- Have goals – it sounds simple but you’d be surprised how many businesses don’t have clear goals, which outline their mission and the reason behind their very existence. If you have clear and precise goals in mind this will help you to keep your business on track and see how you are doing over time
- Put your customers first – this goes without saying. Always try to put yourself in your customers’ shoes and make sure you are giving them what they want. So, for example, if you have a website, does that website provide all of the information a customer would expect to see from you? Is it easy for them to get in touch with you? Are details of your location made available so that they can find you? Do you look after your customers and provide good customer service? Are there any areas you could improve within your business to make your customers happier?
- Make a list – it can sometimes seem overwhelming when you look at everything you need to get done in a day so it can help to make a list of tasks and break things down into more manageable, bite-size chunks. If you can prioritise and focus on the tasks that are revenue generating then that’s even better. Being able to cross something off your to do list can be quite satisfying and makes it easier for you to see that progress is being made
- Stay informed – don’t operate your business blindly. Make sure you have a handle on key metrics such as incoming and outgoings. Know who your competitors are and keep on top of what they are doing too – a good way to do this is to check whether they have business profiles on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter or Google+ etc. Also, use free tools too to help you stay on top of other useful and important metrics such as visits to your website (using Google Analytics) or to keep track of how you are doing on social media, you can use a tool called Hootsuite. No need to go overboard and get analysis paralysis. Instead, try to check what’s happening in your business on a monthly basis to measure your success. If you find that you’re not making the kind of inroads that you’d hope for, at least you are aware of it and can address the problem
- Dedicate time every day to your emails to manage your inbox. It is easy to become distracted by emails constantly coming in and flooding your inbox but try to set aside a time each day to look at them and respond. It also helps to have folders to file emails in and refer to as need be rather than let them all sit in your inbox and add to the clutter.
The tips above will hopefully be of value to you as a Small Business Owner. Feel free to share with others who you feel will benefit from the tips too. Sharing is caring remember J