business resources
How to Prepare Your Business for Expansion
01 Jan 2023
In the 2020-21 financial year, well over 800,000 businesses were launched – a national record, and a number 20% higher than that two years previous. This illustrates the fertile ground in the UK, on which many businesses are setting out their stall. This also illustrates the sheer level of competition in the UK at present.
In order to be competitive, businesses need to expand. But expansion is more complex than simply adding more staff or locations. In order to ensure your business is well-situated to expand equitably, you need to ask the following questions.
What are the Costs?
First and foremost, in order to facilitate a given expansion – whether you open a new regional office, grow a department or create a new business ‘wing’ – you need to know the costs involved. Not only that, but the expansion needs to be costed comprehensively. Any attempts to expand without the capital to properly facilitate that expansion will either falter and fail, or require additional injections of funding from external – and potentially costly – sources.
The costs involved do not just relate to the taking-on of more physical space, either. There are administrative costs associated with onboarding new staff, just as there are ancillary costs associated with receiving, assembling and insuring new equipment. Being able to afford these costs as a business is one thing, but can the business continue to operate safely as the expansion occurs? Or will the financial strain prove too much should something happen?
Have You Researched Your Expansion?
In order to understand the costs behind your expansion, you will need to undertake a great deal of research – research that can also help you define the form of your expansion more clearly and more suitably. New entrepreneurs can be hastily growth-forward, in that expansion efforts are ill-researched and inefficient as a result. In order to make your expansion efficient, you will need to know exactly what you hope to achieve with it, as well as exactly what is in store to make it work.
What is the Timeline?
Cost is only one part of the equation, naturally. Expansion is a process as opposed to an event, and needs to be planned out according to a schedule as well as according to a budget. This schedule needs to be an achievable timeline of processes, whatever they may be, stitched together to build a real picture of the business’ next year or two.
This timeline will naturally include preliminary space for the filling and filing of legal paperwork associated with expansion, as well as logistical considerations regarding any physical aspects. In terms of the latter, this might take the form of construction or decoration work, the manufacture of plant machinery or simply the gathering of equipment required for a new department to function.
Do You Need Assistance?
Lastly, a question that can sometimes be a sticking-point with executive managers and team leaders: do you need expert assistance to complete this expansion? You might be of the opinion that your internal talent is more than enough to meet the scope of your expansion, but, depending on its nature, you might be in need of an additional set of expert eyes to ensure it proceeds according to your plans.
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