create networking opportunities and establish a sense of authority. In marketing your business it is important to think about and consider your business and target clientele. Are you looking to build local B2B relationships or grow a local business? If these are your primary goals, the local Chamber of Commerce is a good place for you. We have programs, services and opportunities for every size business and are a great partner in taking next steps toward growth.
The Lincoln Chamber of Commerce is Lincoln’s leading business organization, with over 1,600 businesses with one strong voice for business advocacy and growth. With over 7,000 Chamber’s in the U.S., the Lincoln Chamber is one of only 82 that are Five-Star Accredited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for outstanding contributions toward positive change in their communities. Our service to the community has ushered in a new era of momentum and kicked open the door for new opportunities. As a community builder, we have helped advocate for key projects including the Pinnacle Bank Arena and have promoted a new atmosphere that embraces talent and entrepreneurship including the creation of Lincoln’s Young Professionals group and innovative programs like Health Care Connect and JumpStart Challenge.
We want you to be part of our organization and we will go to work to help you grow your business as we advocate for a positive business climate in Lincoln. If you would like to be part of our organization, call us at (402) 436-2350.”
While you may not be completely prepared for the changes that your business will face while it continues to grow and evolve, much like a tree establishing its roots in order to grow, once you’ve got a strong foundation in place your business’s growth will happen naturally. There are plenty of advocates and resources in the community that can help you formulate a plan that identifies your business’s unique challenges and accommodates for growth so that you stay on the track to success, no matter what the future holds.