Apart from the mission of serving customers, the retailer’s main focus is to grow in business. Most retailers start with very small capital, few customers, probably even as hawkers or stationed in a small stall but with the expectation to grow into a big business in a few years. Unfortunately, it is not constant to grow or progress in business just because you own a business. There are a lot of factors that will ensure that your business is growing and they have been discussed in my previous articles.

In this article, we discuss the parameters that will prove to you that indeed your business is growing or not. Most retailers do not observe or monitor the growth of their business and this may lead to bankruptcy because they keep injecting money into their business and keep making losses without them realizing.

Increase in number of customers

Increase in the number of regular customers is one way to ascertain if your business is making the progress you expect. If you started with a customer database of 10 in your first year but after three years, your customer base goes up to 50, then it means that you have made progress because you have increased your customer base over 400% which is very impressive. You can only track your customer base progress if you have a customer relationship management software which keeps record of your customers and their activities with you.

Increase in quantity sale

Increasing the number of sales you make in a week, month or yearly is also a sign that your business is growing. You’ve probably heard the famous story of Coca-Cola which claims that Coca-Cola sold only 25 bottles in their first year but guess what? Coca-Cola is now one of the most purchased items on the market and obviously has progressed over the years and according to the Coca-Cola Britain blog, about 1.9 billion products of Coca-Cola is served in over 200 countries in the world per day (https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/our-business/faqs/how-many-cans-of-coca-cola-are-sold-worldwide-in-a-day). It sounds amazing but also achievable for your business if you put in all the necessary efforts. On the ground, do you see any increment in the number of sales since you started your business? If yes, then your business is growing.

Upgrade of business assets

Most businesses start with few assets or no assets and usually these assets are of low quality, old or probably faulty. A business might have started with a table and chair, an old computer and no employee but in some few years, it would have graduated to about 4 office desks and chairs, 10 computers, 15 employees and even a vehicle. All these would show that your business has grown from few assets to one that owns many assets. And for a business, growing in relation to your assets is very important because it determines your value.

Takeaway

Factors that can contribute to the growth of your business

• Bookkeeping
• Good customer service
• Good marketing strategies
• Technology

The reason why a lot of businesses fail is because they don’t track their progress. They assume they are progressing just because their business is still active. This may be true but on the contrary their business might have been stagnant for a long time without them noticing. Unfortunately a stagnant business is on its way to retrogressing.