Run a small business? It can be hard juggling all the responsibilities. But you’re not alone. We want to help so we’ve prepared some top tips to help you grow your business.
Being a marketing and business strategy business specialising in small businesses, we understand what you’re going through and thinking. In fact, our strategists have experience working directly in or managing their own successful start-ups and small businesses.
We’ve prepared these top tips using our years of experience, and the insights we have from working closely with many small business operators across Australia.
1. Good Systems = Efficiency
One of the most important things to look to implement early are good, scalable systems and processes with which can grow as your business grows. These systems are important as it provides and easy to teach and manage structure as you grow. It also prevents a range of issues when staff leave, or you need to do more important tasks.
These systems can include things like CRM systems for managing your databases, so you can keep track of potential customers and interact with them. Systems can also be non-software related. These include processes that allow you to provide for a ‘system’ to manage different parts of the business. You could have processes for managing customers, processing sales, managing compliance, managing risk.
The more detailed the process, the better it will be for ensuring it is complied with by your staff, and this will allow you to provide a more consistent approach when dealing with different stakeholders.
2. Data | You can’t manage what you can’t measure
In order to make the best decisions for your business, you need to know the numbers. Tracking the data is one part of the process, knowing what data does what and how to interpret it is the next. There are a number of ways to do this, and having the right systems in place that can automate a large part of this for you. It also requires good processes, ensuring that the right data is entered to allow you to undergo this process.
For example, a Sales CRM is an incredibly useful tool. This can track where your customers come from, what times they interact with you, their product or service interest, and many more. But for this to be effective, you need proper processes to ensure your staff are entering in this data correctly. From here, you can draw inferences which can allow you to chance the way you target with your marketing, and also learn more about your customers so you can tailor your products and the way you talk to them.
3. Planning. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
It may sound simple to say, but if you want your business to grow, you need to plan for it to be so. Prepare yourself by creating an action plan with your medium to long term goals, and break these down into chunks based on the different departments that need to take action to achieve this high level goals. From there, build a plan for each department with different goals to reach these department goals.
From here, you can break them down further into short term goals, each needing to be fulfilled to eventually ladder up to your main business goals. By doing this, you break your overall goals into bite sized chunks, much easier to digest. This makes your goals seem not as farfetched, but rather achievable and manageable.
Make sure to follow this plan. Build your business around it accordingly. If you need to change your systems and processes, don’t hesitate. The earlier you begin, the easier it will become.
4. Invest in your growth
This can often be the hardest pill to swallow. Often, you want to grow your business to make more money. But the reality is that you need to spend money to make money. In many cases, failing to do so will cause your growth to be slower or unachievable. But the reality is that careful investment in the right places will make your goals come to life.
A great example of this is marketing. You can’t sell a secret. You may have the best product or service in the marketplace, but you need people to know about. Especially as you look to grow your business. You need to invest in the right avenues to quickly let people know about you and your business.
We must reiterate, it’s easy to waste money on the wrong things when growing. So choose carefully and wisely.
5. Strategise for the most effective way to your goals
You’ve got a plan, and a budget for investment, now stop and review everything you’ve done so far. Look at your systems. Think about where they will be in 5 years time. Will they still be effective? Or can you see any potential impediments once you get bigger. Look at the plan again. Are you taking too many detours and being ineffective?
You want to try to find the quickest way to your goals, but not just the quickest, you don’t want to cut corners. It’s a fine line, you need the right balance. You want your methods to be efficient. Review your short term goals, and tailor them as you go to be the most effective way to reach your long term goals.
6. Keep true to yourself and your business
You want to grow your business because you’ve achieved some success already. And that’s because you’re doing something right. It’s also important to make sure that as you grow, you keep true to what made your business so great already. Whether’s its your products, or your level of service, find ways within your growth strategy to keep to these, or even improve them. This means you don’t lose control of where you are going, and ensure that people gravitate toward your business for the reasons you know it’s great.
Growing your business can be both exciting and daunting, but with the right strategy in place, you can make it easier on yourself. You also don’t have to do it alone! We work with small businesses like yourself and help you build this strategy and implement it to ensure you can make your goals come to life! Want to know more? Get in touch using the form located conveniently below!