Strategic Growth: Turning Ambition into Actionable Plans

Most companies want growth, but it doesn’t happen without planning. To grow a company, management needs a comprehensive strategy, a way to measure success, and tools for putting the plan into action.

Oak Street Funding President, Alicia Chandler, discussed these topics in a recent OnPoint podcast. Read on for her insights on how to make growth happen in your firm:

→ Watch Now: Building Buy-In and Driving Results

Developing a Plan

A comprehensive growth plan makes a company’s general ideas of development intentional and actionable. Everyone knows what the goals are and how they can contribute to making them happen.

Planning is not just a management exercise. A great plan has input from all team members. When people have a voice in creating the plan, they’ll feel ownership in it and will work to accomplish the goals.

Starting with SWOT

A SWOT analysis is a good place to start a growth plan; in fact, Oak Street Funding goes through this step every fall as part of creating our annual growth plan. For a SWOT analysis, the planning team gets input from staff in all sectors of the company and then comes up with a list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats the company is facing.

Here are a few examples of what any SWOT might include:

• • A high level of client loyalty would be a strength, but a weakness could be concentration risk, which means too much reliance on just a few clients.
  • The chance to purchase a firm from a retiring competitor could be an opportunity. The possibility that the same firm might be purchased by a larger regional firm would be a threat.

Defining Goals

The next step is setting goals. Topics include what business lines on which to focus, where the company intends to grow, or how the company plans to expand. Note that the plan is about how and where to grow, not if. A growth plan is all about intentionality. The goals should be well-defined so progress can be measured.

Different firms will define growth in their own ways. An RIA firm, for example, might use assets under management. A CPA firm might use growing the total number of clients, while an independent insurance agency might use the size of the overall book of business.

Tying it All Together

The key to moving from a plan on paper to success in the real world means involving team members from all parts of the business. Staff buy-in is crucial, because every part of the company – finance, sales, marketing, IT – will need to contribute for the plan to be successful. Each department should develop its own plan for how to meet company-wide goals.

Growing Organically vs. Inorganically

Organic growth comes from doing more of the firm’s core work (recruiting more clients) or doing that work more efficiently (adding technological tools to serve more clients). Solid organic growth should be the basis of any growth plan.

Inorganic growth occurs when a firm merges with or acquires (M&A) another business, thus increasing its client and asset base. We’ve seen an uptick in M&A activity in Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 and expect that trend to continue. Inorganic growth is a great way to expand a company that is already competitively sound.

Strategies for Successful M&A

Several factors can help make an M&A deal successful:

• • Make sure the acquisition fits within an established growth plan.
  • Have agreement from all principals in the company.
  • Have the firm’s finances and records in good order before embarking on any M&A initiatives.
  • Understand the culture of the target company and make sure it meshes well with what made your company successful - stay true to what works for you.
  • Get input from trusted advisors – such as your CPA, your attorney, and your lending partner.
  • Consider working with a third-party M&A consultant for an unbiased view of the deal. An advisory team can help uncover blind spots. It’s always better to find and address issues early on in a transaction.

Dealing with Problems

No matter how good a plan is, problems can always arise. As part of the growth plan, it’s important to include contingency measures. How will the firm pivot if the economy takes a downturn? How will growth plans change if a new competitor enters the market? What if a major client leaves the firm?

To create a contingency plan, it’s good to go back to the weaknesses and threats sections of the SWOT analysis. Identify potential problems – both those that are most likely to occur as well as those that are less likely, but more harmful. Have a plan in place for how to deal with those issues should they arise.

Tracking Progress Towards Goals

We use a corporate scorecard that is updated each year with the goals of the new growth plan. A corporate scorecard, also called a balanced scorecard (BSC), is a tool for measuring progress toward a company’s goals. It focuses on four key areas: finances, customers, internal business processes, and learning and growth. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are assigned to each of those areas, and the company’s progress is measured against them. At Oak Street, we review our scorecard monthly and make changes as appropriate based on our progress.

Communicating these measures across the company is vital. Celebrating successes and giving credit to team members who have contributed builds morale and helps everyone see how the company is progressing toward its goals. Tracking performance shows where more effort is needed and where metrics were exceeded. It may point out areas where the growth plan was too optimistic or too conservative.

Closing Advice

As the old saying goes, the best time to have started a growth plan was yesterday – but if that didn’t happen, now is the time to get started. Pursuing organic growth through smart investments in staff or technology can be a reality with the help of a working capital loan. Expanding through M&A can be a wise move, and Oak Street Funding can help with a wide range of financing options for acquisition loans.