How to Manage a
Growing Business
Setting up your own Business is an exciting time. You start small and work hard to build success, which allows your company to grow. However, if growth happens faster than anticipated it can bring challenges. This is why it’s important to have a clear strategic plan to manage your Business’s growth sustainably.
Here’s how to plan for and manage rapid business growth in five steps.
1. Understand your current and future growth needs
The first thing to do is ask yourself some questions to identify your Business's immediate and long-term growth objectives. From these answers you can evaluate what you’ll need to achieve them. Think about:
- Reason for growth. Do you want to grow to sell your Business quickly or are you planning to run it for the foreseeable future? Rapid growth can be a good strategy for the former, but if it’s the latter, you’ll need a solid structure to support sustainable growth.
- Capital. How will you raise capital to finance your growth? Can you manage cash flow by selling assets if you need to?
- Efficiency. Do you have the right team to manage growth? Look at your supply chain or production line to ensure everything is in place with these to support business expansion.
2. Develop a strategic plan
If you want to manage growth sustainably, you’ll need a robust growth business plan in place. Start with research into your company’s resources, your competitors, the market and your customers. You need to understand the risks and opportunities and come up with rapid growth strategies.
Here are some areas you’ll need to consider:
1
Financial forecasting
Do an analysis of your inflow and outflow to see what you need to allow for growth. Securing capital can be trickier for smaller and newer companies. Planning six months in advance is crucial if you think you’ll be managing rapid growth. This gives you enough time to secure capital when it’s needed.
2
Identifying and mitigating risk
With growth comes risk. When putting together your plan, make sure you identify risks and opportunities for your company. Do an audit on your Business’s resources, research what’s happening in the economy, your competitors, and customers to identify potential risks associated with quick growth and devise risk management frameworks to mitigate them.
3
Marketing activity
If your Business is going through a period of rapid growth, you might be unable to meet the high demand for your product or service. If this is the case, you’ll need to reduce or pause marketing spend to make sure you can service current clients before taking on new ones. Again, make sure you’re looking six months ahead so you can restart marketing activity at the right time to avoid a dip in demand.
3. Get the right business growth resources and people
If your Business grows quickly, you’re going to need more people working for you. It’s important to hire the right team so you can provide the best product or service to your customers. Before you think about recruiting, work out what skills you need. Is it customer service staff to meet growing demand? Or is it operations or IT?
Speaking of IT, do you need extra software to help manage your expansion, whether that’s for invoicing, HR, or organisational tools? How can you be more efficient to keep up with your company’s growth? Your systems need to be flexible to adapt to changing business needs, so focus on scalability in both operations and technology.
Put robust agreements in place with your suppliers to make sure everything keeps running smoothly.
4. Encourage a growth mindset
Business growth can bring uncertainty and extra work so it’s important to reassure your staff and get them on board. Growth means opportunity, which is a good incentive to encourage a growth mindset within your team. Make sure your employees know they’re appreciated. Be open about changes so they’re kept informed and feel included.
Stay on top of growth with regular management meetings to review progress. Look ahead to the next six months and identify potential issues to update your Business development growth strategy.
5. Leverage external expertise and partnerships
Partnerships and external experts are a great way to gain insights and guidance about your Business’s growth capabilities and how to manage them. Start with networking events, where you can meet other business owners and promote your company. Speaking as an industry expert can make you more visible.
Entering a strategic partnership with another business can give you the chance to reach more customers. You could even form a strategic partnership with a vendor to help expand your Business.
How American Express can help
The American Express® Platinum Business Card can help make periods of rapid business growth even more rewarding. Using the Card to pay for new business equipment, you’ll earn Membership Rewards® points2, which can in turn be used to reinvest in your Business or reward employees. You can also save the Dell Benefit to your Card and spend online at www.dell.com.au or via phone on 1800 880 855 to receive your purchase amount back as a credit, up to $125 per redemption period3. (Benefit ends 31/12/2026. Exclusions apply.)
Take advantage of cash flow periods of up to 55 days to pay for purchases1 and flexible spending power, also known as no pre-set spending limit4, making it easier to handle unexpected expenses associated with rapid business growth. This flexible spending power means that the amount you can spend is dynamic and can adapt based on your transaction patterns, your Business’ credit rating and other factors.
You can also streamline your financial reporting with automatic transaction feeds from your Card Accounts into Intuit Quickbooks, MYOB, and Xero.
If you are a Frequent Flyer, you can also check out the American Express® Qantas Business Rewards Card or the American Express® Velocity Business Card and turn your eligible Business expenses into Qantas Points5 or Velocity Points6.
1. Extend your cash flow by up to 55 days: Depending on your method of payment, when you make a purchase, when your statement is issued and whether or not you are carrying forward a balance on your account from your previous statement period. If you pay by direct debit, your payment will be processed 10 days after your statement is issued.
2. Subject to the Terms and Conditions of the Membership Rewards program available here. Merchants classified as “government“ include the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Postal Corporation (Australia Post), Federal/State and Local Government bodies. Industry specific earn rate may apply when you use a payment account, payment aggregator, services of a third party or online retailers that sell goods for another merchant. For example a payment made to Local Government bodies processed through a payment aggregator may earn rates at the government earn rate. There may be tax implications associated with participation in the Membership Rewards program. You are advised to check with your accountant or tax adviser for further information.
3. American Express Platinum Business Card Dell Technologies Credit
- The redemption periods are between 1 January 2025 - 30 June 2025, 1 July 2025 - 31 December 2025, 1 January 2026 - 30 June 2026 and between 1 July 2026 - 31 December 2026.
- Benefit is limited to one credit of up to $125 each redemption period, per Card Account.
- Your Card must be charged prior to the end of each redemption period to be eligible for the credit in the redemption period.
- Only the Primary Card Member can enrol the Card into the benefit. Valid for spend on any Employee Cards under the enrolled Card Account.Only the Primary Card Member can enrol the Card into the benefit. Valid for spend on any Employee Cards under the enrolled Card Account.
- Not all Cards are eligible for this Benefit. If a Card you hold is ineligible, you will not be able to see the benefit, nor will you be able to save the Benefit to the Card.
- Benefit limited to the Card Account to which the offer is saved and only spend on this Card Account counts towards the benefit.
- Excludes transactions where you do not spend directly on the Card Account to which the offer is saved, at www.dell.com.au or by phone on 1800 880 855. Offer valid at Australian website and phone orders only.
- A one-time enrolment is required from 18/01/2022 and Card Members will automatically be enrolled for the subsequent redemption periods from their enrolment date. The final date to enrol and spend is 31/12/2026.
- Excludes transactions made through a third party establishment or payment processor.
- Credit is not redeemable for cash or other payment form.
- Credit should appear on your billing statement within 5 business days from qualifying spend but may take up to 90 days from the offer end date.
- Credit will not be applied to your Card Account if your Card has been suspended or cancelled.
- Credit may be reversed if your qualifying purchase is refunded or cancelled.
- Full Offer Terms available here
4. Flexible Spending Power: Unless we tell you otherwise, your American Express Charge Card comes with flexible spending power, also known as no pre-set spending limit. This means that the amount you can spend is dynamic and can adapt based on your transaction patterns, your Business’ credit rating, and other factors. The way you use your Card can help your spending power grow, particularly in the first few months. To help maximise your spending power, make regular transactions and don’t miss any payments.
5. A business must be a Qantas Business Rewards Member to earn Qantas Points for business. Membership and the earning of Qantas Points as a business are subject to the Qantas Business Rewards Terms and Conditions. Points are earned in accordance with and subject to the American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card Points Terms and Conditions. Your business will earn 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 of everyday spend, which does not include annual fees, late payment fee and fees and charges for foreign currencies. Your business will earn 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent at participating merchants classified as 'utilities' including gas, water and electricity providers; 'government' including the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Postal Corporation, federal/state and local government bodies; and 'insurance' excluding insurances offered by American Express. Industry specific earn rate may apply when you use a payment account, payment aggregator, services of a third party or online retailers that sell goods for another merchant. For example a payment made to Local Government bodies processed through a payment aggregator may earn rates at the government earn rate. Your business will earn 2 Qantas Points per $1 spent on the following Qantas Products and Services purchased on the Qantas merchant account (i.e. directly from Qantas): Qantas passenger flights (with a QF flight number), Qantas Holidays, Qantas Branded non-airfare products, and Qantas Frequent Flyer and Qantas Club membership joining and annual fees. Excludes Jetstar. For the full list of exclusions, please refer to the American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card Points Terms and Conditions.
6. Velocity Points are earned in accordance with and subject to the Velocity American Express Cards Points Terms and Conditions, and exclusions apply. Eligible purchases do not include cash advances and fees and charges for foreign currencies. These do not earn Velocity Points. For the full list of exclusions, please refer to the Velocity American Express Card Points Terms and Conditions available here. The earn rate of 2 Velocity Points per $1 spent on Virgin Australia only applies to purchases made in Australia.