Small businesses need consistent improvement to boost it. These opportunities for improvement are critical for running a business successfully.
When you start your business, always try to establish your brand, make an attractive website, and be active on social media. Business growth is an ongoing process, & it doesn’t jump to succeed overnight.
Your business will need your patience, hard work, dedication & focus. Constantly strategize management structure to curtail unnecessary expenses.
If you don’t have any earlier experience running a business, continually educate yourself with management skills to avoid mistakes.
Success doesn't drops off the sky, just like that - Every successful business was once a small business.
Table of Contents
Get Organized
Make yourself organized first; so that you can manage your business efficiently.
- Create a to-do list night before
- Identify and list your potential projects on priority.
- Always keep a check on the deadlines of projects.
- Keep less practical tasks to be closed in non-productive hours.
- Reply to all the pending emails
- Scan your inbox to sort out what’s productive & urgent for you
- Even if the amount is small, always pay your taxes to avoid penalties.
Tip 1: Pick a Niche
Deciding on a perfect niche will help you focus on your product & skill set.
It is an over-saturated market; the niche will make you stand apart from the giant whales.
Also, small business owners with a limited budget must pick and work on that niche to save time, energy & money handling too many things.
For Example: If you are interested in opening a Clothing Shop, select a niche – Women or Men >> if Men’s >> then casual wear or formal wear.
Pros of Niche Market:
- Specialization in product
- Better profit
- Less money in marketing
- Customer loyalty to your brand
- Fewer competitors
- Less staff required
Cons of Niche Market:
- Less growth
- High profits are always not guaranteed
- New competitors can give you fight
- Smaller market
- Difficult to adapt to market changes
Tip 2: Make purchasing process easier
It is very necessary to make the payment process easy. We need to understand that people are very busy and they don’t have much time to spare in finding simple buttons & options.
Below are tips that will help you make this process easier –
- Always make the purchasing process easy for the customers
- Your product pages should be user-friendly & easy to navigate
- Avoid unnecessary forms on the website
- Be open to accepting all kinds of payment methods from customers
- Always try to highlight the payment button to gain customers’ attention
- Don’t create too many steps to go to the end of the payment page
- Always use trusted payment gateways to earn customers’ trust
- Offer a return policy so that customers don’t hesitate to buy
- Use simple language on the website
- Good website speed
- Display best-selling products on the main page
- Make the website compatible opening on mobile
Tip 3: Cost cutting
Small businesses don’t have high finances to spend lavishly; every penny counts. Cost cutting will help you save on unnecessary expenses. Manage all the finances properly & identify those expenses which can cut short.
These tips will help you curtail unnecessary expenses:
- Negotiate with current vendors to lower the cost
- Look for a new vendor who offers better cost
- Look for an investor
- Try getting crowdfunding
- Reduce business travel
- Keep the least number of staff
- Try to outsource tasks to save money
- If you have office space, share half with another company or freelancer
- Don’t leave Air conditioners, heaters, or fan open, when not in use
- Only buy those devices which you will use
- Don’t burn big money in one single marketing media
- Don’t offer heavy lunch during every client meeting
Tip 4: Start Networking events
Pros of networking events
- Stronger connections
- Identifying opportunities
- Updates on the latest information
- Knowledge of new traits & trends
- Can find business partners or investors
- Get a new idea
- Long-lasting relationships
- Personality development & confidence
Cons of networking events
- It takes time to build relationships
- People are unaware of how to network
- The dynamics of networking keep changing
- False security, everyone is not trustworthy
- Networking is expensive
- It may not be that productive for you
- No instant growth
Tip 5: Build a Team
If you are not trained in any skill, you better hire the right people to reduce the pressure on you.
Delegating work to a well trained can save you hours of struggle; as a Business owner, you can utilize that time & energy on something productive which helps you achieve your goals.
Properly train staff according to your business requirements & functionality.
Tip 6: Be active on Social Media
Small businesses can do low-cost, effective marketing by being active on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms.
With your regular updates on social media, you can create a better rapport & interaction with potential customers.
It is a marketing that works; customers can be attracted to the lively & relatable information on social media platforms & can share it with their friends.
Updates on social media leave a good impression in customers’ minds that your business is active and offers new products or services. You can regularly share your thoughts, ideas, products, discounts, and content with customers.
You need to create great content so that people talk about your product. In addition, it should answer customers’ queries. Through this, you develop good relations & trust. You also get potential leads from such a practice.
Always try to be unique & different in your content, and be active in sharing blogs and videos to be connected with customers.
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Tip 7: Be a Solution Provider
Analyzing the market and identifying what your competitors are not offering will help you gain a good name in less time.
Customers generally don’t trust small businesses, as they think you won’t be able to offer reasonable standards.
Come up with a solution that customers are generally facing with your competitor. It will give you the benefit of mouth-of-word marketing; it will build your brand & USP.
Below are a few points for your guidance –
- Identify a service that your competitors are not catering
- Do research; what exactly is stopping them
- If it is troublesome & is not in your budget, then leave it
- Else make it your USP, as others are not offering it
- One-time investment that will give you long-term customers, then go for it
- If your budget allows, you can hire resources to reduce your burden
Tip 8: Provide Great Customer Service
Maintaining excellent customer service is the key to success; not only big businesses but also small businesses need it.
Getting repeat customers is very important in small businesses due to limited exposure. By offering excellent customer service, you will likely get loyal customers back to you.
Always be open to accepting positive & negative feedback from customers. It will help you correct the mistakes you are making & need to be made aware of.
Once you have earned customers’ trust, you may request them to leave a positive review in the trust pilot or Google.
These days customers actively read reviews before taking services. Hence, such studies are an excellent way to reach more people.
Tip 9: Identify Your Competitors
Identifying competitors in small business is equally important as in a big company. But, first, you must research what is different or good in their product.
Try talking to their customers so that you come to know about their strengths & weaknesses. You can also check competitors’ reviews to understand where they stand.
Also, choose & monitor your competitors’ products, sales & marketing strategies.
- Try to get the keywords they use in SEO
- Check their most shared content
- Go through their blogs
- Check social media platforms, reviews
- Need to check competitors’ pricing
- List of products your competitor offers
- Check how they promote their business
- By monitoring, you can take advantage of competitors’ weaknesses
Tip 10: Limit Distractions
Many small businesses can operate from home, saving you from paying rent and traveling time.
However, sometimes operating a business from home could be full of distractions. We get into unavoidable circumstances like somebody at the door, relatives or friends coming in, household chores, and other distractions.
Try to find out a solution where your workflow doesn’t break. For example, you can operate from a secluded room or ask your family to take care of things when the bell rings.
To run a business, you need a focus & need to stick to your seat for hours. Getting up from the chair again and again for silly reasons, apart from taking an ergonomic break, will hamper your productivity.
Tip 11: Minimize your risks
There is no business with zero risk, but you can always minimize your risks:
- Buy Business Insurance
- Identify risks & try to correct it
- Learn about the laws to avoid penalties
- Data protection
- Pick an affordable business loan
- Be ready with a backup plan
- Keep an eye on market trends
Tip 12: Pick changes in market
The market & its nature are dynamic. Therefore, there are always variances & changes in the demand for the product.
It will help you in developing your company & its brand. Through this, you will also learn to understand different dimensions of the minor sector.
You, of course, need to focus on your initial choice of business, but it is essential to understand the new trends & adapt them accordingly.
If you adapt things quickly, you will retain your existing customers & database.
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Tip 13: Set up your business as a business entity
One person generally operates small businesses, you generally don’t keep any staff. Due to this, some small business owners skip registering as separate business entities to save taxes.
Keep yourself legally safe in case of any negligence; there could be a situation where you can be sued. Of course, small businesses generally don’t get into all this, but it’s always good to be safe.
Registering as a separate business identity will keep your financial transactions transparent.
Tip 14: eMarket your Business
eMarketing is a way through which people come to know about your product.
Imagine you created an excellent product & people need to be made aware of it; 90% of small businesses fail because of low or no marketing efforts.
People should know that your product exists. Good marketing will help customers understand why your product is better than others.
Below are a few tips to market your business:
- Have a Business website
- Make a Blog for your Business
- Do E-mail marketing
- Run Paid ads Google AdWords, Facebook, Instagram
- Virtual events & networking
- Offer online coupons
- Promote yourself on social media like Facebook, Twitter
- Maintain relationships with your official CRM
- Google My Business (GMB)
- Look into expansion via Clickbank / Franchise / Affiliates
- Use Forums, Quora, Reddit
- Be part of Local Business Facebook Groups
- Make community on WhatsApp / Telegram
Tip 15: Educate yourself
As we all know, running small businesses doesn’t need much staff; one person can handle them; you need to pick up on a few skills – learn & apply them.
If a complex skill gives you trouble every month, it’s worth spending on coaching or outsourcing it to buy you peace of mind.
Tip 16: Sit & review your business
It is essential to sit & review your business every week. It will help you know where your business is standing.
Small businesses also need lots of attention & analysis to track their areas of improvement. You should be able to detect a problem early & fix it before it’s too late.
Small business owners sometimes need help taking time for such analyses, as they operate their businesses single-handedly. Taking out time to review is something you should take advantage of. Spending one hour every week is possible & manageable.
Don’t restrict yourself to doing quarterly reviews.
Firstly, you will need to remember many facts & figures; secondly, you save yourself from the headache of sitting in one day & analyzing data for so many weeks.
Timely correction of problems can save you a lot of customer service expenses.
Conclusion
Want to Save Time in your Business Launch?
- How to Create a Business Plan
- What is Market Research, USP, Niche & Positioning
- How to find a suitable name for your business
- How to create your brand image (Logo + Branding)
- How to Register Your Business
- How to Register for Taxes
- How to get Licenses / Permits
- How to Open a Business Bank Account
- How to Get Business Insurance
- Which Payment Processing Terminal (POS) to buy
- How to get Funds for your Business
- How to do Sales & Marketing – Offline & Online
- Why have a Website / Blog / Social Media
- How to build & train your Dream Team
- How to provide Excellent Customer Service
- Buying an Old Business Vs Franchisee Vs Own Brand from Scratch
Handpicked inspirational Youtube videos for you
Best Advice to Small Business Owners – YT Channel ‘Goldman Sachs’
How Entrepreneurs Can Create Brand Growth | Leadership Lessons -YT Channel ‘Forbes’
A Billionaire’s Startup Secrets Part 1: Growing With The Company -YT Channel ‘Forbes’
A. Major Types of Business Growth are –
- Organic business growth
- Strategic business growth
- Internal business growth
- Merge OR Partnership business growth
A. Growing business takes time as well as a lot of energy, here are few tips to simplify the process-
- Research your business domain
- Conduct a SWOT analysis
- Diversify your offering
- Build a efficient Sales Funnel
- Franchise your business
- Retain your Customers
- Organize Networking Events
- Embrace your Social Responsibilities
- Try Strategic Partnerships with potential clients
- Build a community
A. Best small business are those which are trending yet not very common to find in the market such as –
- Pet grooming business
- Daycare/elderly care business
- Aerial photography
- Food truck/ van business
- Flower business
A. Some common factors that can be critical to growing a business include:
1. A strong business plan
2. Building and maintaining customer relationships
3. Investing in your team
4. Marketing and promotion
5. Financial management
A. Seven common growth strategies of a business:
1. Market penetration
2. Market development
3. Product development
4. Diversification
5. Franchising
6. Mergers and acquisitions
7. Partnerships and collaborations
