For a business to remain in existence, it has to grow. In today’s environment, this is easier said than done. There are global pandemics like COVID-19. Political and economic instability is at an all-time high. There are also issues with our environment.
Still, start-ups can take the right measures to ensure customer acquisition, sales revenue, and profitability. Let us take a look at three of them.
Build a Strong Online Presence
We live in the age of the internet, an age in which there is an overflow of information available to all of us. Because of this, many times we find ourselves overwhelmed, not knowing how to discern what is useful to us and what should be discarded.
From a business perspective, the internet has placed all companies on a level playing field. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or how old your firm is. Any business can build a website, open a few social media accounts, and create a blog.
But not all websites are created equal. Neither are social media accounts and blogs. Some are visually stunning but lack the necessary information to attract customers. Others have too much information and forget the simple fact that the internet is a primarily visual medium. Finally, a third group falls into the category of those with great content, amazing visuals, but lacking a clear promotional strategy.
In these cases, it is best to hire the services of an online advertising agency. There are many benefits to outsourcing your digital marketing. First, it is cost-efficient. You can leave this area to the hands of experts instead of spending money learning it. Second, it is time-saving. You can focus on your core business and not the effort it takes to promote it online.
Provide Excellent Customer Service
No matter how big or well-known your company is, the customer still has a choice. A person who has been eating McDonald’s for 20 years can one day be fed up with the unfriendly waitress at their local shop and switch to Burger King. An avid iPhone user and enthusiast can change to Samsung or Huawei if their expectations are not met.
Even though this sounds obvious, many companies fail to recognize that customer loyalty is not a given. If you want to keep your existing clientele and eventually grow it, you have to work for it. You can’t rest on the laurels of brand recognition, company reputation, or the name of your CEO.
But what is excellent customer service? What does it represent?
It is many things including:
- Providing a genuine smile every time a person walks into your shop.
- Adding a warm greeting to that smile.
- Not waiting for the customer to ask questions but rather offering to help.
- Apologizing with sincerity when you make a mistake.
- Giving value to customer feedback and following-up when you promise to do so.
- Treating the customer as a partner, not a number on your bottom line.
- Providing customized service, not a cookie-cutter technique.
These are all things you can do without much effort that yield excellent results.
Be Adaptable to Change
The great Bruce Lee once said, “Notice that the stiffest tree is the one most easily cracked while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”
It is not only martial artists and ballet dancers who need flexibility. All businesses do too. Without change, there is no improvement. If you can’t adapt to the times in which you live, they will leave you behind.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings started his business as a DVD rental shop. When he saw that the industry was changing, he had the vision to stream movies and TV shows online. At present, Netflix is the biggest, most profitable streaming service in the world.
When digital photography plunged into the market, companies like Kodak had to file for bankruptcy. Now, Kodak is coming back with its own type of cryptocurrency, KodakCoin.
So, how can your business adapt? Where can you start? The answer is by looking at your core and your capabilities. If you sell organic food, you already know food processing and packaging. An idea would be to look into delivery. If your business is the manufacturing of phones, you can expand into phone peripherals like wireless chargers and power banks.
Growing a business is not easy to do. Those who have managed to do it have achieved success through hard work, resilience, luck, and countless failures.
But it’s not impossible either. If you have a strong online presence, provide exceptional customer service, and are open to change, your firm will have already taken the first step to prosperity.