With the slow growth in the economy, you might think that expanding your business right now may be ‘mission impossible’ and that there aren't the customers or market to support your business growth, but you would be wrong!

Most businesses will need to grow over the next five years to survive and taking the time now to strategically plan ahead for growth will pay off further down the road. You may feel you lack the time to stop and think about how your business is developing. Instead of concentrating on long term goals and plans, you may find yourself caught up in short term issues, such as cash flow and quarterly HMRC returns. If that’s the case you need to stop and think about the big questions that most business owners find hard to answer:

• What will your business look like in 5 years?
• What key staff will you need?
• What new clients will you need to win?

A strategic SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) analysis will go some way to answering these questions, but once you have the answers, do you then have the skills and determination to make the changes required? From experience, the answer is normally ‘no’.

As Will Abbott, of Randall and Payne, explains: “Some companies have plans that they just ignore, while others have no plan at all. If companies take the time now, it will show a real return on investment in the future. We work with local and national companies identifying development barriers and helping to plan how to tackle them now and in the future. We’re starting to see signs that the worst could be over for the UK economy; the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) said last week that the level of new orders received in UK manufacturing last month was the highest since November 2007. So it’s time to start planning ahead now for growth in the next few years.”

For more information conact Will Abbott on 01452 723377