Preparing your employees for business growth

When the time comes to grow your small business to possibly multiple locations; it's important to spend some time prepping your employees for the big change. There are several things you must consider when you decide to grow your business.

First, how do you plan on staffing the location? Are you going to send some of your existing employees there to run it or do you plan to move your offices there to run it?

Second, do you have enough money to expand your business? Expanding your business doesn't just mean you need to pay for more salaries, rent, and equipment. It also means you will need to increase your production costs, inventory expenses, etc. To prepare your employees and your business for growth, review these tips:

• Review your books and check on your profits over the past few years. Are you showing a steady income that is growing? Will this growth justify opening a second location?
• Take a look at your competitors. How quickly are they expanding their business? Are you considering growing your business just to stay in competition with them?
• What are the industry trends looking like? How is the economy? Is it rebounding or slumping?
• Do you have solid managers and administration to run multiple locations?
• How do you plan to finance the expansion? Will you require a business loan? If so, you will need to develop another business plan for this location. This plan should include some of the same information for your other location, however you will need to add in information on how you plan to make money with the new location.

Employees will have multiple responsibilities while the business is undergoing expansion. For many, they will learn new skills like marketing. During the growth of your small business, it is important to spend time on marketing or else you could lose the online presence you have worked so hard to create. You could also lose your presence in other areas too, not just online.

If your marketers are involved with the promotion of the new location, train some other employees on how to check social media sites to look for new messages and comment on discussion boards. Simple things like this will help to maintain your online presence and it will help to keep customers interested in your company.

A great way to keep customers interested in your company and your products during periods of growth is to develop partnerships. This way you can turn to your partners to help carrying your marketing efforts for a couple weeks while you focus on the expansion. Simple things like putting your name with their newspaper ads or placing brochures in their stores will increase your companies visibility and it will take a burden off the marketing department while they focus on promoting the new location.

During company expansions, it can also get complicated for the accounting department as they are juggling multiple locations accounts. Make sure you meet with these individuals and get them the necessary supplies they need like software so they can properly perform their job and keep the business afloat while you focus your time and efforts on the expansion.

It is important to make the expansion as smooth as possible. Post messages on your web site and in your store so customers will understand why there may be delays in shipping and why you may have a smaller staff for a few weeks. If the expansion gets in the way of day-to-day operations, you may need to close your facility for a day while you quickly do all the moving you need to so you resume regular operating at your main location.