Learn six simple tricks to help you grow your small business and break free from small thinking.

Starting your own business is undoubtedly exciting and overwhelming in equal measure: there’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when sales start rolling in. But after that initial flurry of sales, interest can quickly dry up.

Psst, remember to ‘pin me’ for later (-:

And that’s incredibly common with new small businesses. But, it might be less of a problem with your product offering and more of an issue with the way you’re running your new enterprise.

When we first build our business ventures, it’s easy to see it only as a small business. Yet, there comes the point when we have to start thinking bigger. Because thinking small is holding you back.

Build a Strong Brand & Consumer Connection

Customers are the lifeblood of any business. And that’s especially true when you’re selling physical or digital products and services. From selling your artistic skills to peddling goods, you need customers on your side.

The best way to retain existing customers and attract new ones is to connect with them in more ways than one, aka conversing with them. It also means connecting with their habits. You can’t wait around for them to come to you with the key to unlocking the market. You have to seek out that key actively.

Actionable Advice:

Make a note of where your target market spends their time, what their needs are, and how you can fill them. You can do this with clever website monitoring and some hardcore research.

You can also do it by opening the floor for customer conversations. 

Having conversations means building lasting relationships with people, generating repeat business and brand loyalty: everything your small business needs to grow.

Marketing vs Selling: Learn the Difference 

Getting a handle on marketing your new business well is a sure-fire way to elevate it to the next level. But marketing and selling are two different things. And far too often, you see companies constantly trying to sell their goods and services on social media. Rather than using the platform to market themselves and tell a brand story that customers resonate with and get behind.

Actionable Advice:

A robust content marketing strategy can skyrocket your venture. You always want marketing that provides some sort of value to your customers. Documents that are easily digestible and give them an insight into your company are invaluable.

And that’s because it builds a relationship with the consumer. If that consumer feels part of your business, they’ll look to you as someone they can trust.

Get Yer Business Networking On

Networking will open so many doors for you. These relationships are generally built on a ‘you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours’ basis, but they work. Getting yourself down to networking events helps you connect with other small business owners who need your services.

If you start networking purely for new customers, then you’re passing up a mountain of opportunities. Other businesses can give you access to services that you need to grow your enterprise. And a robust business-to-business relationship can lead to organic (and free) marketing on their end. Meaning you’ll reach a new customer base.

Actionable Advice:

Remember to give back as much (or even more) to the group as you receive when you can. Nobody likes someone who takes every business opportunity given and never gives a referral, advice, or anything back to their fellow networkers.

Cultivate Customer Loyalty

Customers are the gateway to growing small businesses. So cultivating loyalty is something you’ll want to invest time in achieving. And customer loyalty generally starts with excellent customer service. People who have an enjoyable experience with you will shout about it. And they will come back with repeat business.

Ensure that your website is built correctly and is user-friendly, so the whole experience is seamless. And make sure your contact information is easy to find. If customers have a negative experience, that’ll be compounded if they can’t figure out how to get a resolution. You can flip a bad review into a good one if customers can have the issue rectified efficiently.

Actionable Advice:

Loyalty doesn’t stop there, though. Once customers commit to showing you dedication, it’s time for you to reward it. Often companies only reward new customers. And while that’s a brilliant way to maximise footfall. You need to reward existing customers too. Otherwise, a different company will offer them a better deal, and they’ll stray.

Don’t Be Scared To Crunch Those Numbers.

Number crunching isn’t exactly a fun activity. But it offers you tremendous insight into how your small business is performing. Numbers will tell you which products do well, which don’t, what people spend time on and what’s being rebought quicker than you can stock the shelves.

Actionable Advice:

So you can see how important the numbers are. This is where you can get some clever management software that will crunch the numbers for you. Or if you’re a dab hand at it yourself, you can give it a whirl.

Whichever way you do it, it’s just crucial that it gets done. The numbers show where to put your energy and what to leave by the wayside.

A Growing Business Means a Growing Team

There comes the point where your small business can’t function with only a few team members behind the wheel. And that’s most likely because you’re not a small business anymore. Yay!

When this becomes the case, it’s time to hire. But you want to hire the right people. So you need to be asking them the right questions. Each person you hire will form an integral part of your workforce. Meaning they need to share the same vision as you. And that’s a priority.

Actionable Advice:

Two tricks to hiring the right way are first, hire people who have skills that you don’t. Everyone should bring something to the table. And while you might be able to give everything a go, it pays to have an expert in their area.

Secondly, make a checklist of the sort of traits you want in the new hire. These traits should be absolutely imperative for cultivating the kind of culture you want your business to have over the long haul.

FIN

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