When it comes to growing your business, not only do you have to think about what your customer base is going to light come up, but you’ve also got to think about what you can do to beat out the competition. If you are still relatively new to the world of business, then you might be feeling a little out of your depth.
If this is the case, then let’s talk about it. Here are some super simple business tips that can help you win against the competition.
Concentrate on Leads, Not Sales
Of course, we all want to ultimately make money from our business ventures and create a profit as soon as possible. However, suppose you want to make a profit from your business and come up with a sustainable business plan. In that case, you have to focus on winning over people who can not only turn into customers but lifelong fans.
When you pair optimized web forms with content marketing and email automation that can follow up with your clientele, you’ve got a pretty successful approach to business. This type of strategy can build trust come up because it shows your clients that you are willing to invest in them before they have even made a purchase. The more you focus on creating new leads, the closer you will come to making a profit.
Provide a Solution, Not Just a Product
While you might love your brand’s logo and the idea behind it, rest assured that people out there that could be potential customers aren’t on the lookout specifically for your branch, they are trying to find a solution to their problem, and if they think that your brand can provide it, they will be much more likely to purchase your product.
This is why you need to make sure that you don’t just list all of the advantages of your product. Focus on the solution side of things. Talk to your customer about how your product can help them to achieve a goal or to solve a problem that they have.
Do a bit of market research to work out what your ideal target client is, and then think about how your products can solve their problem and make their life more convenient. If you can prove your product effective enough, then it won’t be hard to find people who will want to purchase it.
Optimize Your Pricing
Giving out discounts too freely doesn’t always mean that you get an increase in sales. However, if you establish yourself as a premium brand, then your clients might not see too much value in it, and giving them discounts codes end up ruining the reputation that you’ve already built.
If your brand is a premium brand, then there is a way to optimize your price points without lowering them. For example, you can offer your clients an exclusive benefit that they get from purchasing your product that they won’t be able to get our swear. You might also want to place your products beside similar options that are more expensive, so you can sell them for RRP without having to shave your margins even further.
Make Sure Your Staff Are Friendly
There’s nothing more off-putting than staff who aren’t friendly towards the customers. While this might sound like a tip that is nothing more than a bit of common sense, it’s really important that you find staff and sales assistants that are willing to work with the client and make sure that they can get everything they need from you.
The friendlier your staff is, the more likely the client will be to purchase your product. Make sure that when you are hiring new staff, you find people who are outgoing, cheerful, and friendly. Help them learn how to adopt a friendly approach to each and every client so that your customers can feel at ease and valued.
Stay Open Later
If you are a physical store, and you typically get a rush of customers later in the day when you are about to close the doors, why not consider closing up an hour later? While this might cause a bit of contention amongst your staff, iron this issue out by creating a scheduled roster so that you can not only recognize which parts of the day are the busiest, but you can schedule your staff so that they don’t have to do too much overtime.
By doing so, you can also make sure that there aren’t too many staff on in those quiet periods, and reduce your overheads as a result.
Don’t Make it Hard for Customers to Contact You
Even though we live in the digital age where most people have their brand on social media networks like Facebook, there are a lot of clients out there that will still prefer to get in touch with your business through either email or phone. While you might not have the budget for a phone line right now, it’s important to give your clients as many options as possible to get in touch with you.
You also don’t want to make it difficult for them to find a way to contact you either. Even if this means that you might get more customer complaints because it’s so easy for them to get in touch, it’s always going to be better for you and the client to have your email and phone number readily available. Feature this type of information at the bottom of your homepage or in an FAQ section.
Give Away Something
There’s nothing wrong with giving new or potential clients an incentive to stick around for a lot longer, and one of the best ways to do this is to offer them a discount code or a voucher that they can use on their first or second purchase.
This is a great way to whenever lukewarm clients and guarantees that they will revisit your store. It’s also going to increase the likelihood that they purchase more than just the product they’re getting a discount on, and they might even end up sharing the good news with friends and people that follow them on their social networks.
Everyone loves something for free, so if you can spare a voucher right now, we highly recommend it.
Get Involved in Your Local Community
If you are a small or a local business, you have an advantage over the rest, and that is the ability to connect with your local community much better than a big corporation. Whether you have the ability to offer discounts to veterans or you can sponsor a sports team for kids, getting involved in your local community is a great way to drum up business and improve the reputation of your brand.
Whatever you choose to do to connect with your local community, make sure that it is relevant to your brand and your brand’s future goals.
Use Social Media Wisely
Of course, we all know by now that social media is a great way to get your brand out there and in front of the right target audience. It’s a great way to build a solid relationship with your community, but you’ve got to know how to use it to your advantage. The more personality that your brand has online, the more relatable it will be to your audience, and the more they will interact with your social media profiles.
Make sure that you can figure out the tone of the voice of your brand, and don’t try to overdo it either. Just be yourself, and show your target audience that you are prepared to be upfront and honest with them about everything.
Master Your Niche
Sometimes, it’s better to be an expert in just one area than to be able to do it all. While it is nice to have multiple ways of making money, clients tend to see brands that specialize in a specific product as being better quality and high value. So, whatever your product or service is, make sure that you work hard to become an expert in your field. Pick a niche that hasn’t been too overdone yet and something that can last the distance.
Always be Willing to Learn and Improve
A key to staying ahead of your competition and doing well with your business is always to remain open to learning and to improve on your business model. You should never get too satisfied with your business, and while it’s nice to celebrate your achievements were that you also need to be able to grow with the times and develop it as your client base grows.
While you might be ahead of the pack today, you could very easily slip back tomorrow and lose the traction that you have gained. This is why it’s important always to be humble and always strive to improve on what you’ve got. Never be afraid to seek other people’s advice, and take inspiration from businesses and brands within your niche that have gone before you.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are many different aspects to growing a business, but the best part is that none of them are really that complicated.
In fact, most of them are nothing more than common sense and skills that you can learn and adapt your business model so that you can give it the best chance of success.
Make sure to figure out exactly what your brand’s goals are and what you ultimately want to provide for your customers. Good luck!
