Do you have an existing business in your home country? Is your market limited only in the home market but want to enhance your revenue?

All modern entrepreneurs have an existing clientele. Their main concern is to drive revenue and profits upwards. This is specifically important as well as hard for entrepreneur's from developed economies. They particularly find it hard to grow their business and drive their margins upwards.

Conversely this is apparently an issue for entrepreneurs for developing economies. They find the existing regulations, banking system, complexity of operating a business hard to keep up with.

So how can I grow my existing business?

Julius Caesar said it first. Expand or die.

However, growing revenue solely is one of the ways that you can expand your business.

However, this is not the only one. That is where entrepreneurs get it wrong.

There are 5 main ways to grow a business.

Five main ways? Ok so what are they?

I list them below. Somehow people love matters in to-do lists. Some might blame the education system. I think it is just genuine; our way to keep matters simplified and fluid.

So here it goes

  1. Grow revenue geographically and products and services on offer.
  2. Reduce operating costs and expenditure.
  3. Remove complexity of business processes, policies and procedures.
  4. Improve efficiency and responsiveness of business functions, support functions and customer care.
  5. Operating on a global scale on all business functions.

Fine how does this apply to me? How can I use it?

All business schools operate on a case study basis. So in this case how can it be more effective you will need to reflect it on your own experiences. Or consult someone who knows. That can be us.

OK fair enough you want to sell yourself as the expert what do the 5 ways mean to your experience?

Ok sure fine; let me help you out.

I have a good client that his main business is selling high end watches. You know the crème de la crème; Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe. His work is fairly cyclical; when there is a good strong economy sales go up. When the economy is in a mess sales plummet. But then it is a good time to stock up on watches are most individuals are ready to sell their overpriced watches to pay on debt and mortgages.

Let's call him Henry.

Henry had an EU. Company in the past.

He then formed a free zone company because he wanted to expand his current business from Europe to the Middle East and Asian plateau a great while back.

So following the 5 ways to grow his business he achieved the following:

  1. Grow revenue geographically and products and services on offer.

So he setup the freezone to expand his business in the Middle East as well as securing new contracts in Asia. Yes, the cost of the freezone was hefty and he needed an additional employee for it. However, this increased his revenue nearly by 30%. So overall a big gain. True to the mantra; you have to spend money to make money.

  1. Reduce operating costs and expenditure.

The cost of having a European entity can become costly; you know adverse taxation system, systematic VAT tax returns; the works.

I had a client calling me a few weeks back complaining that his companies' accountant and lawyer are eating away his profits. Maybe this was not a proper setup. And it was bad advice. And it became apparent and true.

With a freezone you can minimize your costs and expenditure to the size you only need. And this is true. Further if this does not apply to you we will let you know. Some industries do not apply for UAE. But nevertheless ask away. That's what gets you going.

Back to the same client he managed to reduce his operating costs to the basic whilst keeping the necessary substance he required for banking purposes for his bank. Big plus .

  1. Remove complexity of business processes, policies and procedures.

Henry wanted to hire a digital marketer for his company. He had in mind a Russian federation national. Trying to give him a work permit and working visa in Europe was a pain in the neck.

What he ended up doing (following my advice) he set up a job ad in the UAE. He managed to recruit someone better. Then he managed to get him a working visa in the UAE within two weeks. Supersonic fast.

The conclusion of the story? He could hire whoever he wanted in a large diverse pool of working professionals at a lower cost. There were no capital commitments to keep a working capital for the non-EU national.

That topped up his sales. Bigly (sic Trump). Online sales are the way forward anyway. Has been for the last 15 years.

  1. Improve efficiency and responsiveness of business functions, support functions and customer care.

Henry was getting bigger and bigger in terms of sales. That's cool.

But as he got bigger he needed to import new support functions in his watch business.

He could cross sell customer care and independent valuations. Huge revenue top-up. In times of recession he could value watches. Customer care can be recession proof although some tend to leave their watches locked up so they do not need care (which they do actually! They need to be serviced).

  1. Operating on a global scale on all business functions.

Most of his clients were Europeans. That's one market focus. Bit too narrow.

Since he set up the entity he could focus on the Middle East and Far East too. Given the growing wealth in the Far East this was prudent. Diversification of markets is key.

So he booked flights to attend watch trade shows in Asia and the Middle East. At first everything looked distant. Their way of business was different form his European clients.

But Henry kept own. He doesn't give up easily.

Bottom line? A growing percentage of sales from these areas. So it did pay off. I still remember him reminiscing his first sale. It took 3 weeks to conclude. Customer was so prepared and asking him for every single detail that it was exhausting. An array of emails. And a six-hour long meeting. But he closed a huge deal. And boy did it pay off.

OK sounds and it is interesting. How can you help me out? Does this work for me?

Simple; get to action. Give us a call. Write an email. We will get back to you or jump on a call.

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You never now.

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There is no point in convincing someone about something that cannot happen.

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