5 Tips for How to Grow a Business
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Now that you’ve started up your very own business, the million dollar question is, how do you expand it?
Growing from scratch can take some time, patience and skill… and while you might have the first two qualities it’s very common to feel lost when coming up with ways to breathe new life into your company. If you want to grow, and grow fast then these five tips will help get you started down the path of expansion.
1. Invest in Yourself
In the beginning, you’re most likely not going to see a whole lot of profits. The first year of running a business is the most difficult one, due to all of the costs that come along with getting yourself started. And while it might seem rather tempting to pocket the little money you do make, sometimes some extra cash towards the business can go a long way. From investing in a proper marketing plan to hiring new employees or even taking some business classes to get yourself more acquainted with the industry around you, investing in yourself is an important step in building a blooming company. A good tip is to always save a portion of what you make and keep it for rainy day business investments. This helps in case of an emergency, or even if you want to branch out and add something new.
2. Customer Experience is Key
While the product or service you sell in itself is important, nothing would matter without the support of loyal customers. One review could make or break your business, because of this it is so important to focus on customer experience when building your empire. Being attentive is key to building a good rapport with your customers. Make yourself available on either social media, on your website, have a customer support email or phone service. This way you can keep track of all of your feedback. Make sure to answer quickly, and efficiently to any negative reviews, and boost the positivity as it comes in. If you’re just starting out then you have the benefit of being nimble, resourceful and readily available to answer customer questions and respond to their needs. All of your values should have the customers in mind. Build great relationships and your business will boom.
3. Promote on Social Media
Whether you love it or hate it, social media isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and in turn has become a necessary evil when planning the marketing strategy for your business. If you don’t have an Instagram or Facebook page, you might as well pack up your things now and quit or go out and make some accounts. Keeping your head above water requires a lot of social media attention. It is rapidly developing into the most important marketing tool that any business can have. If you want to ensure great success, make sure you at the very least have an active Instagram account. However, it is also recommended to try TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat depending on your target audiences. Create a unique brand aesthetic and voice, post content periodically and make sure to actively engage with customers on these different platforms to promote growth. And if you have a little extra money in your pocket, social media is a great way to boost advertisements to promote your products or services.
4. Hire the Right People
The right company is built around the right people. If you’re in the early stages of building your business it’s so important to be as selective as possible when it comes to picking out employees. Experience and skill can all be taught, but attitude, motivation, and kindness can’t be. If you want to head in the right direction, you need the best people to get you there. Employees that have the self-motivation to work as hard as they can, and are really passionate about the work and the environment they’re in, really makes all the difference when you’re establishing your business. And while you might not necessarily be in a position where you need to hire anyone new anytime soon, keep this tip in mind for the future.
5. Make it easy for your customers to shop
As stated before, customer experience is key to ensuring a healthy, growing business. When setting up your shop, you want to make life easier for the people buying your products or services. One of the worst things that can happen for you in terms of the customer journey is if your products or services attract people but cannot finalize a sale and convert them to loyal customers. The simpler and smoother the checkout experience is, the more likely people will spend their money. Make sure to set up something that works, is simple for the customer and simple for you. If you are running your business online with e-commerce it's best to look at solutions that allow multiple payment methods. Customers prefer alternatives such as Klarna which allows a “pay later” option, Paypal, card, Swish or even account to account via Trustly. The checkout experience is so important, as it finalizes the sale. Any disruptions or mishaps could cause a customer to leave or not complete their transaction. If you're tech-savvy and are building the online store yourself, you can get brilliant solutions through integrations, however, if your tech skills really aren’t up to par you might want to look at out-of-the-box solutions like Shopify offering themed online stores with payment solutions already integrated for you.
For those of you that have in-person shops or prefer to sell your products at a flea market, you also want versatility when it comes to transactions. Only accepting options like cash in person can seem unprofessional these days, and can make you lose out on valuable transactions due to people not being able to pay you in cash. You want your customers to be able to use the payment method that they prefer. Classic card terminals are an option to be able to at least accept card payments, although they can sometimes be tricky when setting up and are riddled with high transaction and service fees. Alternatives like SumUp and Zettle are valid options since the card terminals are smaller in size and more equipped for work on the move. But if you have an Android smartphone already, then you have the hardware needed. The next big thing in accepting card payments is what we call Tap to Phone or Tap to Pay, which are fully certified apps allowing you to accept card transactions from the convenience of your smartphone. No need for extra hardware at all! These apps can be combined with other payment methods integrated all together in the same space, giving you the power of a payment terminal directly on your smartphone. Additionally, they offer a digital receipt, so you don't have to own a printer.
There are a few different solutions out there, and more to come. We are of course proud of our own solution, Surfpay, which you can read more about here » And follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin & Twitter to get updates!
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