As you probably know, it takes a lot of passion and grit to run the day-to-day in a small business. It takes that same grit and more to think about growth, combined with strategic thinking to expand and scale that same small business in 2022.
Companies that are ready to grow must have a team in place that can take the business to new heights. To grow your company, it takes focus, structure, an effective team and a great culture. It also requires a scalable infrastructure to keep the business growing and moving forward without losing your focus.
This post focuses on seven ways contractors can prepare their teams for growth in 2022.
“I’m not working. I’m doing what I love.” – Unknown
- Build and maintain meaningful relationships
- Manufacturing partner selection is critical
- Distribution partner selection is key
- Skilled labor trade groups – find them and partner with them
- Create or become a part of a community that is doing similar work
- Communication must be consistent and work both ways
- Have repeatable and scalable systems in place
- Lead generation
- Sales/re-hash/financing
- Production/fulfillment
- Distribution/supply chain
- Operations/scheduling
- Customer service
- Warranty
- You don’t need to do it alone
- Network
- Find a mentor
- Utilize trade associations
- Use social media, watch and listen – use what works for your business
- Let technology help (not hinder)
- Engage with local schools or local educational institutions
- Focus on learning and development
- Never stop training, create opportunities
- Continuous education – sales, product, technology, installation, customer service, finance
- Understand your team’s capacity
- Familiarize yourself with generational learning, understand your current team and the pipeline of talent you want to recruit
- Don’t grow too quickly
- Never stop recruiting
- Always be recruiting
- Hire for the future, not the present
- Hire character and train/educate on specific skills
- Take your time
- Listen to your customers
- Get to know your employees
- Get to know your contractors
- Get to know your industry partners
- Read and respond to your reviews
- Listen to your vendors
- Understand your financials
- Know them inside and out
- Your leadership team needs to understand your financials, too
- Keep lines of communications open with all parties involved
- Plan to grow, forecast expected growth and prepare for change
- Set ambitious goals, adjust as necessary
“The more seriously you take your growth, the more seriously your people will take you.” – John C. Maxwell
It STILL is and WILL Always be About the Details
We are off and running, already into February, enjoying Spring Training! Growth isn’t always more customers, more jobs, more money. Growth is all of the things above and more. Growth is strategic and takes a significant amount of thought, a lot of hard work and even a little luck.
The challenging work ‑ the growth ‑ is all worth it in the end, especially if you have prepared your team for the expected expansion by casting a realistic vision. Also, understand there will be ups and down anytime you are in growth mode – it’s a byproduct of taking risks and moving forward.
Your team is looking to you for guidance, so it is up to you to prepare each individual and your business for continued success. As I noted in a previous post, people are our biggest asset. Prepare your team for sustainable, scalable growth, and be intentional when leaning in heading further into 2022!
“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” – Bobby Unser
Have a question for the Coach? Want to learn more about any of the information in the article you just read? Looking for transferrable examples of any of the topics mentioned above?
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Until then,
Be Resilient – Add Value – Stay Healthy – Deliver the Experience - Trust the Process!
To your success,
“Coach” Rob Balfanz, Senior Director, Workforce Development, VSI
