Nibletz Staff
We are all struggling for ways to improve our business, but the age old adage of these things take time is something a lot of us don’t really have the time for! We need to strike while the iron is hot and we need to do it yesterday. We need to be more efficient at the same time as creating the perfect product while also juggling a million different balls in the air. It’s not feasible. Usually, all we can do is focus on one area at a time, especially if we are a small company and go through each aspect, making the necessary alterations. But for those that are desperate to change your business for the better right now, there are some simple things you can start right away!
Look At Your Goals
Before you can improve on what you have, you need to see if your goals are still relevant, so you need to do something very simple and get out a piece of paper and write down where you want your business to be in one year’s time, two years’ time, three years’ time, etc. It may be something simple, but you may have just veered off the beaten track a bit too much. So if you can begin to reevaluate your goals and understand why you are in this business, it will give you a sense of reinvigoration, and maybe the spark you need to do things a little differently so you can achieve these goals.
Are You Connecting With The Customer?
Not just in an online sense, but in a personal way. The customer is the most important asset to your business, and you should get as much information from them as you can about how you are doing in every aspect. Don’t forget that the most powerful marketing method is word-of-mouth, and especially in this social media age people are quick to vent their frustrations online and “name and shame” companies like yours if you have mildly inconvenienced them. One bad tweet or comment could set off a chain reaction that won’t have a positive effect on the outlook of your company. The benefits of the social media age, as well as the various tools we have at our disposal, is that we can analyze data far more effectively than we could a few decades ago. The improvement of things like metrics and ways on how to measure customer service quality through specific processes like the RATER framework means that not only do we get detailed feedback from our customers. But also we can break down this information in a way that will benefit so many different aspects of how we relate to our customers. Right now you can start to communicate with your customers better, and there’s always room for improvement in this aspect.
Look At It From The Customer’s Viewpoint
Sometimes a change of perspective is all we need to switch on the light bulb in our minds that will improve everything. You can do it right now by going onto your own website and looking at it for the first time, in other words, pretend to be a customer that’s visiting your website. Go through some of the basics such as if you can understand how to use the website properly, if the website is similar to a site to have seen before, and your first impressions. First impressions are always important in every aspect of business, and even if you have been through it a thousand times, there will always be a customer that is coming to it fresh faced. And don’t be afraid to be picky in this respect, for example, could the fonts be larger or the pictures clearer? Are there too many colors? All of these things can be rectified simply and right away.
Get Rid Of Distractions
Every one of us that is running a business in some way, shape, or form, is guilty of procrastinating. This is especially true for those that are working from home, and even though in the age of social media and SEO, you can feel tempted to check on your Facebook page in the middle of “research,” but time is money. And 20 seconds here or 20 seconds there will soon add up. It’s at this point that the 80/20 rule may be beneficial to those budding entrepreneurs reading this, in other words, what is the 20% of what you doing that is making the least impact on your business? Once you have cracked that, you can work on these remaining issues and increase your overall productivity.
Ask Questions!
There’s always going to be something that you don’t have the answer to, so why don’t you fire off an email to one of the LinkedIn influencers or send a question out to a forum, and you’ll be surprised at the wealth of information you will get back. It’s foolish to think that we know everything about our own business, even if we did build it with our own two hands. But there’s always a different perspective to take and another angle to come at your products or how you manage your staff. Someone else’s opinion is always beneficial, even if you don’t use it! At least you learnt something else about how not to complete a specific task. If you’re not asking questions on a regular basis, it’s time to start, you’ll be surprised at what you learn!
Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
As people, the more we do this, the bolder choices we will make and this is an important lesson for anyone running a business, because the goal of a successful entrepreneur is to push the envelope however they can. And if you are swimming in a sea of contentment, you are not going to come up with that all important idea that will launch your company into the stratosphere. But before all that begins, it’s about your mindset as a person, not as a business person. Step outside of your comfort zone, do something that scares you every day. It doesn’t have to be complicated, turn the shower to cold! Just do something that you find scares you a little.
We can all begin positive changes right now on a personal level, but you can get the ball rolling on changes to your business also, so the time is now!
