How to Scale your Business – 8 Low-Cost Ways

How do you scale a business?  This is one of the big questions that any CEO or business owner should ask themselves.  Scaling a business means taking your business to the next level without needing huge investment. 

Meet the Author: Benjamin Ball

Ben is the founder of Benjamin Ball Associates and leads the presentation coaching and pitch deck creation teams. Formerly a corporate financier in the City of London, for 20+ years he’s helped businesses win with better pitches and presentations, particularly investor pitches. He is a regular speaker and a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and UCL London.  Follow Ben on LinkedIn or visit the contact page. 

Scaling a business is both exciting and challenging.

As your company grows, so do the complexities and the stakes. Successfully scaling your business requires careful planning, robust processes, and a mindset for change.

Why scale your business?  By scaling up your business, you can bring in more revenue at  lower cost and you can run your business more efficiently and more effectively.  You also increase the value of your business.  If you get it right you’ll be on the path to success.

How to make your business scalable

You have many options to scale your business.  Many advisors will suggest you concentrate on core business activities, such as: 1. Develop a Clear Vision and Strategy; 2. Strengthen Your Finances; 3. Build a Strong Team; 4. Improve Your Operations; 5. Enhance Customer Experience; 6. Leverage Technology; 7. Focus on Scalability

All this advice is true, but it’s obvious.  What many of the most successful companies have realised is that to scale their businesses successfully they need to look beyond the basics.  What we are discussing here is how to can use communication skills to scale your business at low cost.

Why use communication skills to scale your business?

Communication is often seen as a “soft skill,” but for businesses looking to scale, it’s a powerful tool. Here’s more detail on ways to scale your business by leveraging communication skills.

1.      Have clear and consistent messaging

Great communication relies on clear messaging.  That’s clear messaging for each communication and clear messaging about your business.  And creating clear messaging is tough.  The big problem for business owners and managers is that they are so close to the business that they have trouble seeing the woods for the trees. 

For example, when we ask a CEO “what’s special about your business.” They often reply with a HOW answer.  E.g. “we have a three step process rather than a 10 step process that competitors use”. This might be true, but it’s not going to resonate with other people.  If you reply with a WHY answer, you’ll be more effective. E.g. “Because we have a streamlined process, our customers get results much faster than with the competition.”

To help our clients clarify the right messages they should use in their communications, in their investor pitches and in their presentations, we regularly run a Messaging Cracker Process.  This intensive process helps identify and refine messaging to underpin any important communications. This will help you scale your business.

2.      Develop strong leadership communication skills

Leaders set the tone for the entire company. If you are a good communicator, you can build trust, inspire teams, and align people towards your goals. You can clearly articulate your vision, delegate tasks efficiently, and provide constructive feedback.

Strong leaders are effective communicators who can inspire and motivate their teams.  Our intensive advanced presentations coaching has helped many leaders polish their leadership communication skills.

3.      Strengthen your storytelling skills

“Facts get forgotten, stories get repeated.” 

People connect with stories. Learn to weave narratives that showcase your brand’s values, expertise, and impact. Use storytelling to capture attention in presentations, marketing materials, and even internal communications.  Storytelling is a powerful communication tool that can humanise your brand and make it more relatable.

Stories that you can use to scale up your business include:

• Stories about where your business is coming from
• Stories about how your business helps customers
• Stories about where your business is going
• Case studies and customer stories

If you can build your storytelling skills and develop a playbook of compelling stories, you’ll be well positioned with a toolbox to scale your business. 

4.      Increase your industry presence with better communication skills

One highly effective way to build your industry presence is to speak at more industry conferences.  By getting noticed at conferences you can increase your business profile, showcase what you are good at, as well as meet new customers and business partners.

But if you are speaking at a conference you want to speak well. Don’t just talk; instead share valuable insights.  These days you’ll usually be paying to appear at a conference, so make sure that you get a return on your investment by strengthening your public speaking skills.    

5.      Scale up by being recognised as a thought leader

As well as speaking at conferences, you can appear on conference panels.  By regularly appearing on panels or moderating panels, and by standing out from the crowd, you’ll get recognition as an authority.  By positioning yourself as a thought leader, you attract a wider audience and elevate your business’s reputation.

Looking good on a panel is a skill just like public speaking.  Our intensive panel discussion coaching programme can prepare you to impress.

6.      Improve your report writing to help you scale

You want clear, concise, and well-written reports to inform your board and colleagues; attract investors and secure funding.  With report writing training you can improve your report writing skills to communicate complex financial data in a way that’s easy to understand and highlights your business’s potential. Good board report writing skills are also essential.

7.      Increase your presence in the media

Media coverage can significantly boost your brand awareness. When you develop strong relationships with journalists, prepare compelling press releases and get interviewed in a newsworthy way, you’ll leverage the press to your advantage.

Our media training for executives has helped hundreds of businesses get their messages across clearly

8.      Show investors how you will scale

You want investor support to scale your business.  Investors need to understand your growth strategy. You can use clear and persuasive investor presentations to outline your plan and persuade investors that you are doing the right thing.

Our investor pitch coaches help business scale by preparing and delivering compelling investor meetings and investor presentations.

By mastering these communication skills, you can unlock your full potential and achieve sustainable growth in a competitive marketplace.

What next to scale a business?

If you want to scale your business and plan to use communication skills to support your growth, get in touch. Over the last 15 years we have helped hundreds of businesses grow by improving managerial communication skills.

Our coaching in short, sharp, intensive and highly effective. That why about 85% of our business is repeat business. Get in touch today. Call Louise Angus our client services director on +44 20 7018 0922 or click on the link below.

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Transform your pitches and presentations with tailored coaching

We can help you present brilliantly. Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too.

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”

Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

For 15+ years we’ve been the trusted choice for leading businesses and executives throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East. We’ll help you improve corporate presentations through presentation coaching, public speaking training and expert advice on pitching to investors.

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Unlock your full potential and take your presentations to the next level.

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

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