No business attribute is more important today as that of adaptability, as many, many businesses are on the brink of irrelevance … unless they change as fast as change itself. You need to have and try many creative business ideas as often as possible and implement these factors for small business success.
Your strategies for success do run out of steam, get old and become ineffective. You need to keep refreshing them based on your anticipation of the next change.
Building a small business for failure? Certainly not. But results show much more failures than successes. In 7 out of 8 industry sectors.
Related: Need Help Building a Small Business That Delivers Results?
From a November 2012 article by Scott Shane, his results showed a services sector rate of success of 47% and a retail sector success rate of 41%. For businesses started in 2005. Not very success oriented, eh?
Why may you ask? Many reasons. Two of the top reasons … poor cash flow planning and not enough capital resources.
So what other actions can a small business take to improve its success besides having more cash as a safety net? Consider these 44 small business success tips to use to improve your business:
It is always a good idea to have a helpful checklist for reminders of improvements for your business. Here is one of the several checklists that I find helpful:
Knowing, understanding, and caring about your customer is … Rule #1
Always put your people first … they ARE your business
Be a talent hound … put a priority on finding the best people
Everyone is a marketer and … everything is marketing
Creating ‘WOW’ customer experiences … creates the best marketing
Establish and maintain clear value propositions
Be social and create conversations with customer … it’s all about customer relationships
Be adaptable … be a change agent … anticipate and embrace change
Make listening, observing, and continuous learning the centerpieces … your team’s core competencies
Keep it simple … in everything you do
Ideal customers
You can’t be a business that is all things to all people. Do you know who you target customers are? Your ideal customers? If not, you need to get busy.
Customer value
Look for customer value in places you might not expect to find it. Have you thought about building synergistic alliance and relationships with other businesses? Relationships that create customer value that neither business could create on their own?
Consistency
Look to provide customer service that stands out consistently. Deliver that consistency always.
Customer follow-up
Promptly follow up with your customers will be noticed. Go the extra mile. And always, always, always keep your promises.
Little things
How many times have you surprised customers by doing little things that were not expected?
Here is a customer success story as an example. My favorite florist always insists on taking my vase of flowers out to my car and setting it up so it won’t get knocked over. Consistently. A little thing, yes. But it makes a difference to me.
Remember, the more you engage with customers, the more you can own the moment. And the better your understanding of their needs and from these insights the easier it is for you to win new customers.
Focused business plan
It’s not clear to us why business plans are the way they are, but they’re often focused on too many things. If you want to maximize success, the key is to focus on five topics. We recommend dividing the business plan into these five sections:
- Competitive analysis
- Market research and analysis
- Marketing plan
- Financial plan and cash flow
- Short versus long term
Creator of change
Be a creator of change. Watch for trends in the market and what your customers are doing. Stay ahead of the change curve by adapting before you have to. Remember the status quo is usually your worst enemy.
Network for support
Find local business leaders that can exchange ideas and support your thinking on a day to day activities. Activities like being a sounding board, idea generation, and offering lessons learned. They often see solutions that you can’t see. You can do the same for them. Create a large network and make it social … like a casual advisory board.
Work on right things
Sounds trivial, doesn’t it? But you would be amazed at how many of our clients have their priority lists inverted. Or work on things that should be ignored.
Trust your intuition
Tackle real problems on behalf of your customers, many of which may challenge the status quo. Be curious. Experiment on a small scale often and learn. Place lots of small bets to see what will work best. Don’t be afraid of unconventional paths.
Don’t get totally consumed
Be a team player … caring about your employees. Delegate and empower them to act on your behalf. Remember that you can’t do everything or be everywhere. Learn to back away occasionally. Maybe an afternoon … sometimes for a day. Find a balance between work and life that works for you.
Gain customer insights
Unlike big companies, a small business gives you the opportunity to interact with customers on a daily basis. Make use of these interactions by gaining a better knowledge of their wants and needs. Ask good questions, listen carefully, and take notes. You will be amazed at how eager many are to help and assist you in learning. Customer insights are one of your most valuable assets.
Build on these enablers, and you will find success … status quo is most often your greatest danger.
Need some help in finding ways to grow your customers? Such as creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers? Or perhaps finding ways to work with other businesses?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of collaborative innovation. And put it to good use in adapting to changes in your business environment.
It’s up to you to keep improving your learning and experience with innovation and creativity efforts. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Are you devoting enough energy to improving your continuous learning for yourself and your team?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.
Check out these additional articles on business and its performance from our library:
The Business Intelligence Process Part 3 Competitive Analysis
Competitive Growth Strategy … the Story of In-N-Out Burger