Summary: Soon you will have to make a transition from lean and mean to growth. Are you prepared? Here are 5 things you need to consider.

I know many of you may have doubts about the course of the economy whether or not it is turning around or not. Regardless of your current view, you will need to make a transition. What transition? Going from lean and mean to growth. Over the last several years many of you have been operating with lean resources, people doing more than one job, and possibly minimal marketing. All of which is understandable during tough economic times. Soon it will turn around and all your hard work will pay off big, resulting in growth. Yeah!

So, exactly what kind of transition do you need to make? Glad you asked, here’s a small list to get you started:

• Marketing. Hopefully you have been marketing all along, now is the time to take it “up a notch”. Increase your exposure as more people are requiring assistance. Unemployment is decreasing so more people are earning wages.
• Sales. Your marketing efforts should lead to more sales, be prepared for more calls and conversations. The hard sell is not working so be prepared to “soften” up your approach.
• Finances. Re-forecast your projections for sales, expenses and cash flow. Especially important if you will financing when sales increase.
• Employees. You have been running lean, people doing more than one job. Take a look and determine how much more they can handle before you need to hire more people. Since the process of finding the right person for you business takes time, don’t be caught by surprise.
• Community. Now is a great time to give back to the community that has been supporting you over the years. Don’t forget about them when business grows.

Depending on your business, you may have a couple more or a lot more. Just as an unexpected downturn can harm your business, an unexpected growth can have the same effort. Sudden growth can tax your resources and efforts if you are caught unprepared. Draw up your plan now with indicators as to signal when to implement.

What other factors do you consider when your business grows? Share below.