Top Tips for Small Business Owners
1. Stay organised
Keep proper documentation, embrace good time management, and automate repeatable tasks
2. Learn to be flexible
Agile businesses can quickly pivot in response to changing market conditions, while the slow movers struggle not to become obsolete. Don’t be too wedded to your own opinions and be willing to change course if your current approach isn’t working for you
3. Automate as many things as possible
Automating repeatable tasks saves time and ensures small things don’t fall through the cracks. For example Use your CRM tool to automatically follow up with new contacts within 24 hours or send emails to new leads who visit your website. Use accounting software to automate your day-to-day bookkeeping so you don’t waste time on data entry.
4. Maintain a personal touch
Small businesses are uniquely positioned to offer a personal touch — especially if you have a small team or run the company yourself. Handwritten thank-you notes go a long way. Or, you can include a simple gift alongside the purchase or offer freebies or discounts in exchange for reviews.
5. Protect your intellectual property
For a small business, this means protecting things like designs, business ideas and trade secrets. If a competitor tries to copy your product, they can erode your market share and damage your reputation. Always seek professional advice if registering a trademark or a patent
6. Have a great website
Your website is the seat of your operations — it’s how new leads discover your products, and, unless you run a physical store, the sole method for people to buy from you. Seek expert advice to ensure you get the branding, the content and the SEO right
7. Create unique content
Post unique photos of your business on social media — people prefer human faces and real, behind-the-scenes footage over stock photos or videos.
Find ways to be authentic, share your expertise and tell the story of your business.
8. Prioritise customer service
In most industries businesses compete on the customer experience rather than the product. Make it easy for your customers to get in touch with a real human on social media, messaging apps, email or even by phone.
A small business should be accessible. Always keep your customers informed of the process and manage their expectations accordingly.
If customers do complain, use active listening to understand their pain points, investigate the root cause and offer a resolution that matters to them.
Great customer service increases the lifetime value of your customers and helps attract and retain new customers. In fact, 86% of consumers say a good customer experience can turn them from one-time buyers to loyal customers.
9. Study your competitors
Your competitors know something you don’t and vice versa. Studying your competitors helps you define your competitive edge while finding your weaknesses relative to your rivals.
10. Be passionate about your business
Never lose sight of why you went into business in the first place — perhaps you had a niggling idea that kept you up at night, you noticed a gap in the market or you wanted to share your expertise by offering your services to businesses or individuals who need it. Be prepared to weather the ups and downs of running a business and never give up. Running a business should be rewarding. It should be a chance to realize your passion, achieve financial independence and spend more time with your fa, Jezmily if those things are important to you.
It won’t seem like that in the beginning when you’re putting in 70-hour weeks to keep things afloat, but your hard work will pay off.
And as I was putting this together, I realised we have a lot of experts on tap in this group to help us achieve a lot of these objectives:
Steve, Jo, Leon, Kyle, Ruth, Darren, Nathan, Penny, Dave, Nick, Jez spring to mind. It’s what networking is all about
