This post was contributed by Jason Dirkham
Running a small business is no easy task but can be a very gratifying career path. As the boss and leader, you’re in charge of how your business performs and what initiatives take priority. It’s up to you to guide your team to success and ensure your customers are satisfied.
Getting complacent or comfortable will likely backfire on you down the road. If you want to stay competitive and ahead of the curve, then you must focus on how you can improve. The following ideas are powerful suggestions that will help put you on the right track so you can overcome any obstacles and thrive well into the future.
Implement Best Practices
One powerful way to improve your small business is to implement best practices for getting your work done. Otherwise, you risk wasting time and money and having every person take their own approach without any rhyme or reason. Find out what works best and gets the job done quickly and efficiently and then communicate these procedures and guidelines to your staff. Use technology solutions to help you get ahead and speed up how fast you can reach your goals.
Motivate & Train Your Employees
Improve your small business by motivating and empowering your employees. It’s in your best interest to invest in training them and helping them to progress in their careers. Offering continuous training is an excellent selling point when you’re trying to recruit new talent too. Hold training events and conferences throughout the year so that you can ensure each person is up to speed with company expectations and processes. Make planning your next event easier by using the products at the lanyard factory, so you have the right materials on-site to make your conference or event a success.
Keep Your Finances in Order
You must keep financial score as a small business owner. You need to know where you stand and what money you have going out and coming in. Follow strict budgets and review your finances and books regularly so you can avoid any surprises and correct errors before they snowball into more significant issues. It may help to hire a finance director or accountant if you’re short on time and believe you need help in this area to stay on top of it and not put it off. Get an accurate idea of the daily, weekly, and monthly numbers and understand the overall financial trends with your business.
Master Business & Sales Presentations
Always be selling if you want a powerful way to improve your small business. Potential clients are everywhere, and you have to be ready and prepared to talk about your services all the time. Have an elevator speech all set for those moments and conversations when someone shows an interest in your business and what you do. Also, master your business and sales presentations so that you can attract and win over more clients. Brush up on your selling skills and ensure that you can speak confidently and intelligently about your company and why someone would want to do business with you.
Invest in Marketing
You can’t sit around expecting customers to find and flock to you as a small business. It would be helpful if you invested your time and money into implementing a marketing strategy that works. You must have a strong online presence and engage with your customers on these platforms and channels if you’re going to become more well-known. Identify your target audience and where they spend their time and then focus on sending out the right messaging to them so that you can grab their attention. Build an attractive and functional website, launch business pages on social media, and run ad campaigns to help you achieve this goal. You have to be proactive and go out and connect with potential and current customers so that you’re always top-of-mind for them when they’re contemplating purchasing decisions.
Fix What’s Broken
You can’t turn a blind eye to what’s not working within your business if you want to succeed in the long-term. One powerful way to improve your company is to identify what’s broken and then commit to making changes and fixes that make a difference in how you work. It may be that there is constant miscommunication and are silos among departments or that there are old technology and processes in place that are making the lives of everyone at the office more difficult. Get together as a group to talk about these matters so you can come up with a list of issues that need attention and possible solutions for each.
Ask for Feedback & Input
You don’t have to know it all just because you’re the business owner. In fact, it’s more beneficial for you to admit to what you don’t know and always to be curious and take in new information. Therefore, reach out and ask for feedback and input from employees, clients, and mentors who can help you overcome obstacles and pinpoint areas that need improvement. You’ll likely hear about topics and roadblocks that you weren’t aware of and didn’t even know were causing your business trouble. There are many ways to collect feedback such as using surveys, picking up the phone, and holding small meetings with people who are willing to speak up and share ideas.
Encourage Work-Life Balance
Improve your life and the office environment by encouraging a culture that promotes and supports work-life balance. You can’t just say it and then not back it up with actions. Therefore, show you’re serious by offering discounts on gym memberships, rewarding employees with time off work, and allowing staff to work from home when need be. You’ll have a happier and healthier workforce for it and fewer people who are out sick or feeling burned out. Also, as the business owner, you’re going to be busy and have a lot on your plate on any given day. You must take care of yourself and take breaks when you need them. Learn to delegate tasks to your staff and have other leaders in place so that you’re not always having to stay late at the office and put out fires.
Collect Reviews & Testimonials
Another powerful way to improve your small business is to collect reviews and testimonials from customers. Encourage the people you do business with to go online and write about their experiences working with your company. Be sure to highlight and publicize the positive and best testimonials so that you can draw more people into considering buying your products and services. More and more people are spending their time online these days and reading reviews about a company before investing any money with them. While it’s ideal to have only positive remarks about your business, there may also be some people who are unhappy or unsatisfied. Instead of ignoring these customers, go online and respond to them so that others can see you care and are working to solve any problems.
Connect with the Community
It’s always wise to put yourselves out there and get more involved in the community as a business owner. It’s not only an excellent marketing tool but will also help you to meet new people. You might want to consider giving back by volunteering your time, donating money, or sponsoring a local event in your area. Get out there and use it as a way to increase your brand awareness and boost your reputation. Customers truly love supporting local businesses, and if they don’t know about yours, then you’re missing out on this opportunity. People love to know who’s behind a particular product or service and will be more likely to seek you out in the future if they’ve met you before.
Enhance Your Customer Service
There’s no denying the power of offering exceptional customer service and unique customer experiences. Improve your small business by spending more energy and effort investing in this area of your company. Make sure that each person at your workplace knows the value behind being able to resolve customer issues quickly and understands that everyone should be treated fairly. Always keep interactions with customers professional and never let a customer walk away feeling confused or frustrated after speaking with them. Provide a variety of outlets and channels for how people can get in touch with you, such as email, phone, and social media.
Always Deliver on Your Promise
Finally, a powerful way to improve your small business is to always deliver on your promise. Falling short will cause you to have to deal with more customer complaints and put you in a position of always having to defend yourselves. Instead, say what you’re going to do and don’t make promises you can’t keep. Set clear expectations and then do all that’s in your power to ensure you can follow through with what you communicate. It’s an excellent way to build trust with your clients and the community and show consumers that you take your business seriously and are committed to ensuring a consistent and rewarding experience for each person who works with you.
This post was contributed by Jason Dirkham
