In this feature, we offer you tips to help your plans for business expansion, as well as look at the real-life lessons from a mid-sized business that has been able to establish itself as one of the leading companies in their sector.

Find your niche and stick to one destination

Recognised as one of the only genuinely specialist IT recruitment firms in Ireland, Eolas Recruitment have been able to establish themselves as a market leader by specialising in a particular sector within one location.

One lesson that can be derived from this example for other small businesses, within any industry, is to build up their expertise in one specialism within a set location to ensure their business is recognised as an expert within the field. By expanding the products and services across a wealth of sectors you offer, especially too quickly, can result in your small business getting lost in amongst the sea of larger competitors with more marketing budget.

Diversify

The first point, however, should not mean that you only offer one product or service to your customer base. Diversifying can be one of the best growth strategies for small businesses looking to expand; consider looking at complementary services or products, or even consider becoming a columnist for an online or print publication that raises brand awareness but also attracts potential leads.

Diversifying will allow you to achieve multiple avenues to gain enquiries and product or service purchases that will increase the profit margins, without compromising on the image of your organisation as a specialist company.

Plan your expansion

For many entrepreneurs, physical expansion is one of the first aspects that comes to mind when expanding the business. However, this is perhaps not the best option for many small businesses looking to grow. Physical expansion always requires meticulous research, planning and reviewing of the numbers before a successful opening can be achieved. Look at the economic and consumer trends to decipher whether this business decision is beneficial to your company in the future.

Another important aspect of business expansion is making sure your administrative systems and management teams are exceptional, because any projects you have in the pipeline will require staff members who can utilise their skills and expertise to achieve your objectives.

Hire a recruitment agency

Ensuring you have a team of highly-motivated, knowledgeable staff is of paramount importance to the progression of a business, regardless of its size.

Whilst advertising for positions within your business on generalised job-posting sites, or even in your local newspaper, will generate several applications, the chances are it will use up a lot of your valuable time to filter through them to find the people that are actually suitable for what you require.

It is also important to remember that these methods are not as targeted as utilising the services of a specialist recruitment agency.

Find a recruitment agency, like Eolas Recruitment, that allow you to use their services for free, and only pay for them once you have hired the right candidate for the role. They take all the hard work out of finding an appropriate candidate by filtering the applications and presenting you with the best choices that meet your requirements for interview stages.