Small businesses don’t have the huge financial reserves of large companies, but they often have someone more important: a solid, well-defined brand identity. People know what your company stands for. They turn to you for solutions because they know you as a person, and they trust your business’s quality, customer service and dedication.

How can you take advantage of your reputation to increase your company’s profits? Something that many small business owners overlook is the importance of setting goals for business growth. Just because your company is small in terms of personnel doesn’t mean it can’t be powerful in terms of success, market share and capital.

Set Goals

Step one on the path to business growth is to identify the direction you want to move in. The answer to this is going to vary from business to business. For some companies, growth means increasing the quantity of products existing clients order or selling to new customers. For other businesses, it means opening a second location in a new market. Still other companies expand by offering additional services and more products that appeal to a wider variety of local clients.

How can you identify the best places to put your capital? You need to think about what your company has to offer. What are its strengths? What makes you different from your competitors? Once you know the answers to those questions, you’re closer to identifying why your customers choose you. Then, you need to improve upon that same base to appeal to additional clients without leaving existing clients behind.

Start and End With Your Customers

Every decision you make needs to revolve around your customers. The people you hire when expanding, the products you develop and the services you offer should be connected in some way to improve the customer experience.

How can you find out what your clients are looking for? Social media is a great place to start. The more you learn about the lifestyle of your audience, the easier it is to offer solutions to their problems.

Keep Learning

Don’t overlook another type of business growth: your own. Professional training can be just as valuable for increasing the revenue of your company as physical expansion. Pursuing certification in certain trades can open up a world of opportunities. Also, the better a leader and entrepreneur you become, the better you manage your finances, your team and your time. All of those things can combine to boost your profits considerably.