It’s the dream of every entrepreneur to run a successful business, but it is not always clear how to achieve this. I know sometimes running a business can make you feel like you are treading on water, and not making any progress towards achieving your goals. However, you need to remember that running a successful business is not a sprint, neither is it a marathon.
In this article, I have some suggestions on how to make your business more profitable.
Invest in building word of mouth for your business
Word of mouth is by far the oldest and best form of advertising. Don’t you find yourself buying things from a particular brand because a friend or a family member spoke highly of it? Yes, we have all done that.
Word of mouth marketing is the cheapest and one of the most effective forms of marketing, because your customers are literally working for you free of charge. And this happens when you have exceeded your customers’ expectations, and they are no longer just customers, but fans of your brand.
Also positive word of mouth comes into play when customers give great reviews of your products. Most buying decisions are made based on the number of positive reviews a product or service has. You can work on getting positive word of mouth advertising by going above and beyond to provide good professional service to customers. Always go the extra mile.
Invest in great customer service
Great customer service will always get you repeat customers. This is backed by a study carried out by New Voice Media, which stated that 51% of customers will not patronize a company again after a bad service experience.
That is too large a chunk of your revenue to turn your back on, given the fact that loyal customers are much easier to sell to. So, you must ensure not just good customer service, but guarantee amazing service delivery as your top priority, because without customers you have no business.
Therefore, you need to examine your current customer service, to note where you may be lacking, and act accordingly to remedy it. You may find out that you need to invest in staff training, make basic improvements like responding promptly to emails from customers, or work on some of your policies.
Invest in your online presence
Your business needs to be online. There is a continuing paradigm shift from brick and motor shopping to the cyber markets. If you are not online, you are missing out on a lot. On average an individual spends 2.5 hours online daily and so, you are missing out on the millions of people that could be seeing your business.
And what is more; social media has made it easy, that you do not even need a website to start making sales. All you need to do is identify the social media platforms where your audience is and open accounts for your business, then the next step is to show up consistently, with the right marketing strategy and your customers will find you.
What other tips or suggestions would you recommend to an entrepreneur to enable them run a successful business? Please drop them in the comment section.
