Growing your small business can be an overwhelming journey, especially if you’re a new entrepreneur.
After all, the basic operations to keep your business running is a different, stressful story. It’s one thing to learn how to set up your online or brick & mortar shop, but growing it and increasing your sales can be trickier to figure out.
What should you consider improving to help you accelerate your small business’ growth?
Here are 5 factors you should know to help you grow!
1. Customer Loyalty
When it comes to growing your small business, most entrepreneurs think the only solution is to gain as much exposure & followers as possible. But while big numbers on your analytics page are great, the views, likes, followers, and even the people that go through your door don’t always mean you have loyal customers.
According to Oracle, “Customer loyalty describes an ongoing emotional relationship between you and your customer, manifesting itself by how willing a customer is to engage with and repeatedly purchase from you versus your competitors.
Introducing your business to new customers is important. But you should also focus on making sure they come back for more. Your customers should also love doing business with you.
And that means more than buying your products and services. It includes the way you or staff interact with them online and offline, how your products were delivered, how your shop looks, and more. It includes the way you engage and interact with your customers before, during, and after they do business with you.
When your customers feel how much you appreciate them, they’ll return the love and keep coming back. They’ll even tell other people about your business and help you grow!
2. Smart Adoption of Technology
Whether you have a physical or online shop or both, technology can still help you in many significant ways. Thanks to the wonders of today’s digital age, businesses like yours can now expand their customer reach to all the corners of the world, make work more efficient and quick, as well as develop inventive ways to grow your business.
Here are a few way technology can help your small business:
—- AUTOMATE: Finances, social media posts, scheduling meetings, repetitive tasks, etc.
—- TRACK: Sales, marketing analytics, tasks, events, projects, inventory, etc.
—- EXPAND & FLEXIBILITY: Remote work, customer service, marketing research, etc.
3. Commitment to Employee Training
As a small business, you probably don’t have a lot of employees yet. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make an effort to strengthen and take care of your team.
Training the people behind your small business means more than just showing them how to do things. It also means giving them guidance when they need it, helping them through difficult tasks, and making sure they’re always aligned with their goals.
It also means showing support for their needs at work, helping them be effective and productive, and letting them know that you care about their well-being.
When your team starts to grow & tasks get more overwhelming, it’s better to have dependable people who understand the ins and outs of your business or their department to help you train others and keep your business running.
After all, growing your small business also means expanding the group of people that can support your growth and take care of your customers as well as you do.
4. Social responsibility
According to Investopedia, social responsibility is “the principle that, in addition to pursuing profit generation, corporations should strive to act in a way that positively affects society and the world.”
These days, more and more businesses are embracing the concept of being “socially responsible” and using their products, services, social reach, or business models to benefit society as a whole, specific groups of people or causes, or the environment.
And as a small business, you can do your part too. Being socially responsible doesn’t always mean donating millions of dollars to charity or leading thousands of people to support a cause. In your own simple ways, you can use your business to make a positive impact.
For example, you can:
—– Use or create environmentally friendly products.
—– Encourage your team to support or volunteer for a cause.
—– Donate a portion of your profits to charity.
—– Start a small campaign within your community.
—– Partner with a non-profit organization.
—– Help organizations spread awareness about different issues that impact our world and society.
5. Good leadership
A good business owner is also a good leader.
Growing your small business takes more than just marketing plans, good sales techniques, and excellent customer service. As the owner, you also have the responsibility of leading your team and helping them succeed along with you.
Aside from training your team and showing them the ropes, a good leader should also, among others, know how to:
—– Properly delegate each task.
—– Ignite each team member’s potential.
—– Provide practical support for the team.
—– Guide them through challenges and difficult tasks.
—– Help them develop their skills.
With a good leader guiding your team and running your business, your work becomes more fulfilling, efficient, and worthwhile.
Resources from the blog:
10 Meaningful Ways to Show Love for Your Team
10 Meaningful Ways of Showing Customers Some Love
Hiring the Right Candidate for Your Team: 5 Tips You Should Know
7 Essential Tasks to Start the Year Off Right for Your Business
The Small Business Guide to Planning & Goal Setting
Words Have Power: How Google Reviews Impact Your Business
Growing your small business is not easy, especially if you’re trying to do everything on your own.
But you don’t have to! The Biz Spa has an excellent team of marketing experts, writers, designers, and other creatives to help you grow your small business without the overly loaded plate and burnout.