The world of small business is ever-changing. It’s hard to keep up with all the trends and tactics that help your business grow, but it’s not impossible. The article puts together this list of tips to build a great strategy for growing your business from scratch, or even if you want to grow an existing one.
Associate With A CEO Peer Group
Before you start or join a CEO peer group, you must know what it is. A CEO peer group is a community of CEOs who meet regularly to discuss business problems and solutions. These groups can be highly helpful in identifying issues, brainstorming solutions, and finding new opportunities. In addition to benefiting the individual members, these groups often generate revenue growth for their companies through shared resources, referrals, and collaborations.
Leverage Technology To Improve The Customer Experience
There are a variety of ways that you can leverage technology to improve your customer experience, including:
- Streamline processes with automation and artificial intelligence (AI). For example, AI can help automate tasks like collecting customer data or sending automated emails. A study by PwC states that 54% of high-level executives strongly believe that their businesses are already benefiting and getting better productivity with AI solutions. They are using these AI solutions to:
- Automate complex processes that were not possible with older technology.
- Establish data from historical trends.
- Generate future strategies that strengthen business decisions.
- Provide more personalized service with chatbots and artificial intelligence. Chatbots and AI allow you to offer personalized service without having humans intervene in every interaction between your company and online inquiries. It means quick responses from the marketing department when needed most, i.e., during peak hours or on holidays, and reduced costs associated with hiring human employees who would otherwise be doing these routine tasks each day.
Outsource Low-Level Tasks And Focus On Big Picture Ideas
Outsourcing is a great way to get more done in your business. Once you’ve hired a team, they must know what parts of the business need their attention and why those tasks matter. According to Zippia, around 300,000 jobs are outsourced annually in the US. The main reason for outsourcing jobs is cost reduction which amounts to a 70% reduction in the total cost. Approx 66% of the large companies and 24% of small businesses outsource their work to increase the efficiency of their business. The outsourcing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4% from 2021 to 2025.
Outsourcing small tasks: For instance, if you need someone to design your logo, you can outsource the work to a freelance designer or a web design company. It will be better than hiring a permanent designer in your company. However, you should be clear about what information you will provide to the logo designer, like the name of the company, its tagline, a mascot, or a slogan.
You can also use this strategy when working with freelancers on projects, such as content writing or graphic design. For example, if someone wants to write an article for your website, tell them to start researching topics for small businesses like yours. Then, suggest general areas where readers might be interested in learning about those subjects. Like this, they can start immediately without wasting time searching around, looking for good ideas on their own first, which would slow down their productivity even more.
Fund Your Business
You’ll need to get funding from somewhere. If you don’t have the money, ask for it. You can also use your credit cards or take out a loan from a bank or other financial institution to fund your business start-up costs.
Manage Your Cash Flow
You need to manage your cash flow to keep your business running. When you don’t have enough money coming in, you won’t be able to pay your employees or suppliers, which can cause your customers to lose faith in you.
Improper fund management or a lack of working capital is the major hurdle for small businesses. Unfortunately, it may also lead to a permanent closure of your business. However, you can overcome this hurdle by applying the ‘Working Capital‘ formula.
What is Working Capital?
Working Capital is the short-term measurement of a company’s financial health or operational efficiency. Your company’s working capital can be calculated simply by subtracting the current liabilities of your company from its current assets.
Working Capital = Current Assets – Current Liabilities
For example, if the current assets of the company amount to $ 2,00,000 and current liabilities amount to $1,200,00, the working capital would be:
$2,00,000 – $1,20,000 = $80,000
Working Capital = $80, 000
Every small business must ensure that the working capital is always positive. It means the company has enough resources to cover its short-term debts and invest for betterment. While a negative working capital means the business does not have enough resources to pay for its current liabilities. In such a case, the business must be funded immediately.
Have Operational Control
The best way to ensure that your small business is on track for growth and success is to have full operational control. When you have operational control, you can ensure that your company will meet its goals and objectives by ensuring everyone involved in the process understands their roles and responsibilities.
Know Your Business Model
A clear vision for your business goes beyond just knowing what services or products it provides; it also includes understanding how those products or services fit into the marketplace. Knowing this information will help you to make decisions about pricing, marketing strategies, customer service practices, etc. It will ultimately determine how successful your business is at accomplishing its goals and objectives.
Additionally, companies need to transmit their vision to the entire team. Team alignment software cascades your company’s strategy to everyone. It also allows you to assign specific objectives to individual people, teams, and entire departments. This helps improve communication and build accountability across your organization. Having everyone understand the company’s goals and how they contribute to them is essential for a successful business.
Know Your Competitors And How To Differentiate
It’s important to know your competitors and how you can differentiate. It’s also important to understand what your competitors are doing and what they’re not doing. Understanding your competitors and why they’re in business will help you better understand your opportunities. For example, if one of your competitors is charging more than you for similar products or services, it may be an opportunity for you to price-match them or undercut them by offering a discount.
Build The Right Team
A good team will make all the difference to your business’s success. The key skills for a good team are:
- Being able to work together effectively and in harmony,
- Being able to communicate clearly with one another,
- Having the ability to problem solve effectively and,
- Having respect for each other.
How do you find these people?
It depends on the needs of your business at that time. Many options are available, including hiring from within your network of friends, family, or colleagues who may already have skills in some areas. In addition, you can look through job postings on websites, reach out directly via social media, and message or email someone you think would be interested in working with you. You can even use headhunting services if necessary.
Conclusion
The tips mentioned above will help you plan for the future of your business. Start with these tips and then create more strategies for yourself based on the needs of your business and the problems you face as a small business owner. While it’s always good to keep an eye on what other businesses are doing, remember that every business is unique and has different needs. Take time to figure out what works best for you and your company before implementing new strategies or tactics.
