It has never been more important than now to grow your small business smarter and faster than ever. The customer attention spans have shrunk, the competition for their time and money has multiplied, and they are being inundated with marketing messages from competitors daily. As a result, it's no longer enough to search for new customers--you need to be able to provide them with something better or different to get them interested in what you have to offer. This blog post will teach you ten actionable processes that can help you do just that!
1. Get Organized and Create a Plan for Your Business
The first step to growing your small business smarter and faster is getting organized. You need to know where you are presently in order to take the necessary steps towards progress. Create a plan for each aspect of your business to prioritize the activities that will significantly impact achieving your goals.
This process includes:
- Market research.
- Prioritizing which changes need to happen first.
- Developing specific strategies with measurable outcomes for making those improvements/changes successfully.
- Putting together an actionable plan of attack that details how these strategies will be implemented.
The more organized you are, the more efficient and productive your company will be.
2. Create a Marketing Strategy That Will Get More Customers in The Door
Marketing is the key to business success--but if you're doing it wrong, all that time and effort could be wasted. For a marketing strategy to work, it has to solve a problem or fill a need in your target market's mind.
Your marketing should focus on attracting the right kinds of customers who are most likely to make purchases from you--not just anyone! Convey to your new customers that their lives will be better off with your product/service than without it.
The more focused an audience you can attract, the less money and resources you'll have to spend trying (and failing) at increasing brand awareness amongst people who may not care about what you do yet.
Pro Tip: B2B Marketing Automation: 8 Strategies to Boost Your Sales in 2024
3. Establish Systems to Make it Easier to Manage Tasks
People are only human, and humans make mistakes. To counteract this tendency towards error in your business, you should establish systems to streamline tasks so that it's harder for things to go wrong. By taking the potential of mistakes down a notch or two, you'll be able to focus on what matters--increasing revenue.
Here are some essential systems to consider establishing within your business:
- A customer management system that ensures each of your customers is given the attention and service they deserve.
- A project management software that helps you keep track of what needs to be done by when, who is responsible for it, and wherein the process they are at any given time.
- A file-sharing program that allows employees to access files from wherever they may be working on them.
4. Use Services Like Upwork and Fiverr to Hire Contractors and Higher Qualified Talent
The most effective way for small businesses to grow is by hiring high-quality talent. This can be found in many locations. But if you’re looking for a more targeted approach with higher efficiency than the traditional process of finding employees with job postings on Craigslist or Monster.com, then Upwork and Fiverr are two services that I recommend trying out. Freelance hiring services present an opportunity to quickly find freelancers who will work harder and smarter than someone who is full-time employed.
On these websites, there are people from all over the world competing against each other to complete jobs offered by businesses like yours, which means that you don’t have to sift through hundreds of applicants sending generic resumes only hoping that their resume stands out.
These platforms are also very efficient because you can see the freelancer’s previous work, ratings from other clients they have completed jobs for, and even chat with them to get a sense of their personality.
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5. Stay Organized by Using an Online App Like Trello, Asana, or Google Drive
Another essential business skill that every entrepreneur should have is organization. Keeping your team members and clients organized can be very beneficial to increasing efficiency since it ensures everyone always knows what they are doing at all times.
Using apps like Trello or Asana will help you keep track of who is working on which tasks, how much work has been completed, and where the overall project stands in terms of completion.
Similarly, using Google Drive or Dropbox to make files accessible across devices by sharing them with different people also helps ensure nothing gets lost along the way and allows multiple users to collaborate simultaneously within a document without creating additional copies, thus saving time.
6. Use Social Media to Grow Your Brand and Connect With Customers
One of the biggest mistakes I see small business owners make is not doing enough to promote their brand. Social media provides a platform for brands to target potential customers by connecting with individuals interested in what they have to offer, providing them value that can lead them back to your website or storefront, and ultimately convert into sales.
Social media also allows you to leverage influencer marketing so that people with large followings who already appreciate what your company has to offer will share it with their audiences. This leads to more people knowing about your product/service, thus creating additional growth opportunities.
The key here is to make sure that whatever content you post online aligns well with the overall message you want people to take away from your brand. This will ensure that you are attracting your target market and turning them into customers.
7. Develop Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) for Your Employees and Contractors to Follow
Developing SOPs, or protocols ensures that every person who works at your company knows exactly how each task should be completed from beginning to end, which saves time spent figuring out how something needs to be done by trial and error. Instead, you already have all of this information written down somewhere easily accessible where everyone can reference it whenever necessary, thus creating more opportunities for growth.
SOPs can be developed for every task performed in your business, no matter how small it may seem.
This also applies to contractors that are working remotely on projects alongside members of your team- having SOPs ensures clear communication between all parties involved, reducing confusion over who does what and when things get done. By providing SOPs, there aren’t any gaps along the way where something doesn’t get done by the time it needs to be.
8. Leverage AI in Your Business to Reduce Costs and to Get Things Done Quicker
One of the most significant advantages to having an online business is that you can pretty much automate anything from starting a company, taking payments, or even hiring employees.
Using platforms like Jasper.ai will allow you to create content faster than ever before, allowing you to get more done in less time.
Additionally, the time saved by AI will reduce your costs by taking out the need to hire additional employees, thus saving you money.
9. Use CRM and Marketing Automation Software
Business growth can be a numbers game- the more leads you have, the greater your chances of converting them into sales.
Using CRM and marketing automation software will help automate things, like emailing customers who haven’t purchased from you in a while. This can help get them back on your site to discover new products/services that might interest them.
Customer relationship management will also help you keep track of your existing customers and how you can best serve their needs so that they keep coming back to do business with you. Carefully conceptualize the different sales funnels you'll use to attract and convert your target market.
10. Measure Progress Towards Goals by Setting up Metrics and KPIs
One of the essential parts of growing your business is constantly improving and adapting to changes in technology and customer behavior to stay ahead of any competition.
Setting up metrics, such as monthly KPIs for each department within your company (i.e., sales revenue), along with the progress you’ve made towards your quarterly and yearly goals, will allow you to see how successful your business is doing compared to previous years.
This allows for more opportunities to adapt and improve upon certain aspects of the business, enabling you to continue growing steadily throughout the years instead of having growth spurts that are followed by leveling off or even regression.
When you sign up for Pulse, our experts can help you get your CRM setup and implemented using the best practices. So you can relax knowing that our experts have got you covered, and your CRM is set up for success.
Of course, you'll also get access to all other great features, email marketing, workflow automation, and much more. Try Pulse for free today, and watch your business grow.
Conclusion
The small business owner's journey is not easy- it is filled with various challenges that cause plenty of frustration and stress.
However, there are many tools one can use to help alleviate this struggle so that you can focus on what matters: growing your business smarter and faster. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help streamline your business operations!
