Rule 4: Broaden your customer reach and find new markets

There is only so much revenue that can be repeatedly extracted from a given customer base. Therefore, it’s very important that smaller and medium-sized businesses think proactively about how they can broaden their customer reach and expand where possible. In demonstrating this point, our survey respondents picked out selling products and services internationally as the most commonly chosen driver of success.

One of the most common options is to expand internationally. COVID-19 has obviously made this extremely difficult for the time being, but there are still many other ways to broaden your business’s reach, and the good news is this doesn’t have to be an expensive process.

For example, looking at your customer base, ask yourself where are similar customers based and how can you reach them? This could be done with a marketing campaign which, through the targeted use of social media, doesn’t have to be as expensive as you might think. Not only could this help you branch out into new markets, but it could also help you further connect with customers in existing locations.

Another great way to expand your business, and open up to new customers is to consider what other products and services you could provide. For example, if you run a garage and have access to many vehicles, are you in a position to buy stock and resell it, thereby creating a dealership? Or, could you sell cars in another way and establish a scrappage service? Depending on the sector you operate in, there may be several opportunities for your business to expand laterally.