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 simple small business tips as often as possible and implement them for business success.
Your strategies on 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.
Check out our thoughts on team leverage.
Building a small business for failure? Certainly not. But results show many more failures than successes. In 7 out of 8 industry sectors.
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 you may 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:
Competitive advantages
Quite simply, if you can’t build and sustain competitive advantages, don’t start the business. Best places to look for advantages? Customer service and convenience. Find ways to save customers more time in solving their problems than your competitors.
Customer relationships
Build customer relationships as you make friends. Be pleasant, social … wear a smile and a nametag. All things being equal, people like doing business with their friends. Not very good at making friends? Maybe a small business is not for you.
Memorable experiences
Create memorable experiences for your customers. Keep in mind that work is a theater and business is a stage. Memorable experiences are the best way to get customers to talk favorably about your business. And the word of mouth marketing is the best way to market your business.
Take a stand
Pick a topic that is backed by many in your community. Become a good backer through your time and expertise. Make more friends with your active participation. Doing this will add another great plank to your brand.
Ideal customers
You can’t be a business that is all things to all people. Do you know who your 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 a 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.
Small business tips and tricks … 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
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.
Business tips of the day … 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.
Small business tips … 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.
Don’t hold back
Tell people about your ideas. Get feedback from customers, suppliers, and even your competitors. Talk with anyone who seems interested. Many will be both willing and able to offer ideas and advice.
Have fun
You need to wear your enthusiasm and passion always. And here’s the thing. You really can’t be enthusiastic and show passion if you aren’t having fun. The key is to stay the course, with an even keel, and enjoy the ride.
Be a multiplier
Multiplier business managers know that at the apex of the intelligence hierarchy is NOT the lone genius.
Rather, it is the genius who knows the importance of bringing out the smarts and capabilities in everyone in the team.
Build connections
Both managers and employees know their job with their teams is about building lots of connections. They make people feel they have a stake in common problems.
Encourage feedback
It is vital that you let your team know you are interested and will listen to their concerns and ideas and contribute to solutions to any and all problems.
Offer recognition and always share success
Focus on building team confidence by publicly recognizing their efforts and achievements. Think of it this way; anything is possible if you share the glory. Giving others a chance to claim credit is an easy, and effective, way to magnify results.
Communicate clearly and often
Language is a manager’s most powerful tool, whether it is written or oral. Always keep your people informed of team goals, priorities, and schedules. Without the ability to communicate, managers can possess all the other attributes and still fail to have an impact.
Be decisive
One of the key jobs of a businessman is to be an effective decision-maker. Employees are never comfortable with managers who make slow decisions and frequently change their minds. Quality managers make decisions quickly and stick with them.
Provide sound guidance
Be available with your staff members and show interest in their career development within the business. Don’t hesitate to offer guidance along the way.
Building and maintaining trust
Always do what you say and set good examples. Demand from yourself the same level of professionalism and dedication that you expect from others.
Trust, once broken, is seldom restored to its original state. It is the most fragile yet essential attribute of leadership and management.
Show customer obsession
The best businesses start with the customer and work backward. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.
Be long-term focused
Employees need to consider themselves as owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. Encourage this.
Let them act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job.”
Innovate and adapt to change
Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here.” As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.
Listen to all
The most successful business leaders are right a lot. They have strong business judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.
Hire and develop the best
Businesses should raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent and will move them throughout the organization. Businesses develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others.
Set and maintain the highest standards
The best businesses have relentlessly high standards — many people may think these standards are unreasonably high. They are continually raising the bar and driving their teams to deliver high-quality products, services, and processes.
These businesses ensure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.
Small business success … dream big
Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Business leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers.
Demonstrate a bias for action
Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. Put a considerable value on calculated risk-taking.
Live with less
Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size, or fixed expense.
Be a continuous learner
The best business leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.
Show respect
Great business people listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing.
Connect at all levels
Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ. No task is beneath them.
Be able to speak direct
The best business people are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. They have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. And once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.
Make commitments and deliver
Business leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.
Present the big picture
Businesses consistently show the team how their projects fit into the larger goals and objectives of the business. You can never be too detailed on communicating the big picture.
Be patient but persistent
Delivering strong business management skills takes time and practice. Seek guidance from mentors, colleagues, your boss, and your network.
Deliver confidence
Having and being able to deliver confidence counts. Most managers are self-confident. The real skill and ability are to extend faith to others. They must be good at recognizing and believing in the talents of others.
Accept learning is never done
You have worked hard to get to this point. Rely on your experience but accept there is still much to learn. Learn from everywhere you can, including your own team.
The bottom line
“I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.”
For some reason, many of us have been conditioned to be more afraid of failure than we are of inaction. However, failure, in addition to being inherently valuable as a learning process, contains within it the chance of success. And no matter how small that chance is, it’s better than the chances of success when we choose not to even try.
The moral of this story is that these small business success lessons should have a great influence on your team development and teamwork. If these different thoughts are possessed by your current management or leadership team, or your emerging leaders, you will be in a good position for the road ahead.
