Starting a business is never easy. When you are new to entrepreneurship, there are challenges every step of the way. On the other hand, maintaining a business may be even more difficult than starting one. In that respect, here are some tips on how to stay in the big leagues as time goes by.
Stay up-to-date
You need to keep all information about your business updated. It may seem silly, but this is a much more demanding task than it first appears. You should always start simple. It is a detail compared to all other things that could be done, but the effects of it are immensely significant and positive. We’ve all been there. Find a business you are interested in, take a look at the working hours and find three different pieces of information on the website, on Google and on Facebook, for instance. How can you know which piece of information is true? This requires taking extra steps to write a direct message or call and ask. This is all unnecessary and tedious which leads to frustration. Next time, you might consider choosing a business that has true hours updated all over the internet. People try to invent all sorts of changes to improve their business and while doing so, they tend to ignore the simple things that make quite a difference.
Work on UX
It is important that your content is user friendly. Being an experienced entrepreneur, it is clear that your own website is comprehensible to you. However, that does not stand for everyone. We get easily carried away with the things we know well and act as if some things go without saying. On the contrary, it is always better to explain thoroughly at the risk of over-explaining than to leave your readers confused. In order to do this well, you would need to be able to perceive your own business objectively. After that, do a complete refactor of all your content. Keep your design simple, don’t let it dominate your content. On the other hand, adjust the content to be short and to the point. Make short tutorial videos, algorithmic images explaining some of the services and processes of your business. Try to make it as comprehensible as possible. Your goal should be that your customers take as little time as possible to understand and use your services. Once you finish, make sure to invite a group of truly objective people that will be the judge of the simplicity and friendliness of your social media.
Optimization is important
Optimizing your website seems redundant at an early stage of developing your business. However, there is a huge cost for ignoring this later on. Young entrepreneurs usually focus on acquiring more and more customers. Even if this is essentially a good thing to happen, there comes a time when your website cannot handle the amount of traffic caused by the popularity of your business. Although having a huge number of users usually means things are going well, it is highly likely it will all go south when your website crashes due to that number of users. Let’s be honest, one of the most frustrating things that can happen during internet browsing is lagging websites. Bad news spreads fast and, as soon as this happens, the majority of your audience will know and many of them will leave to find a more stable business. In order to avoid this horrible outcome, you should invest in responsive web design. This should be done at the very beginning of the development of your business, but anytime before you hit that aforementioned limit is also a good time.
Work on automation
When your SMB hits a certain number of users per day, it is time to introduce some automation. This will probably require you to have a more serious IT department. However, it will enable you to automate all processes related to creating accounts, orders and many other things. You can automate many things. Take a look at some other businesses and their models of automation in order to get inspired for your own. Perhaps you will get some new ideas while learning about similar practices. Your main objective should be to make your own life easier. It is important to have good communication with your IT department and explain your business the best you can.
Value loyalty
New customers are important. However, the ones that bring you steady income and stability are your regular customers. This is why you should hold them in high regard and make sure they know it. Use your automation to keep track of the number of orders from each registered customer. Also, keep track of what type of services they use or what products they buy. Once they hit that magic number that makes them VIP customers, start sending them some special offers and discounts. Send birthday cards and incentives, give suggestions based on their previous orders, offer premium membership with better conditions than usual. Do everything in your power to let these people know that you care about them and that you value them. If they have been with your business until now, these little pieces of special attention are guaranteed to make them stay.
All in all, keeping up with the times is not a simple task. Following these tips will only get you this far, but always staying on top means exactly that – you need to be informed about everything at all times. The main source of power in your domain is knowledge and awareness about the state of the industry. You need to know that being an entrepreneur is not merely a job, but a calling and it has no working hours. It requires continuous learning and constant enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge. Once you become aware of this, there will be no reason to worry about keeping up with trends and nothing will stop you from being the best business person of all times.