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Entrepreneurs want to see their businesses grow. That’s why they put in the hours, come up with unique products, and execute detailed marketing plans. They know that if their enterprise grows, their bottom lines will move in the same direction. 
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But it’s not always clear what the signs of growth are. Managers at a company may get the impression that it’s expanding, when in fact it isn’t. Without actual data to back up this belief, perceptions of an ongoing expansion may turn out to be false. Here we’ll discuss six actual signs that a business is growing.

Strong Demand For Your Products

A sustained increase in the demand for your products and services is a precursor to an expansion in sales. With more people wanting your offerings, you’ll likely find it easier to convert higher numbers of prospects into actual customers. And that, in turn, could signal that your business is growing.  It often takes more than just publicity to achieve rising demand for products. Other things—including the quality of your offering –will play an important role in driving potential customers to your business.

Profitable Products

It’s one thing to witness a ballooning demand for your products and services, and quite another to make a decent profit from what you’re selling. While a lot of people may want to get your products, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they’d pay enough for you to record good profit margins.  Your customer’s willingness to pay the price you’ve set may come down to the quality of your merchandise. If they perceive that your items are high quality, they may be willing to part with more money just to acquire what you’re selling. 

An Increase In Good Feedback

If you’re getting consistently positive feedback from your customers, it’s an indication that you are meeting your customer’s needs and meeting (or surpassing) their expectations. And when this happens more frequently over time, it’s a pointer to growth in your business.  Besides being a sign of growth, good reviews can also encourage more people to try out your products. And if they’re impressed with what they experience, they could become paying customers too—leading to even more business growth. 
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More Referrals

When customers are satisfied with what you’re delivering to them, they’re likely to refer other people to you. An increase in the number of referrals you get may be a sign that your business is growing; it means that you’re acquiring more customers. This expansion in your customer base should bode well for the future of your business. If you would like to know how to get more referrals, you can find out in the article linked here. 

Strong Cash Flow

The state of your business’s cash flow (the money that goes in and out of your business within a given period) may provide a hint about how well your business is growing. A strong and consistently positive cash flow could be suggestive of good growth. On the other hand, if the business is regularly short of cash, it’s a sign that it isn’t climbing the growth ladder.  There’s a lot more about boosting your business’s liquidity in our article, How to Improve Your Cash Flow.    

A Need To Hire (More) Employees

As businesses expand, they typically look to hire more employees to take on new roles. These roles are often created to meet needs brought on by a growing customer base. This process is just as true for small tailor shops as it is for large corporations.  However, the need to employ more hands isn’t always an indication of business growth. It could just be that employees are required to fill new roles that are designed to enable a business to operate more efficiently.  Learn more about hiring the smart way in our article, How to Hire the Best Employees for Your Business.

Final Words 

Entrepreneurs want their businesses to grow. But detecting and measuring business growth isn’t always a straightforward task. If this is something you’d like to get clarity on, you can use the signs we’ve discussed here as yardsticks. They should enable you to determine whether (and how much) your business is growing.      Featured Image Source: Future Of Sourcing
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This article was first published on 3rd February 2022

ikenna-nwachukwu

Ikenna Nwachukwu holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He loves to look at the world through multiple lenses- economic, political, religious and philosophical- and to write about what he observes in a witty, yet reflective style.

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