How to Create a Business Growth Strategy (Without Chaos)

A growth strategy is a short, written choice about how your business will grow next, and what you'll stop doing to make room for it. Write down the number you want to change, pick one way to change it, check that each new customer earns more than it costs to win, and test the idea small before you commit cash. Review it every month and drop what isn't working.

This page is about choosing and testing a direction. For a full plan to show a lender or partner, see how to write a business plan. For turning the strategy into targets your team works to, see how to set business goals.

Name the number you want to change

"Grow" can mean more revenue, more profit, more customers or bigger orders, and each one leads somewhere different. Pick one, write down where it stands today and where you want it in twelve months. A target you can check monthly can keep the rest of the plan in check.

Pick one way to grow

Here are four routes. Choose one to lead with:

• Sell more to the customers you have: more frequent work, a bigger package or a related service.
• Reach new customers with what you sell now: a new area, a new type of client or a new channel.
• Add a new offer: something your current customers already ask you for.
• Keep more of each sale: fix pricing, cut waste or stop work that loses money.

If your delivery is already stretched, start with the last one. Growth that your team can't deliver can turn into late work and unhappy customers.

Check what each new customer earns and costs

Before you spend on growth, work out two numbers for the route you picked: what an average customer leaves you after the direct costs of serving them, and what it costs to win one. If winning a customer costs more than the first few jobs return, the growth has to be paid for from cash you already have. Check that against your cash flow before you start.

Worked example: does a marketing campaign pay back?

Sample figures: a landscaping business's average job brings in 1,200.00 and costs 700.00 in labor and materials, so each job leaves 1,200.00 minus 700.00 = 500.00. A local ad campaign costs 3,000.00 a month and brings in 4 new customers a month, so each new customer costs 3,000.00 ÷ 4 = 750.00 to win. It takes 750.00 ÷ 500.00 = 1.5 jobs from each new customer to pay back what it cost to win them. If new customers book only one job, the campaign loses money; if they come back, it can pay.

Test small before you commit

Run each idea as a time-boxed test with a decision date: one ad campaign for one month, one new service offered to ten existing customers, one price change on new quotes only. Write down in advance what result would make you continue, change it or stop. Then decide on the date you set.

Make room for it

Growth can need time you're currently spending on something else. Before you start, list what you'll hand off or stop. If the answer is "nothing", the plan has no time to happen in. See how to delegate tasks effectively and, if you're hiring, how to hire your first employee.

Review every month

Put one page in front of you each month: the number you chose, where it stands, the tests running and what you decided last time. Keep the plan short enough that you'll read it.

Where Billed fits

To see how your invoicing is going month by month, Billed's features page says you can "Create reports about your invoices and see how well your business is doing." For work that repeats, Billed's recurring invoices page says you can "Choose whether to send invoices daily, weekly, monthly or yearly."

Mistakes to avoid

• Chasing several growth routes at once, so none may get enough time to work.
• Spending on marketing before checking what a new customer costs and earns.
• Growing sales faster than you can deliver.
• Never deciding to stop a test that isn't working.

When this guide isn't for you

If you're raising investment or applying for a loan, you'll need a fuller business plan and forecasts. This page doesn't give financial or legal advice; ask an accountant or a lawyer about your situation.

Related Articles

• How to Set Business Goals
• How to Write a Business Plan
• How to Price Your Services
• How to Scale Your Freelance Business

Frequently Asked Questions

How is a growth strategy different from a business plan?

A growth strategy is a short choice about how you'll grow next and how you'll test it. A business plan describes the whole business, and is what a lender or investor may ask for.

How do I choose which way to grow?

Start from the number you want to change and from what your business already does well. If delivery is stretched, improve what you keep from each sale before chasing new customers.

How do I know if a growth idea is working?

Decide before you start what result would make you continue, and by what date. Then compare the result with that line on the date.

Can Billed show how my invoicing is going?

Billed's features page says you can "Create reports about your invoices and see how well your business is doing."