“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
– Steve Jobs
It may interest you to know that there are more than 400 million small-medium enterprises in the world that are acting as the backbone of the world’s economy. With every progressive year, these SMEs are becoming more financially strong while acting as a source of income and employment for millions of people around the world.
As a result, the world saw a 60 to 70% employment hike from more than 95% of the small or mid-sized enterprises running worldwide. Now, this global stat seems to be enough to disclose the rising demand for small and medium-sized businesses.
Whereas running an SME comes with a lot of perks to cherish, but at the same time, you need to look at the challenges it comes with. If you consider having a seamless business managing experience, you need to surf through some must-to-dos for your starting venture.
Manage cash – Many business owners tend to consider lack of profits as the reason for declining business growth. Whereas when you wake up to this world’s realities, you see bankruptcy as the root cause behind it. Here, you need to maintain the cash flow and dig into the cash planning measures the most. Ask yourself a few questions like –
- How long does it usually take to pay you?
- How much should you have in your hand all the time?
- Do you purchase inventory for your business? If yes, then how often?
- Is your business processes relying on supplies that vary in price in the marketplace?
Asking yourself these questions will help you clear a lot of aspects in your head.
Engage in e-mediums – When the world is moving forward to digitization, then why stick to those traditional ways? Develop and implement a financial plan made using electronic mediums or platforms.
Rely on lean planning – Planning can work as an on-going tool that comes with assumptions about your business. Use lean planning to identify and understand financial business assumptions quickly. This can help you keep track of business results while improving the credit line to a considerable extent.
IT support – No matter how technically sound you are, you would always require to involve an expert to brace the business’s IT infrastructure. Probably that’s why small business IT support services are quite high in demand these days. It encompasses almost everything from software management to IT managed services. Besides making your business operations run smoothly, it helps to strengthen online data security as well.
Have a recruitment strategy – Every business deserves and desires to have a robust recruitment strategy that speaks for your business progress. No matter you run an IT company or a manufacturing firm, manpower is the key to attaining success at its best. Therefore, make sure to align your business goals and needs with the human resources department to see how you can bring that much-required difference.
Have a business strategy consultant – Business strategy consultants like Scaling Partners are hired by companies, which are looking to grow their business. The business strategy consultants can use strategies such as new product development, marketing communications, distribution channels, customer management etc.
Know the margin in your services and products – This would require you to undergo thorough research. Study the standards and past records of the domain you belong with. Fetch information about your competitors too, if possible. Know the standard rates and margin in the product and services already available in the market. And then amend your product or service charges accordingly.
One of the best ways to do so is to alter or upgrade your services to demand an accelerated service charge. For instance – a business selling burgers in the city comes with an offer to serve complimentary fries at the purchase of two or more burgers. Such smart offers can help you tenfold the profit margin extensively.
Get your hands on marketing – We live in the age of digital marketing thus can’t remain untouched by its impact. Marketing gets interesting when you use the right approach while keeping your business reputation in mind. Look for different phases of marketing like – paid marketing, social media advertising, search engine marketing, and much more. Before going for any type of marketing campaign, make sure to find out which works the best for your business type.
Communicate the most – You may find it time-consuming and unnecessary, but initiating a conversation with the customers via multiple channels like – email, online portal, or social media platforms can prove fruitful for your business. This ensures the customers that you care for them. Talk to the customers, find out more about their needs, expectations and fetch feedback to improve your services or product quality.
Simplify the process for customers – No customer would want to undergo a hectic and complex process for the sake of buying or availing your product or service, respectively. Maybe that’s why businesses are looking forward to sorting the process of availing of product or service. Make use of AI (artificial intelligence) to fasten up the process. For instance – you can create an online portal saving the vital details of the customer/client for future references like card details, address, contact details, and much more.
Never compromise on creativity – Unique ideas can be treated as the base of any business. Therefore, make sure you are always ready with a kick-ass idea to stand out different in the crowd. While you do this, don’t forget to keep the business domain trends and demands in mind.
The bottom line is,
Starting a small-scale business is easier as compared to running it at an optimal growth rate. There are several factors to consider if you desire to make your business the new hotshot of the town. From using the right approach to enrolling the remarkable resources for the best of your business progress, there are several aspects to keep in mind. If you tend to see a notable change in your business operations and progress, give a try to the above-mentioned measures.
