While there are plenty of tips all over the internet for small businesses, few are aimed at the business owner. As a business owner, sometimes you have take a step back and look at yourself in the mirror – and decide if you are making decisions for yourself or for your small business. Here are five proven strategies:
- Be unique. Have a unique product or service offering, or a point of view that your competition does not. Your offering must stand out and have its own point of view that is uniquely yours. If your potential customers cannot distinguish between your product or service and that of your competitor’s, as the new person in the marketplace you will probably not get the sale. Remember that consumer expectations today are heavily influenced by the larger players who have established a track record for what they are offering and how they deliver what the consumer expects.
- The problem is probably you. Management experts will often tell you that 90% of all problems are management problems. This means when things are not going well, the first place to look for answers is by looking into the mirror at yourself and trying to figure out where you went wrong.
- Take care of your star performers and know that you cannot fire bad performers fast enough. This goes for every company, regardless of size. The cost of losing a star employee can be enormous, yet many business owners rarely take the time to ensure their top performers are properly compensated, motivated and challenged to their true potential. Always remember that your employees are not your children, your personal assistants or your ‘shrink’ – so always keep it professional. If you use and abuse them, you will come to regret it and lose those star staffers.
- Always be on your customers’ minds. Whether it is on social media or regularly-sent newsletters, you want be constantly engaging your customers with your brand and your unique selling points. Show genuine enthusiasm. Why should your customer be excited about your product if you aren’t? In order to engage your customers for the long term, you have to believe that your product is just as engaging.
- You don’t know what you don’t know. Humility is a powerful trait for business owners and managers – and that also applies to new business owners, veteran CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, as well as those in between. More often than not, you will come to regret thinking you knew all the answers after a problem has occurred. This is why you need to surround yourself with experts and professionals that can help deliver the answers. Behind every failed business are often dysfunctional, delusional, or incompetent business owners and leaders.
Let’s explore number 5 a little bit more. If you do not know anything about book keeping or accounting, why would you try to do it yourself, when you can hire someone to do it for you? Just like managing an office, if you are not sure how to set up and manage an office space, why not let the experts at an office business centre help you. By renting an office at a serviced office business centre, you do not have to worry about buying office furniture, office equipment (like photocopiers, fax machines or a telephone system). You will also have more time to take care of your business priorities. The other great thing about renting offices in a business centre is that there are plenty of opportunities for natural networking with other tenants who may need your products or services.