Recent events have likely thrown you for a loop – but there are plenty of businesses out there that have seen opportunities and have started to grow their businesses. How about you?
Is your business growing? (Or at least stable and ready to get back out there as restrictions are lifted?)
If not, what are the stumbling blocks (besides the obvious ones) that are getting in your way?
Here are three possible causes that ARE under your control – so consider doing something about it!
#1: Too Much Employee Downtime
Businesses experience downtime for various reasons. It could be because staff members aren’t working as hard as they should be. It could be because the technology being used is broken or difficult to use. And it could be because you, as the manager, encourages too much free time in your business, perhaps in an effort to improve employee morale.
But as you probably understand, the more time your employees are spending away from their responsibilities, the less likely it is that your business will grow. Work won’t get done, customers and clients will turn away from you, and profits won’t get made.
To reduce downtime, you need to make sure your employees are kept on task. Breaks should be encouraged, of course, but for no longer than is reasonable.
It’s in your best interest to use IT Services, as they will ensure your tech isn’t responsible for downtime in your business. And while you should do what you can to improve employee morale, as this can increase productivity, be sure to do so in a way that doesn’t cause disruption to the work that needs to get done.
#2: Ineffective Marketing
You already know that marketing is a key factor towards business growth, as the more people who hear about your business, the more likely they are to use buy into your product or service.
However, in some cases, your marketing efforts could be wasted.
If you’re targeting the wrong demographic, you are wasting both their time and your own. If you are spamming your customers with promotional materials, you might alienate rather than attract them back for more. And if you’re using marketing techniques that could be considered outdated or irrelevant, then you will get little return on your investments.
So, take a step back from your marketing, and consider the effectiveness of what you are doing. Find ways to track your marketing, using website analytics, email stat tracking, and other methods of analyzing your marketing effectiveness.
Commit to market research to ensure you are reaching the right people with your marketing. And look into the latest marketing trends, as you might need to try something new if you want to reach more people. By taking such steps, you might see better results after marketing your business.
#3: A Lack of Vision
What do you want to achieve with your business?
Where do you want to be in the next 5, 10, 15 years?
When you were studying, staying up late to keep learning in Maplewood UCONN student living, what did you want the ultimate outcome to be?
If you don’t set yourself goals, and if you lack vision, then you will never grow your business, as you will be unclear as to what you might need to do to achieve growth.
Now is the time to commit to goal-setting exercises, because you will then have the incentive to do what needs to be done to push your business forwards.
Setting goals is not something you can just think about. You need to take the time and effort to think hard about what you want, and then reverse-engineer it into small, actionable steps. One good framework to follow for setting goals is SMART. This stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.
When you create your goals aligned with this framework, you will increase their chance of success. This is because it ensures they are clear, well-thought-out, and realistic, and you have a map to success to follow.
When you run your own business, it is important that you set your own personal goals that will enable you to grow as a leader. This might entail gaining leadership advice from professionals. They will have knowledge and experience that will help you write the best goals and grow beyond your means, which is important for a leader who wants to run a successful business.
You should create separate goals for your business, which should be communicated with the rest of your team. This will ensure that everyone shares your vision, is engaged in your business, and everyone is working towards the same goals.
It’s time for you to decide – are you going to let current events knock out your dreams, or are you going to dust yourself off, pivot, and begin to succeed in what is becoming the “new normal”. The choice is yours.
