For big companies, growing their business means thinking ROI. However, for small businesses expanding your business can sometimes mean hiring the right people (more people) to cover more grounds and reach more customers.
Now, while this looks like a good idea, it is time-consuming, money consuming and in most cases, low ROI for the short-term. For the larger part of it, transforming a business into a scalable and successful one is often a power play between employee acquisition and making profit.
In the US, there are over 30 million small businesses. However, the defines a small business as one that has 500 employees. This is reasonably large to the European Union of 50 employees or Australia with just 15 people. Hiring and the number of employees may be the most recognizable factor that shows a business of growing in many cases. However, cash flow, reinvestment, productivity, and quick turnaround are also indicators of a growing business.
Now, before we move forward, know how to grow a successful business without all the bad or unnecessary hires, remember that headcount does not equal profit. Big companies can afford to hire more hands and earn money, but small businesses must learn to improvise and use the tools at their disposal.
The reality is growing your businesses is more of productivity than hiring more people, and here are some ways you can without hiring more people –
- Re-envision the needs of the business
- Improve communication
- Choose specialization always
- Use Technology in your business
- Introduce a self-service system
- Review, Reassess, and Reward
Re-envision the needs of the business
There are three perspectives to this title. If your business can survive solo without the need to hire another hand, run with it. This enables you to focus, build, and grow the business in a flexible environment. If your business is suffering, hiring a new employee is not the right way to go. It is more responsive and believe it or not, it is more work and less growth.
Instead of the workload of hiring extra staff, cross-train your current staff to be more productive in the areas that will grow the business. Furthermore, if you have all the staff your need but still lagging in growth, reassess the business model, and reducing the workforce is better than hiring new employees.
Improve communication
It is no secret that lack of communication among employees and employers can hinder workflow, cash flow, and take a toll on profits. In many instances, businesses feel unqualified to explain the problems to their employees; instead, they bring in extra hands.
According to a communication study by of over 400 active businesses with over 100,000 employees, poor communication causes them to lose $62.4 per employee.
You do the math, if you have a business of 12 employees and do not communicate well with 5 or 7 of them, that is $312 every day and $3,744 per annum. This is money that should go into the business to grow it.
As an employer, hiring more hands equal losing more money and a lingering problem that can destroy your business. So rather than hire more people to split the job, invest in better communication programs, and use them.
Choose Specialization always
It is not uncommon to see small businesses invest in generalization than specialization. This way you have one staff in charge of the front desk, PR, customer agent, and even handling the account if they have the skills.
Guess you are thinking, my business is saving money, no, it is losing money. In such cases, business owners have to ensure operations are healthy and smooth sailing.
This hinders growth, so to boost growth, assign and delegate a task to qualified staff by acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of each individual. When businesses harness these reserves, you may never employ another hand and will enjoy consistent growth too.
Use Technology in your Business
After the pandemic, many businesses are still struggling to come out of the ruins that surround it. According to the , the economy is still struggling and hires are low or almost impossible for businesses. Even in a scenario where companies need a hire, they cannot afford it due to a lack of cash flow and slow growth.
However, it is essential for businesses that are reopening to pick up the pace if they are to enjoy the post-pandemic growth in their business. In this case, AI or bots are very efficient in growing businesses without hiring any extra hand.
Bots are simple to programs and are giving customers a better interaction with the business and enabling the business owner to focus more on their business. Bots can send, recover, and engage better with the customer. It also helps you in saving money up to and investing in the growth of your business.
Introduce a Self-Service System
Having too many customers is a business owner’s dream but can also bring out the cracks and loophole in your company. While this sounds great, it can be a killer for businesses in real life and be detrimental to your business growth, especially when customers are not satisfied.
To overcome this issue, hiring extra hands is the way to go, but it will diminish your return and growth. Rather than hiring more hands, invest in chatbots, AI, and self-service app via online tools to relieve customer pressure. You can also teach every employee on your team how to be a customer agent to reduce the workload of the customer agents.
Review, Re-assess, and Reward
At regular intervals, businesses should reassess employees, there priority, and goals for the business. This should involve a complete assessment of their skills, passion, and what they want for the company. Positive and goal-driven get rewards and acknowledgment for their contribution to the growth and success of the business.
However, if you need to hire to grow your business, deal with subcontractors, they are affordable, skillful, and don’t require too much out of your profits. Despite the global economic turbulence, businesses need to grow, and hiring more hands is not the way to go about it