Small business owners want to see their companies grow because they invested their time, money and resources on a dream and a shot at financial freedom. However, many small businesses fail to grow because of a highly competitive niche, poor decision making, lack of resources, or in some cases just pure bad luck (a pandemic hitting the world is an example). Entrepreneurship is full of challenges and potential rewards that make it a worthwhile endeavor.
It takes savvy business decisions, proper handling of resources, a strong marketing team, a unique selling proposition, and an understanding of your target market’s pain points. Here’s how to grow your small business and achieve your goals.
Learn More about Your Competitors
Your closest competitors can provide you with insights on the types of strategies and products or services that work. Learn more about them so that you can customize your approach to increase your market share. Browse your competition’s website pages, read their product descriptions, break down their products’ features, study their unique selling position, and analyze what they’re doing right. Learn from their mistakes and adjust so that you won’t repeat them.
Create a Sales Funnel
Create a sales funnel that moves customers from one touch point to another, which eventually leads to a conversion. Building a sales funnel may take some time and resources; however, once you establish it, you’ll have a clear sales process that your employees can follow. Create different sub sales funnels depending on the actions of your potential customers. This allows you to direct them to a page or process that specifically meets their needs, whether they want to learn more about your product or service, or they’re looking for after sales help. This targeted approach improves your small business’ relationship with customers and boosts conversion rates.
Determine Opportunities for Growth
One of the steps on how to grow your small business is identifying growth opportunities. The latter comes in different forms, from incremental to monumental change. Review your own operations to determine which aspects of it need improvement. Doing so enables you to identify possible savings or better processes that allow you to direct resources to growth projects. Know more about your target market to identify other possible needs and pain points you can address. This strategy enables you to fine tune the features of your current products or develop new ones that address the problems of your customers. Some growth opportunities may require you to leave your comfort zone. This can be expanding to a new city or a different set of customers. Assess your opportunities to determine which ones are within your budget and the expertise of your team.
Find Partners to Work With
It’s difficult to win on your own, that’s why you need to form strategic partnerships with other companies. Your team doesn’t need to do all the work. In some scenarios, your ideal approach is to outsource tasks. Your employees may not have the skills and experience to excel in tasks you need completed. Partner with companies that can do things like bookkeeping, IT, accounting, customer service or others. Doing so enables your team to concentrate on work within their area of expertise. Outsourcing some tasks also improve the efficiency of your small business’ operations. You’ll be able to cut expenses, maximize profits, and direct resources to projects that allow your company to grow.
Plan to Diversify
Expand your reach while strengthening your customer base by diversifying your product and service portfolio. Understand the needs and problems of your customers as a starting point. Consider launching product or service updates with new features or extras that address the pain points of your customers in creative but practical ways. Plan and implement your diversification properly so that you don’t waste money. Identify possible complementary or supplementary products that can boost the effectiveness of your current offerings. Get creative and consider entering a new market with the products you plan to launch and develop.
Generate Passive Income
Identify ways that allow your small business to generate passive income. This can come in different forms such as renting out a room in your office (if you have one to spare), placing ads on your website or blog, paid guest posts, writing and selling an e-book or creating a course, and partnering with influencers and bloggers for an affiliate program. You’ll need passive income to boost the threshold of your resources. Passive income provides you with more financial flexibility with less effort.
Accumulate Customer Emails
Growing your small business requires you to have as many customers as possible that buy your products or use your services regularly. You can achieve this goal by accumulating customer emails. Ask permission to get contact details from your website visitors or those that buy at your store. Send them newsletters, information about upcoming product releases, discounts, and special offers, and entice them by offering exclusives for brand members. This proven strategy allows you to expand your customer base while potentially improving your site’s conversion rate.
Consider Going International
If you think your small business has the logistical and financial capability to have global customers, then take the opportunity. You no longer need to have a physical store in another country to reach international customers. Changes in shipping systems and the Internet have made it easier to expand the reach of small businesses outside of their home countries. Create an eCommerce website for your products and partner with shipping companies. Doing so allows you to broaden your reach and enter a new market.
Use Global Platforms to Your Advantage
One of the tips you can follow on how to grow your small business includes leveraging global platforms such as social media, forums, and websites. These provide you with a cost-effective way to reach potential customers and convert them into regular consumers. These also allow you to communicate with your target market directly. You can learn more about their needs and wants. This information enables you to develop and sell products or services that helps your audience.
These how to grow your small business best practices improve your chances of success as an entrepreneur. Use these tips as a guide as you try to overcome the challenges of expanding your small business. If you need assistance with bookkeeping, we at Robookkeeper can be your outsourced partner. Our team of experienced virtual bookkeepers get the job done without sacrificing quality. We offer first-rate bookkeeping services for small business owners.