Technology

Upgrade Your Business With These Top Tips

Taking a business to the next level is never an easy task. Especially at the moment. Most businesses still in operation are simply thankful that they managed to survive the Coronavirus pandemic. Those in the hospitality or travel industries would have been hit hardest and are still reeling, those which operate around those industries are still struggling. Deciding to take your business to the next level is a big decision to make. However, there are some small decisions you can take which would improve working practices too, so it doesn’t always have to be investment based modes to take your business to the next working level. Knowing when is the hardest. Everyone wants to make more sales, everyone wants to be more successful and are always looking for the next level up, but it isn’t always easy to know when to take the plunge. Also, every business is different and will level up in different ways. Try to use the advice you receive in a bespoke way, and don’t just apply it in generic terms as it might not suit the way you run your business.

 

Spread The Word

If you want to build your business you need other people to know about it. If they don’t, how can you expect people to buy your products or services. Spreading the word is usually attributed to a business which is a start up, but deciding to double down on this strategy is useful to grow a business which has become stagnant or just when you think you need to push the boat and upgrade. Getting on social media is one of the best ways to spread the word. If you’re already there, double check you’re on all of them. If you can’t work out where to go next consider software for media analytics. It might just be a case of you needing to up the content distribution. Try to build better content and content which reads better to the target audience. You might have gotten bored of it but fresh content is what pulls people in so don’t underestimate it. If you want you can use a copywriter to do this for you but it may not be a tenable solution long term.

 

Switch or Expand Your Demographic Target

Another way to encourage growth and move to the next level is by targeting a different demographic. Move from one to the other. You might need to expand your product offering too here which may cost some investment on your part. However, if done right it can give you a whole different revenue stream. For example, if you want to target students, you need to move to target them. Change your advertising to student centric locations such as student towns or university campuses. If you’re going to do this, you need to do it properly because if you put half effort into it you won’t get the change you were hoping for and also, you would have wasted money for nothing. Research the demographic properly and be completely sure that your product or service has a place within its base. If you want to be sure you can run some feedback sessions and do some market research beforehand, just pick a good work group. Again, you can get help with this if you need it or don’t have the time. 

 

Expand Payment Options

It’s surprising, but there are still businesses out there which only accept cash payments. If you don’t accept all payments out there you’re instantly alienating customers who use those methods. This applies to businesses operating out of a brick and mortar residence but also those online. You need to be accepting cash, card, contactless, and apple and android pay. If you’re online you need to do the same. However, if you’re selling high price ticket items, you need to think about offering monthly payments, like Klarna. This gives the customer the opportunity to pay over a few months, making it a bit more manageable. Doing this of course makes your products more attractive, and you might notice some more sales. It can be expensive sometimes to build these payment options into your premises or website but it is always going to be worth it. Makes it a bit easier for your customers which in turn increases their chances of buying. It’s true that taking payments via card can sometimes cost a lot of money when you’re doing it at high scale, however if you shop around you might be surprised at what kinds of payment solutions are available that are also scalable to your business type. 

 

Recruit The Right Talent

It’s important that when you recruit you recruit right. You might want or need to recruit to properly expand your business. In these situations you have to make sure you bring the right people into your business. First, you need to understand that you won’t find people who care as much as you. It’s your business, so you need to know what you’re doing and who you bring in. Essentially, you need to bring in people who can add to your business. So you need people who have grown a business like yours before. Or experience they have which you don’t. Too often owners get scared of recruiting people who could have more experience than them, but it’s right to do so because you’ll gain from it. Be clear what you want on the job advert. If you need certain experience or qualifications, state this clearly. It’ll save potential applicants time, but it’ll also save you time sifting through dozens of applications. If you’re worried about the actual interview, check online for some tips. You know what you’re looking for. Make sure you ask the same questions of each applicant. Also, if you’re struggling consider asking someone else to help you. They might have done interviewing before and can pick up on things you’ve missed. You might have a friend who can help if there’s no one in your organisation. Or you can even hire people to help you with recruitment if you’re nervous about it, but remember, this will eat into your budget nastily so be sure you can’t do it yourself and have explored other options before going ahead with this one.

 

Grow Through The Experts

Let them build your business for you with the power of reviews. A lot of businesses do this successfully these days especially if they’re trying to grow into other sections or areas. You need to find the right people and give them free samples of your products or services. These people need to be industry experts. They might write and publish physical magazines, or potentially write in popular online blogs. You’ll know what these are more likely. So approach them and ask them to review your product or service. Once they’re done, they’ll post or write about what they think. Hopefully you’ll get a favourable response. However, if you don’t it isn’t the end of the world nor was this exercise fruitless because you now have actionable feedback from an industry expert regarding how to make your product a bit better. If you do this with a few different streams you can really make an impact and grow your business. You just need to ensure that you properly look for the right experts to talk about your products. This is vital, or you could end up giving out free samples to people who don’t really have the reach or no how regarding your products.

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