Businesses of all sizes face a number of challenges while trying to expand their client base. If you want to beat the odds and continue to grow your business, you need to invest time and money into the right growth plans. (Image Credit: Tracy Le Blanc/Pexels)
Make this year to come the best for your business by focusing on these four words:
1. Delegate
If you have the means and the team, make sure you are delegating your work efficiently. Delegating tasks to others gives you the opportunity to focus on what’s most important to complete; anything less pressing goes to someone else. You’ll worry less about menial tasks and stay fixated on the big picture items.
However, you’ll need an efficient team to help. According to the experts at ScoutLogic, this means searching for specialists in other departments, like HR, and putting every future job candidate through an extensive background check.
2. Socialize
If you’re not already on social media, you need an online presence. Social media presents a valuable chance to build relationships with customers and establish your brand.
So, you have a Facebook account for your business, but what about Instagram or Twitter? Depending on what your product or service is, marketing your business on a more visual medium (such as Instagram) may generate more buzz.
Advertising your product or service online won’t be enough, however. You should also make sure to keep active on each of your social media accounts, so your customers know for example what your current goals are as well as what your future goals for your company are. This will help establish your business as more personable and engaging, so your target audience feels comfortable reaching out with any inquiries.
Your goal should be to stand out on social media to your target audience, so they think of your company next time they need to make a purchase in your niche.
3. Reward
Once somebody gives your business a shot, you want to keep them coming back. If you want to boost your profits, make your current customers feel special by creating a customer loyalty plan.
Customer engagement is a moving target, so you can try out a few different ideas to see what works best for your business. For example, small businesses find a lot of luck with loyalty programs. Customers love returning to redeem points and support their local shops.
Here are some ideas to help you reward customers:
- Consider offering a reward or some other perk to repeat customers. VIP customers could get monthly freebies, early notice about upcoming deals and sales, or simply a customized online newsletter.
- Stamp cards are another easy reward system to try out. For example, if you sell coffee, maybe offer stamp cards to every customer so that after they purchase 10 drinks, they can get the 11th drink free.
These small incentives go a long way towards convincing clients to keep choosing you.
4. Receive
If your customers are reaching out with frequently asked questions or maybe even critiques or requests, listen to them. It can be easy to get comfortable with the way things are and think that nothing needs to change. Maybe one of the products you sell starts to reach the end of its life cycle of popularity, or maybe your client base slowly decreases because your old marketing strategies aren’t reaching as many new customers anymore.
If anything starts to falter, try to find out what is causing the issue and how to address it. Maybe make a post asking for customer feedback on your company social media accounts.
Ask what your customers like, and if there is anything you can do to make their shopping experience with you better. The more you can learn about their preferences and needs, the faster you’ll improve your products.
Bottom Line
It’s easy to get hung up on detailed business concepts or trendy terms to strengthen your business; sometimes the simplest words are the most effective.
You don’t need an elaborate business model to get results; you just need to delegate, socialize, reward, and receive.