If you’re the owner or a partner of an Italian SME, you might find this short guide of 12 tips useful — starting from one key assumption:
👉 Your product or service is good, even excellent.
I start from this point because 90% of the entrepreneurs I’ve met over my 35 years of work began and continued year after year giving 100% of their energy and often making major investments to improve their product or service.
That’s all good and right.
However, today that’s no longer enough. It’s no longer what truly defines your company’s value.
It’s simply the starting point — or better yet, a prerequisite.
Nowadays, 99% of products and services are of high quality, and no customer justifies a poor product simply because they paid less for it.
The 12 Tips
These suggestions come from real, practical experiences — from companies that, in one way or another, could have managed their growth better:
1) Review and strengthen your Governance
Significant growth requires strong, united, and goal-oriented governance.
Too often, the family roots of many SMEs lead to weakened governance, undermined by unresolved generational transitions or by partners lacking the necessary leadership skills.
Growth starts from within, and a solid governance structure lays the foundation for speaking on equal terms with financial partners.
2) Plan your finances carefully (costs and risks)
Revenue growth is expensive — before doubling your income, your expenses will rise significantly.
Plan your finances wisely, ensuring a thoughtful approach to credit, and explore available grants or subsidized financing, especially now with PNRR and EU funding programs.
Implement management control systems, monitor production costs and pricing.
Evaluate risks and protect yourself from potential issues with foresight.
3) Define your goals and communicate them to your team
Too often, entrepreneurs decide to grow revenue unilaterally without informing their teams — and sometimes not even the board.
How can you expect your people to give their best if they aren’t aware of your major goals?
Imagine how different things would be if those goals emerged as the result of a team-building process.
4) Measure your company’s well-being and value your human capital
Doubling turnover often puts heavy stress on the entire organization.
Pushing for growth before stabilizing departments, resolving conflicts, and aligning the team can backfire dangerously.
How many valuable people are already on your team?
Assess carefully — or seek help — to identify which employees, consultants, or collaborators can truly help you reach your goals.
Sometimes, the greatest potential lies right around us — we just don’t see it.
Improve contracts and workplace conditions.
Take care of your employees’ well-being — corporate welfare benefits everyone.
5) Maximize your customer base
Your customer base is one of your company’s greatest assets, and failing to leverage it fully is a common mistake.
Do you measure your clients’ satisfaction?
Are you sure they’re aware of all your products and services? Could you apply an up-selling or cross-selling strategy?
Have you ever felt annoyed by promotions that reward new clients but ignore loyal ones?
Don’t make the same mistake.
Once you’ve optimized this, consider marketing actions toward your former customers.
6) Explore alternative markets
Every company has its story — some chapters are written, others are yet to be.
Some markets may appear saturated but still hold untapped growth areas.
Sometimes, simply shifting focus to a new region or new stakeholders brings unexpected success.
Use structured market research and well-planned expansion (or internationalization) strategies.
Decisions based on data make sense; decisions based only on intuition have become far too risky.
7) Invest in brand, communication, and advertising
Creating value in your company means caring for everything — starting with your brand and how your company communicates.
A company that communicates with ethics and values shifts the focus from price to brand reputation.
Are you visible to those searching for your products or services?
Communication and trade fairs aren’t just for finding clients — they also help attract top talent, especially in sales.
A great salesperson is like a striker who scores many goals.
Are you sure the best players want to join your team?
8) Invest in training — for yourself and for every department
If you want great results, invest in training.
Training motivates your team and delivers quality, long-lasting results.
Is your leadership real? Are you a boss or a leader?
Lead by example — take part in high-level training yourself.
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80.
Anyone who keeps learning stays young.
The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young and open.”
— Henry Ford
9) Invest in technology
Manage growth with software that integrates all company areas.
Can your salespeople create quotes independently?
Can your clients buy directly through a B2B portal?
Do you let clients track production or delivery phases?
Do you have a CRM? Does your ERP system connect everything from quoting to invoicing?
Would a MES or AIDC system optimize logistics?
Are your machines Industry 4.0 ready and integrated with your software?
Growing sales without managing processes prevents measurement and control, reduces quality, and increases error risk.
Choose partners and suppliers who use advanced technologies.
10) Review your certifications
A growing organization must control every step of its processes.
From quotes to invoice collection, all departments should work in sync toward a single goal: customer satisfaction.
Certifications help coordinate activities, and major international clients increasingly demand certifications — for product quality, processes, and environmental sustainability.
Lack of certifications often becomes the first barrier to expansion.
11) Evaluate partnerships
Being alone is getting harder — especially in rapidly changing markets.
Are there colleagues or complementary companies with whom you could build a partnership?
Are you part of an active network that brings expertise or knowledge to your business? If not, can you find one?
History teaches us that many major growth stories involve mergers, acquisitions, or strong strategic collaborations.
12) Constantly monitor results and adjust course
Every growth journey is full of challenges — or better, opportunities for improvement.
It’s nearly impossible to reach your goal without making mistakes.
But mistakes are an essential part of the process: identify them quickly, understand them, fix them, and use them to improve.
If it can’t be measured, it doesn’t exist.
Action is essential — but pausing to measure and adjust ensures you stay on target.
I’ve personally witnessed — multiple times — the major growth journeys of many SMEs I’ve worked with, both as an employee and as an external consultant.
