Eight Common Ways Businesses Grow

September 1st, 2020  

By Tom Cleary

Every small business owner wants to see their business grow.  As savvy business owners know, business growth is more than a goal.  In reality it is a necessity.  Trying to simply maintain a business is an activity that is doomed to fail.  If a business is not growing, it is effectively dying – though it might be able to hold on for a while.  All healthy businesses grow, but not all grow in the same way.  Keep reading to learn about some ways that businesses can grow.

1. Opening Another Location – After establishing operations at an original site, some businesses seek to expand by offering their goods or services at a second location. This type of growth can often require a significant investment to pay for the purchase or rent of additional facilities and a second set of equipment required to perform business functions.
2. Expanding Service Offerings – Sometimes business will grow by offering additional products or services. Usually the added services or products will be related to the original offerings and may require varying degrees of investment.
3. Forming an Informal Partnership – There are times when a business does not want to expand their own offerings but seeks out a partnership with a related business whose offerings complement their own. Working together in an informal partnership can often help both businesses to grow.
4. Entering into a Formal Partnership – Businesses desiring more than an informal partnership can grow through formally combining with another existing business. This is a legal action and will require consultation with both a lawyer and an accountant.
5. Acquiring Another Company – Similar to forming a partnership with another business, acquiring another company allows a business to grow by absorbing the second company and all its debts and assets. Again legal and tax advice is a necessity.
6. Offering a Franchise – Some businesses offer other businesses the opportunity to share in their brand and operations by selling franchises. Franchises give businesses a chance to grow their brand and revenue while sharing both work and profits with the franchisee.
7. Selling Services on a White Label Basis – Another way to partner with other businesses is to sell your services on a white-label basis. White-labeling allows a business to grow by off-loading some of their sales functions to another company.
8. Forming Agreements with Dealerships or Distributorships – Similarly, contracting with dealerships or distributors can accomplish much the same thing.

These are just a few ways that businesses grow.  Just like every business is different, business growth will look different for each one.  When your business is ready to grow, keep Federated Bank in mind.  We have a variety of commercial financing options available for businesses that are looking to grow.  With our flexible solutions and local decision-making, we are confident that we can find the right loan or line of credit for you. Give us a call to make an appointment today to discuss how we can help in your plans to grow!