Running a business is a hard job. You must diligently work to grow your contracting company, even in the midst of adversity and economic decline. Once you have determined you’re in it for the long haul, there are steps that must be taken to ensure the success of your business.

Here are some key phases that are crucial in solidifying your longevity:

Planning

For continued growth, planning should be a first priority. You must continuously review your business plan to determine whether or not you are on track and make changes if necessary. There are a number of other plans to consider that should be included and should also stand independently of the overall business plan:

• Strategic Plan – this outlines your strategy for the current year, and helps you forecast for five and ten year projections. You can’t grow if you don’t know where you want to go.

• Marketing Plan – a marketing plan helps pinpoint how you want to present your company to the public and which outlets are most important for disseminating the information. It also determines the vehicles you will use to help build brand equity.

• Financial Plan – a financial plan helps set the budget, projects if and when you want to expand, and outlines how you will increase your capital.

Research

Research is one of the most important components of staying in business. If you don’t know and understand your competition, or don’t know what or how the market is doing, you cannot make the necessary adjustments to succeed.

Innovation

Keeping up with what’s coming down the pipeline can give you leverage in moving to the front of the line in company growth. Making sure your company is as savvy as possible and your employees are equipped with the latest tools to move forward. This can make a tremendous difference in growth and revenue.

Implementation

Every successful company understands the importance of a smooth implementation process. Whether it’s one process or many, being able to implement your decisions weighs heavily on growth.

Assessment

Once you have researched, strategized, enhanced your processes and implemented them, you have to assess your company to see where it stands financially, internally and externally. Being able to pinpoint any deficiencies through assessment can keep you on a level playing field and will give you the opportunity to change things that are not working, and enhance the items that are.