扩张开新店稳赚不赔的秘诀

    大多数发展中的公司都会花许多时间来考虑扩张问题——而当缩减规模成为更明智的选择时，管理层往往会措手不及。如果新的店面在六个月到一年的时间内仍然没什么起色，你就需要采取行动止损了。与其硬着头皮继续烧钱，不如适时收手，重新部署，搞清楚如何根据现有的顾客，找到真正能赚钱的市场。

    收手的感觉就像是承认失败，尤其是考虑到已经投入了时间和金钱的双重成本时。然而，为失败的扩张行动投入更多金钱，只会让情况进一步恶化。看看那些力挽狂澜的达人们是怎么做的吧。让公司重回正轨的第一步通常都是关掉那些无法取得利润的分店。

    从现状中脱出身来后，你就该重新考虑发展战略了。据我了解，大多数创业公司在做出扩张决定时，并没有收集到足够多的客户数据作为支撑。你也许认为他们会在打入一个新的市场前做好大量功课，但通常情况下只是高层管理中有人提起：“印度看上去很有潜力，”或者“中国有庞大的顾客群，”然后他们就会进入市场看看自己能够获得些什么。同样的事情也会发生在本土市场。他们注意到另一个城市没有同类公司，于是便会在进行充分的市场调研之前就赶忙冲进去。通常情况下这招是不管用的，他们最终会失败，还会导致财务报表上出现一笔大损失。

    下面就是我的简单扩张法则：追随现有的顾客进入一个新的市场，寻找在那里为他们服务的办法。你会吃惊地发现，原来有这么多公司在别的地方运营，而且还欢迎你加入。他们不会主动告诉你那边有机会。你得去问。如果不能在打入新市场的第一天赚到钱，就不要去了。

    我把这个办法应用于我自己的公司，它如今在六大洲开展业务。我们在美国以外的第一次海外扩张选择了马来西亚。我本来没有把业务扩张到那里的打算，不过我们的一个顾客已经在那里了，而且需要我们继续提供咨询和培训服务。

    如果你想要扩张到美国本土之外，就从现在开始收集信息，搞清楚你现有的业务区域的顾客来自哪里。当他们从你这里买东西，或者加入你的邮寄名单时，要学习那些大型连锁店的做法，问问他们的邮政编码。如果你注意到你有一大批顾客都来自一个离你20到30分钟路程的邮政编码地区，那就去探索一下那个市场。跟顾客聊聊，搞清楚他们为什么要来这边。弄明白他们在来店里之前还去过哪里，之后又要去哪里，这些是十分重要的信息。如果他们只是去你那边的电影院，路上顺道光顾你的餐馆，那你在他们的镇上开一家分店就没什么用。

    不要害怕对扩张机会说“不”。确定扩张成功需要满足的关键要素——无论原因是因为那里走路就能到达，还是因为正好顺路，还是因为周围有许多类似的店面——如果你无法满足这些标准，就不要去那里扩张。想想美国西南航空公司（Southwest Airlines）的例子。他们之所以能够取得今天成功，原因之一在于，如果特定线路没有足够的需求，不值得扩张，他们就会对否决这个计划。

    当然，即便是最好的市场调研也不能保证某个市场一定适合你。投入所有资源之前，想办法探探风声。与其签一份五年的租约，不如签一份短期租约，就算因此多花一点钱也无妨。如果那个市场不景气，就尽快撤资。如此一来，你就有更多的钱来开展真正有意义的市场扩张计划。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正  

    Most growing companies spend a lot of time thinking about scaling up -- but their leaders get caught off guard by situations where scaling back makes sense. If a new location isn't picking up traction after six months to a year, it's time to cut your losses. Instead of trying to salvage your investment, you need to pull back, regroup, and figure out how to follow your existing customers to a market where you really can make money.

    Pulling out can feel like you're admitting defeat, especially when you consider the sunk costs, in both time and cash -- but throwing more money into a failing expansion is only going to make matters worse. Look at the situation like turnaround pros do. Their first step in bringing a company back to health is often to close nonperforming locations.

    Once you extract yourself from your current situation, it's time to rethink your growth strategy. Most of the time, when I see entrepreneurial companies expand, they haven't gathered enough customer data to justify it. You'd think they would do a lot of homework before plunging into a new market, but usually what happens is that someone in top management says, "India looks promising," or "China has plenty of consumers," and they plunge into that market to see what they can stir up. The same thing happens locally. They notice that another city doesn't have a company like theirs and rush in before doing enough market research. Often, it doesn't work, and they end up slinking out with a big loss on their books.

    Here's my simple rule for expansion: Follow your existing customers into a new market and look for ways to serve them there. You'll be surprised how many are operating in other places and would love for you to join them. They won't tell you there's an opportunity. You have to ask. If you can't make money from day one in a new market, don't go there.

    I've taken this approach at my own company, which now does business on six continents. Our first expansion outside the U.S. was into Malaysia. It's not a country I would have imagined moving into, but one of our existing customers was already there and wanted our help with consulting and training.

    If you're looking to branch out in the U.S., start gathering information on where customers at your existing location are coming from now. Ask for their zip code when they buy something from you or join your mailing list, just like big chains do. If you notice that you have a large cluster of customers coming to you from a zip code that's 20 or 30 minutes away, it's time to explore that market. Talk with them to find out why they're making the trip. It's important to find out where your customers went before they stopped by and where they're heading afterward. If they're coming to your restaurant en route to your local movie theater, then opening a new outpost in their town won't help you.

    Don't be afraid to say no to expansion opportunities. Decide what key success factor a new location must meet -- whether that's foot traffic or drive-by traffic or the presence of a cluster of similar stores --and if you're not going to be able to satisfy those criteria, don't go there. Consider Southwest Airlines as an example. One reason they're so successful is that they've said no to expansion opportunities if there wasn't enough demand on a particular route to make it worthwhile.

    Of course, even the best market research isn't a guarantee that a market will work out for you. Figure out a way to test the waters before you commit all of your resources. Instead of signing a five-year lease, sign for a shorter term, even if you have to pay a little more. And if it doesn't work out, pull the plug sooner, not later. That way, you'll have more money to fund your expansion plans when they really make sense.