With the last two years presenting a lot of uncertainty for businesses, many have undergone rapid changes in order to survive throughout the pandemic and current economic climate.

For many, this has given them the opportunity to reassess their business model and adapt this to remain competitive within the market. During this process, businesses will often consider key driving factors that will help ensure the business remains focused when working towards its growth ambitions.

With this in mind, we’ve identified 7 key driving factors that businesses may consider when looking to achieve business success.  

Strategy

The first main key driving factor to focus on in strategy. Every business has been someone’s idea that has then turned into a plan and so by creating a strategy, a business can remain focused on what it is looking to achieve.

The strategy itself may revolve around specific areas the business wishes to focus on such as creating a new product line, opening additional premises or expanding into new markets. By spending time creating a realistic and achievable growth strategy, businesses can then focus their time and energy on executing this successfully.

Customer Focused

Understanding customers’ needs is a key driving factor to ensure a business is creating products or services that meet the needs and demands of its target audience. A business that adapts to remain in line with what its target market are looking for will be able to maintain a competitive advantage and plan the right path to accelerate growth.

Finance

Every business requires funds to operate and grow. When preparing a growth strategy, businesses may wish to identify any additional funds they may require to achieve their growth ambitions and start considering the best lender to suit the needs of their business.

At Business Loans Scotland, we provide loans of £25,000 - £250,000 for Scottish SMEs who require a cash injection to either start a new business or grow their current one. By obtaining funds in any form whether it be from a loan, a grant or an investor, will allow a business to think and act more strategically and commercially to work towards growing the business successfully.

People

People are at the core of a business, without its people a business would not be able to operate. A business’ people, both internally in regards to its team and externally in regards to its customers, are responsible for the success of the business and ultimately are the ones driving cash, profits, assets and growth. By not only meeting, but exceeding, the expectations of both employees and customers, a business will create strong trusting relationships to ensure both the company and its people reach their full potential.

Leadership

Having competent, trustworthy leaders at the core of the business is essential in ensuring everyone is working towards achieving the same goals. Effective leaders will communicate their purpose and vision with the rest of the team whilst also providing an inclusive environment where people feel valued and motivated to drive the business forward.

Technology

With technology advancing every aspect of business, it is important to adapt with the times and embrace technology and use this as a support tool for business growth. Digital technology such as data analytics now allows businesses to obtain information on those users who have visited their company website and will provide detailed information such as the length of time spent on the site, pages on the site visited, which device they visited on i.e. laptop, tablet or phone and whether they were a new visitor to the site or in fact had visited the site before.

Being able to obtain such detailed information like this has allowed businesses to make better, quicker and smarter decisions based on the needs and actions of its target audience. Embracing technology also allows businesses to consider the best ways of engaging and interacting with its customers, whether that be on social media or live chat for example and can create new opportunities that may not have been possible before.

Risk

At every stage in business there will be some element of risk. Being able to identify and manage risks effectively will allow businesses to navigate any challenging periods successfully and work towards driving sustainable growth. It is important however, for businesses to find the right balance between risk management and risk taking to ensure there is no detrimental impact on the business.

For more information on obtaining a business loan to support your business’ growth strategy, click here.