Want to Grow in 2022 But Don’t Have a Plan?

Nick Roell

Apr 28, 2022

Growing your business might seem like a perfectly obvious thing to have on your 2022 to-do list, but not all businesses approach a new year with a written growth plan or SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Lack of a clear strategy can constrain growth more than anything else. Others rely on strategies that are more aspirational than quantitative or may overfocus on revenue instead of profitability growth.

For most small and midsized businesses, there are compelling reasons to create and implement a strategic plan for growth but many resist doing so because they find it difficult to extract themselves from the day-to-day whirlwind, feel it will not be worth the time, or may be inexperienced and don’t know where to start.

Below are five reasons you will benefit from a clear and well-developed growth strategy.

5 Reasons to Plan for Growth

1. Growing Companies Provide More Opportunities for Employees

Keeping your employees happy is about more than being a good employer. It’s about your ongoing ability to find and retain the workforce you need to stay in business. When you are in no/low-growth mode, your best employees are less likely to see your business as a place to advance their careers and you may look less attractive to prospective employees. You may see a stable place of work but they may see a career ceiling or dead-end job. Growth strategies show your employees a picture with a future.

2. Reaching Your Financial Goals Is Far Easier with Profitable Growth

You may have a way of doing things that’s been working for a while, but without a clear growth strategy in place, any shift in the marketplace that affects your margins puts you at risk of moving away from your long-term financial goals. The right growth strategies create room for you to navigate unexpected challenges.

An unpleasant truth: if your revenue and profitability growth do not exceed inflation, ranging between 3% and 7% in recent years, then you are contracting.

3. If You’re Growing, You’re Staying Relevant

When you’re growing, your products and services are more likely to be keeping up with what the market wants. If you’re still selling the same products and services year after year, you can find yourself in a shrinking market with little warning. In the words of Intel’s visionary CEO, Andy Grove, “Only the paranoid survive.”

For your reading list: Grow or Die: The Unifying Principle of Transformation.

4. Growth Enables Mission-Driven Goals

Especially for – but not limited to – nonprofit organizations, growth is an opportunity to expand the mission. You may not be focused on profit, beyond having enough to pay the rent and keep the lights on, but with the right growth strategies, you can create a trajectory of doing more, for more people.

Many younger job seekers also seek companies with social missions or at least compelling philanthropic involvement – what are you doing?

5. Growth Is the Natural Mindset of the Entrepreneur

Few people start or take on a business to maintain the status quo. If you’re an entrepreneurial-minded business owner, growth is built into the DNA of your enterprise, whether you’re a founder or next generation leadership. An effective growth strategy will help align your vision with execution and results.

Getting Started: Customized Strategic Growth Planning

At Kirsch CPA Group, our accounting and business advisory services are designed to help our clients achieve their business goals faster and easier.

For most, this means having a clear strategy for growth. Growing your business is not a cookie-cutter undertaking, which is why we develop a holistic understanding of each business we serve. The help and support we provide is customized to your needs, your market, your balance sheet, and your profitability.

We can help you develop a growth strategy that includes whatever combination of due diligence, business valuation, acquisition planning, and balance sheet assistance you need to explore and undertake a variety of options for growing your business.

Is it time for you to find an accounting and business advisory partner who puts your goals first?