When thinking about growing your business, it can be easy to spend a lot of imaginary money with the strategies and campaigns you think of. Investing in new technology or equipment, sending your staff on expensive training courses, advertising - it all adds up.
Does growing your business really need to cost so much?
What Do You Need To Grow?
In reality, growth isn't as complicated as it may first appear. Stripping everything else away, growth usually comes in one (or a combination) of these three forms:
- Increasing sales generating more revenue by closing more sales, or charging a higher price than before.
- Reducing costs Increasing profit by cutting expenses.
- Increasing capacity actually producing and delivering more.
In most businesses, all of these areas are impacted by (and in many cases, are the sole responsibly of) employed staff. It's been said before that your people are your biggest asset and that's certainly the case when thinking about business growth.
All About People
So if the growth of your business is in the hands of the staff you employ, it seems sensible to do whatever you can to empower and equip your employees to help them deliver their best work.
In your workplace, does everyone understand how to do their job effectively? Do they have the right tools? Are they motivated to do it well?
If your answer to at least one of those questions is no, then there is more to be done. Without recruiting, one of the most effective ways to equip your staff is through training and development. Actively investing in and developing your workforce often has the added bonus of boosting their motivation too.
You're probably thinking that investing in your staff through training can be incredibly costly, and sending people on expensive courses can cover your training budget in no time. Thankfully, there is another way.
Keep It In-House
Unless you want to train staff on the use of a new piece of equipment or software, you probably already have the knowledge and experience you're looking for inside your organisation. It's just a matter of sharing that expertise with the right people.
Training and development doesn't need to take place in a classroom or lecture theatre. Perhaps your resident expert is a brilliant teacher/trainer and would be great a running an in-house course but if that isn't the case, a more informal approach can be very effective.
Here are three suggestions of low-cost ways to deliver in-house training:
- Informal lunchtime classes - It's surprisingly common for staff to give up a lunch break to attend a short session run by a colleague which will help them do their work more effectively. It's even more likely theyll turn up if you provide a free lunch.
- Identify experts Know who the go-to people in your business are. If you can, free up some of their time to answer questions and share their expertise with other members of staff.
- Best practice guides - Ask your staff to put together a brief top tips guide for a particular activity or task. Draw in experts from inside the business and share the result with everyone who might find it helpful.
Over To You
Investing in your most important asset - your people - is crucial in seeing growth in your business. What could you do this week to share expertise and invest in those around you?
