Welp MagazineSuccessful businesses need forward-thinking solutions to ensure measurable growth. A simple business expansion plan template can help any growing company move up and to the right.
Business expansion plans aren’t just for large, billion-dollar corporations. They can be as simple or complex as the entrepreneur wishes, but they all have one thing in common: they are sub-plans to large overarching business plans.
Small business owners have the opportunity to expand on their businesses or grow their businesses simply by finding the right solutions to help them get there. Consider the following examples of business expansion plans and how they can help you grow the business that you’ve put so much time and effort into.
FOOD SERVICE
You’ve dedicated your life to the hospitality industry, but the only way to grow your company at this point is to expand your business. You’ve been told to sit down and write out your business plan, but that’s not what you really need. You need a plan for that expansion.
A business plan on how you’re going to handle that expansion is the best course of action for you right now. After all, you can’t think of a business expansion plan if you don’t even know how you’re going to grow.
That’s a big problem for a lot of companies new to the restaurant industry. They have no idea how to get bigger. They don’t know where to expand, or how to expand, or who to bring in to help with the expansion project.
Understand that just because you’re dealing with food doesn’t mean you have to be full-service or have a full-service wait staff at all times. There are a lot of restaurant industry-related businesses that offer take-out and delivery services. Think about that. How would a mobile app or a website help your company get more online orders?
Look at the technology companies from the early 90s until now. It’s not that they didn’t have phones, it’s that everyone used the same phone. Now everyone has a smartphone, and everyone has a phone that has a camera on it. What did all of that do for the food business?
All it did was open up a whole new world of expansion options for the food industry, specifically the restaurant industry. It was this technology that really changed the industry and the way that we ate and where we ate that changed our dining habits.
ENTREPRENEURS
No matter how big your company is now, you may need to consider an expansion plan if you don’t have one already. Maybe your company is too big to be dealing with, or perhaps you never really had anyone to deal with the expansion.
If you’ve been working under a tightly-scheduled management plan, you may want to consider adding additional management staff. Companies like this may have young, heavily-booked executives that don’t necessarily need another manager to help, but they may need a system of processes and procedures to make sure that they don’t overwork their staff and they stay efficient.
TECHNOLOGY
If you’ve been in the business for a little while, you’ve probably noticed that technology keeps on growing and changing. It’s not going to stop any time soon, and it’s only going to get bigger and better. You can even just look at the way the technology you use has changed in the last ten years and see the possibilities for technology in the next ten years.
One of the least obvious ways that could change a business expansion plan for tech companies is simply in hiring. How many people do you need to hire in order to keep up with growth? Remember, one person could have access to the entire web through their mobile app and work from anywhere.
Are you wondering how you can network with that many employees? Technology has made it possible for you to remain in contact with everyone that your company hires and to still collaborate and work together. So while you may have to hire more people to keep up with the business expansion plan, you may not actually need more office space to keep them all busy.
NEW IDEAS
While there’s nothing bad or disappointing about your business expansion plan in the slightest, you may want to update your business expansion plan. Whether you’re just looking to play it safe with an expansion plan or you want to take a risk, new business expansion plans often help businesses make it into the history book.
A new business plan can help you know exactly what you’re doing next. It can also help you and your staff stay on task and meet deadlines in the most efficient way possible.
How often do you update your business expansion plans? A good question to ask if you’re wondering if you’ve started to get lazy in your management style. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you may want to consider changing how you handle your plans to put yourself in the best position for growth.
Keep in mind that business expansion plans don’t have to be long or technical. They are your business plans that are just part of the next logical step. Whether your next step is an expansion or a new idea, keep that business expansion plan close at hand.
There’s nothing wrong with giving yourself a little pat on your back and realizing you’re good at what you do, but you have a lot of work to do. There’s always more to learn and more to do in the world of technology.
When it comes to your business expansion plan, just remember that the only thing that’s stopping you from growth is you. If you can push the right buttons, you’ll be on your way to meeting your goals and bringing a little more success to your life.
