How to Know When to Expand Your Business

In part one of our two-part series, we discussed how temporary modular buildings can help when you’re growing your business. In that blog, we prioritized office spaces and the importance of having adequate room for your employees to collaborate and work efficiently.

In this blog, we’ll discuss other reasons you may think it’s time to grow your business besides overcrowded workspaces. The crucial piece is to know when to expand your business to maximize your success and reduce roadblocks in the future.

Is Your Company Ready for Business Expansion?

It can be overwhelming to take that leap to expand your business. And if you take too big of a step too soon, it can cause burdens in the future. This section will help you determine whether you’re ready for business expansion.

Here are some indications that business growth would be a positive transition for your company.

You’re Able to Reach an Underserved Market. By doing market research and finding gaps, you can assess ways you can fill market holes. We recommend conducting interviews to find out what your target audience is missing and analyze what your competitors are doing to try to fill this need.
You Have a Solid Team. If your employees won’t stick by you through business expansion, how can you expect customers to? With new growth may come new responsibilities for some employees. Make sure they’re prepped and ready to take on more.
You Have a Loyal Customer Base. Ensuring that you have a strong consumer base that will support your expansion is crucial. If you don’t think your audience will stand behind you, it might seem like you’re starting from scratch and have to pull extra weight to gain traction.
Your Industry is Growing. Researching before expansion is essential to your success. Without having a full picture of what you’re getting into, you’re likely to come across unexpected roadblocks. Consider what your competitors are doing, are they expanding? In general, if your industry is growing, it could be a good sign you’d be successful expanding as well.
Your Current Physical Space Has Reached Capacity. A more obvious indication that you’re ready for business expansion is if your office or inventory no longer fits in the original space. Overcrowded warehouses or office spaces can cause disruptions in workflow or higher tension among coworkers.
You’re Seeing Consistent Profits for Three Years. To be sure whether you’re fit for growth, you have to do a complete analysis of your business. What do your financial documents say? Are you continuing to make a profit year over year? Growth should not be a spontaneous decision and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Ways to Grow Your Business

If you know when to expand your business, the next step is to know how to expand. Your company can decide to grow vertically or horizontally. Generally, horizontal growth is expanding into new markets, but not creating any new services or products. On the other hand, vertical growth is adding new products or services but staying in the same market.

There are quite a few ways your company can grow, including

New Space. If capacity is tight, a larger office space helps increase productivity, collaboration, and workload. Also, if you’re adding to your product line, a larger physical space accommodates this. At BOXX Modular, we offer custom offices that can be designed to match existing brand colors or buildings. These modular buildings are adaptable so if your needs change, so can the building.
New Products. After conducting consumer research, you may find that your audience is looking for more from your company. Again, you should look at what your competitors are doing, or rather what they’re not doing. Are there opportunities in your existing audience that you can fill additional needs?
New Markets. Expanding into new markets opens your business to new audiences and helps you fill a need. If you’re looking to reach new markets, you have to research to gain an understanding of how this new market will react to your company. Financial Institutions are a great example of an industry that expands into new markets. Typically, they set up temporary banks in various locations to test the market and demographics.
New Channels. Introducing your products and services to new channels is another way of growth. When increasing vertically, you’re not adding new products or services but may begin selling online, through a retail shop, or wholesale.

Benefits to Expanding Your Business

If you feel your business is ready for growth, you’ll be able to take advantage of the opportunities and benefits that come with expansion.

Expand Your Audiences. There are likely people who could benefit from your business but don’t know about it yet. If you expand your product or services, you’re meeting a new need from a new audience.
Imagine you’re a healthcare provider looking to open a new clinic. If you find a location where there’s a need, you’re broadening your services to a new audience. BOXX Modular offers medical facilities for physical therapy sessions, rehabilitation programs, ambulatory care, and diagnostic imaging.
Increase Your Sales and Profits. A more obvious benefit of expanding your business is increasing your sales and profits. No matter if you grow vertically or horizontally, a successful expansion brings profit.
Raise Brand Recognition. Similar to expanding your audience, when there’s new market expansion, you’re getting your brand in front of new people who might not otherwise know you exist. Higher brand awareness means you can become top-of-mind to consumers and when they’re ready, they’ll interact with your company.
Create New Opportunities. As much as you can plan for the business expansion, there may be some great, unexpected opportunities for your company. Opportunities such as collaboration with local businesses, community involvement, and diversifying your audience are all possibilities with growth.
Gain a Competitive Advantage. Again, having a pulse on what your competitors are doing is a huge advantage. If there’s an untapped market that your competitors haven’t taken over yet, this can be a great way for you to grow and gain a competitive edge.
Boost Talent Acquisition. If your company is limited by location, growing geographically can introduce you to a whole new talent pool. Your talent is more than your employers but also includes suppliers and distributors.

If you’re expanding geographically, it will take time to get a new building up and running. If you require a permanent structure, modular construction is an efficient option compared to traditional construction.

On the other hand, temporary modular buildings are also available as swing spaces. These structures can help you stay proactive during your expansion and flexible in case of construction delays on your permanent building.

Additionally, temporary structures give you the ability to test out a new market without investing large amounts of time and money before you’re ready.