There are so many businesses struggling at the moment. All over the world businesses have been hit pretty hard by the pandemic. From small traders right the way through to some of the largest businesses and corporations around. So, in these tough times how can you send your business to new heights, and is it even possible? One of the issues is that different things work for different businesses. What works in one industry won’t in the other. At the same time, businesses are in different situations too, meaning even similar businesses will have to try separate things to ensure everything works. It means that advice you see, wherever you see it, in regards to growing a business has to be applied to your own situation in a unique way. Make sure it fits in with your business and how you run it.
The Pro Visage
At the moment businesses are doing all they can to make sales and keep custom. Because people have their pick of a business, it means you really have to stand out. One of the best ways to do this is by appearing as professional as possible. If you look professional, and like you know what you’re talking about, you’ll have a better chance of pulling in custom. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the car trade or Commercial Window Tinting, professionalism really makes a difference to so many people. It means a great logo which syncs up well to your stationary and letterheads, an enhanced, pro looking website which isn’t just a basic template. If you’re meeting clients, ensure you’re respectful and dress the part. Professionalism means different things to each profession and each person, but by being as professional as you can, you can lend buyers confidence in your product or service to encourage a sale.
Payment Types
Check your competitors. What kinds of payment do they accept, whether physical or online. If they’re not accepting one kind of payment, then they’re going to isolate a certain kind of buyer. If they don’t take cards, people may not have cash. It may surprise but many businesses still only deal in cash, though not many. Think about Cryptocurrency and whether or not you could accept that as payment. It’s growing in popularity more and more everyday and if you start accepting it, it might just show you as a future forward business looking to fulfill your customer needs by accepting a wider range of payment options. You may not have the infrastructure set up to allow this but it’s definitely worth looking into as cryptocurrency is the future. However, if you don’t offer one of the other methods, think about those too. If you offer high price items it might be worth allowing payment plan style purchases, for example allowing payment over three months with a firm like Klarna.
Rely On Other Sales Avenues
If you’re selling products that aren’t really shifting from your website, you could consider selling through other sales platforms. Amazon is a great bet, as are Ebay. If you’re a smaller business which makes your own products Etsy could be a good option. Setting up for success and deciding to launch your product on a site other than your own can be intimidating. Primarily because you’ll be cutting into your profit margin. Especially if what you sell is big and bulky. You’ll have to pay fees to the third party seller. However, if you work it all out for the better then there’s no harm in it as surely some profit is better than none. Remember, you’ll be piggy backing off a popular platform used by a lot of people. It can also be used to drive traffic to your site. Think about interesting business cards inside the packaging with your website address on it. There are many ways to push to different platforms and finding what’s right for you requires care and deliberation as it could be pretty pricey if you get things wrong.
Grants And Benefits
If you’re struggling and need that all important cash injection you may be in line for a business grant. There have been many made available for businesses all over the world, just check with your local provider. At the same time, there are also business allowances available where VAT and tax are concerned so make sure you make the most of those too. If you’re not sure it might be worth contacting an advisor. Sure, they may cost money but if you save more than you’re claiming for you’re certainly onto a winner.
Outsource
As a business owner, it can be hard to relinquish control of certain aspects of your business to others but there are some tangible benefits that are hard to ignore. So whether you are considering outsourcing your accounting requirements or nuisance business tasks such as medical transcription here are some of the benefits of outsourcing.
- Focus on core activities. Using medical transcription as a prime example, by outsourcing transcription you are freeing up your time as a medical professional to better serve and aid your patients as opposed to tending to the necessary administrative aspects.
- Keep costs down. It may be that to undertake certain tasks your business will need to hire permanent members of staff or invest in technology or business apparatus. You can avoid this outlay by outsourcing these tasks as and when you need to. Ultimately, this means you will only be paying for the services on an ad hoc need-only basis.
- Capitalize on expertise. When you outsource tasks, you are using a professional service, people who specialize in that field and are industry experts. As such your business will benefit from their knowledge and expertise in a way that it would not be able to without outsourcing.
- Increased efficiency. Another benefit of outsourcing tasks to professionals with the capacity to address the matters in hand will ultimately ensure that tasks are done more efficiently and therefore contribute to the overall productivity and efficiency of your business.
Great tips for keeping a business.