By Valrie Grant
Entrepreneur, Managing Director, GeoTechVision
You are one of the bold ones who have started a small business and now you have a lot on the line, all your savings, expectations, and the fact that you suddenly realize that starting the business may have been the easiest part. It is often much harder to run a small business successfully. This shouldn’t stop small business owners from being optimistic about growing and ultimately running a successful business. Running a small business successfully often starts at the planning stage when you are deciding what product or service you will sell, where you will locate the business, etc. It doesn’t stop there, however, as everything from your choice of employees, your customer service policy, the systems you put in place, your accounting practices can influence how successful your business really is.
There are several small regional and local businesses that are successful. How can budding entrepreneurs and small businesses follow their example? Achieving success in business will not happen by chance, you will need to take deliberate steps. Below are some strategies to help small businesses:
Valrie Grant Test the market and identify a real problem that you are solving – You might think that you have a game-changing idea for a new business, but an idea alone isn’t enough to succeed. You must ensure that there is a market need for what you are proposing. Are you solving a real problem? How many persons require this solution? Conduct the research and test the market.
- Establish a clear vision and unique selling point (USP) – What is your vision for the company? Understanding this will help you to put in place the necessary steps to achieve that vision. Further, operating in a crowded marketplace, you’ll need to identify what makes you different to your competitors. What do you do better than anyone else and why people will want to buy from you? In other words, what is your USP? If there is nothing unique about your business model, the competitor with the more established following and reputation will win.
- Have the right attitude – A few weeks ago I wrote about attitude and how it can either make or break you. Attitude governs the way you perceive the world and the way the world perceives you. We all have a choice. We can choose an inner dialogue of self-encouragement and self-motivation, or we can choose one of self-defeat and self-pity. Starting a small business is never easy so you will need a lot of tenacity and self-confidence, as well as a tolerance for an uncertain future and the risk of failure.
- Really understand your customer – You need to know who, where, why, when, what. So where your customers are coming from? Who are your best customers? What are they buying? What do you know about them? What factors do they use to compare you to the competition? Why do they buy from you? When do they typically buy? Beyond this you should recognize that your customer base cannot be everyone, so creating “personas” which are essentially a representation of your typical customer will help you to better understand your customers as well as help you to see the personas who are not buying from you but should be. So now how do you attract them?
- Surround yourself with the right people – It is important to have a team around you that you can trust in judgement and for advice. This team includes employees, suppliers, friends, advisors, mentors who will give you an honest audit of your ideas and overall direction.
- Strive for sustainability in your business – Run your business at a pace that is sustainable. It is important then, to grow your business at a rate that enables you to manage and finance your growth.
- Build your business to last – Grow and build a business so that you can one day finish it and sell if you choose to. Optionally build it so that it can last forever. To do this you need to put systems and procedures in place. You need to think about your governance structure. Apply best practices from your industry and ensure you are meeting international standards. You will need to continuously innovate and stay on the cutting edge.
- Marketing – Many people believe that marketing is the solution to all their small business problems. While marketing is certainly an important part of generating sales, a change in marketing is never the solution to building guest loyalty, repeat business and positive image. Effective marketing then builds upon understanding your customers and how to effectively communicate with them. Identify the ways you can most effectively reach your potential customers and build a boarder customer base. Over the past few years, social media has become a valuable way of how small businesses market themselves and as such this should be included in your marketing mix.
- Get feedback – You may be concerned about asking for feedback because you are afraid of negative feedback but feedback gives an outsider’s perspective. It gives you a chance to understand what your customers like and don’t like and so that you can make any necessary adjustments. Asking for feedback allows your customers to feel important as they recognize that you value their opinions. Think of customer feedback as free advice you are getting from those that matter the most, your customers and use the feedback to continuously improve.
- Financial management – Managing cash is one of the most difficult tasks entrepreneurs usually have. You spend too much money and you will likely run out of money but if you spend too little you may miss opportunities for growth. Knowing the specific costs and returns of each type of business activity gives business owners insights into where to invest time and resources in a business. As you may have often heard, ‘You cannot manage what you do not measure.’ Understanding your business numbers is therefore critical as small changes can make big differences. If you have not been paying attention to your financial statements, start today as they will help you to spot minor issues that can be addressed before they become major. You will also be able to make great business decisions based on accurate information.
So you if you think you have what it takes to run a successful business, take a step back and conduct a quick audit of the strategies you are employing. Put your systems and procedures under the microscope; are they efficient? Listen to your customers and surround yourself with people who will drive your passion for your business. Above all, never underestimate the value of positive attitude and success mindset, as this is what will see you through the struggles and help you to strive for greater success.
If you have a question related to this article or just a general question on entrepreneurship, write to us at guyanabusinesswise@gmail.com. Your question may be addressed directly or in our next article.
