Top 11 Growth Strategies to Run Your Best Business in 2010
By: Shakira Brown
There is no doubt that 2009 will live on infamy as a very tough year for businesses of all sizes. Analysts predict that after nearly three years in a downturn environment, 2010 will reveal recovery opportunities. Many businesses have been in a slump for some time now and need to take proactive action to move forward. It is not easy to turn around a business, so here are my top 11 business growth strategy tips for 2010 and beyond to help guide entrepreneurs and established business leaders through the process.
Seek Help - When in doubt seek the assistance of a top small business expert or business consultant to help you get a handle on what is troubling your business. Someone outside your company can see instability where you may not.
Evaluate Your Offerings - Determine if your sales mix and products have changed. Is your product or service obsolete? Is there a technology available to make your company's offering more efficient? Look at what you have been doing from beginning and figure out how you can enhance what you have traditionally offered.
Rank Your Business - Does your potential consumer base consider your business as a top company in your field? Top in your area? Are you really competing with others in your industry? Identify where your company stands in the marketplace.
Define Your Customers or Clients - Work with key staff to evaluate your customers to determine if your product or service is reaching the right people. Also, figure out which customers and accounts are bringing in revenue and which are not. Consider getting rid of customers or accounts that you are not making money on. This will allow for you to focus on the customers who bring in the most revenues.
Get Customer Feedback - You may have seen this phrase on the back of truck "How am I doing?" with a 1-800 number to report a good or bad truck driver. Think like a company that operates big rigs, take time to review your customer service at all levels of your business to determine efficiencies and standards. You may find that customer service is an area in the most need of attention and revision.
Establish a Competitive Edge - Do something to innovate your business to keep pace with market trends. No matter what industry you are in, you can create opportunities to generate new business to establish an edge over your competition. In order to ride the wave of today's trends, your small business must constantly look for ways to leverage what's hot in the marketplace. Keep in mind your competitors might be looking for an edge up too, so be vigilant and leverage industry ups and downs to maximize your company's performance.
Evaluate Your Staff - Try to keep loyal employees away from those who are marginal in turning your company around. You need a cooperative team to move your company in the right direction, be sure that your loyal staff are not swayed by those who may have become disenchanted during your troubled times.
Keep a Motivated Workforce - What you pay your staff can have a great effect on the way in which they treat the importance of their work for you. Take certain steps with regard to salaries and increases to make sure that your best people are being compensated. If you have been unable to provide reasonable salary increases during your downturn offer another form of incentive, such as an extra week paid vacation, to keep them on board with your initiatives. Keep your staff motivated so they will act as brand ambassadors for your business.
Focus on Quality - Make sure you have accurate delivery of products or services. Use the quality of your service or product as a marketing tool to attract more business.
Spend on Marketing - For businesses in all industries the strategy is simple, invest in marketing and advertising to increase/maintain your company's brand awareness. Or consider stepping up existing marketing initiatives or start investing in marketing for the very first time. This could mean taking out a few targeted ads in print publications or on local cable television, updating your website, sponsoring a relevant event or starting a smart online ad campaign to reach new customers.
Decide on what is important - As a business owner, you have a responsibility to the company and your employees. It might sound petty but instead of the luxury sports car or other guilty pleasure you have been dreaming of buying, purchase a more modest less of expensive car or spend your money in a more frugal way. Perception that the boss is doing everything to turn the business around is key to getting your entire team on your side of the turnaround. This may include some personal sacrifices, but if you can show that you are committed to the success of your business it will motivate your staff to continue to ride out the storm and stay employed with your company during the upturn.
About the Author:
Shakira Brown, award-winning Public Relations and Marketing Expert and Co-Founder of BESTBUSINESSMASTERY.com."
Best Business Mastery LLC, (www.bestbusinessmastery.com) is a leading provider of online do-it-yourself small business marketing strategies. Co-founded by awarding winning marketing experts, Shakira Brown and Cathlyn Driscoll, BestBusinessMastery.com provides effective and tactical information and resources related to marketing, advertising, branding, web strategy and public relations for small business owners, entrepreneurs and other business leaders in today's new economy. To learn more visit, http://bestbusinessmastery.com.
Member comments together with Member Names may be used by
SmallBusinessCEOMagazine.com for promotional or other media efforts.
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior
such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or
material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users
who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the
content that you post.
Comments (0)
We invite you to be the first to post a comment regarding this article.
