If you are thinking of starting your very own business then you may be busy trying to work out how to make this a huge success with your customers and clients. Without them, you will struggle to gain enough of a profit to keep your business going. You may have heard that a high percentage of new businesses will fail before they reach a year old. This is common due to them running out of money or not having the knowledge and experience needed to thrive.
If you don’t want this to be you then check out the article below to find out more about what you and your business need to survive in the business world.
Know Your Budget
One of the very first things you need to do when starting a business is work out just how much money you need. In an ideal world, your budget will cover your outgoings for up to three years. Work out how much you need by writing down everything that your budget is going to pay for, this includes salaries, tech, and rent to name a few.
Once you have worked out your budget, give yourself some extra wiggle room. This will cover you for anything that you missed off the list or for any emergencies that crop up. If you don’t have this money to hand then you will need to find it elsewhere. This could be through the use of a business loan from the bank or money from investors.
Conduct Market Research
Next up, before you can actually open and run a successful business you need to know if it will become a success in the local community. You can find this out by conducting market research with potential customers and clients. If you post polls online or ask questions in the street then you can quickly find out what people think of your business idea and whether they will become regular customers.
If you have some money in your budget then you can always work with an outside agency to conduct market research for you. This will provide you with non-biased opinions from the general public. You could also use online focus groups to gain answers to your questions.
Build Your Site
Now, before you open up your doors, you will need to design and build your website. This can take some time, especially if you have never done it before. You don’t want to get this step wrong as how else will customers place orders when your main doors are closed. There are many different companies to use to build your site, check out the best ones around. You can do a quick internet search on cheap web hosting to find a decent company to work with.
Remember, not everyone will be computer savvy or great with technology and finding their way around a website. Be sure to include a search bar on your website so customers and clients can find the page or product they are looking for.
Hire The Right People
Another key part of running a business is having the right team of employees working for you. They will know exactly what your business needs to thrive and survive, coming from years of knowledge and experience. You need to be careful with this step as you don’t want to end up with a high employee churn rate. This can happen when employees come and go in quick succession. Speak to a recruitment agency if you would rather they found the right people to fill your roles.
Speak To Realtor
Are you going to have a full bricks and mortar business or are you going to be based online? This is something you need to decide before you get started, there are of course pros and cons to both of these options. If you have a physical business then you can get to know your customers and clients on a more personal level. However, you will need to pay a substantial amount in rent each month. Running your business online will be much cheaper, you just need to find a shipping and fulfillment company to work with.
Speak to a realtor to gain some ideas on where is best to rent or find a business and store location. They will have loads of knowledge and will have worked with business owners before. Check out reviews on local commercial realtors to find out which one is best to hire.
Find Marketing Strategies
As a business, you will find that a huge chunk of your budget goes on marketing. There is a good reason for this as this is how you get foot traffic and visitors to your site. There are plenty of strategies and techniques out there, you just need to decide which ones you are going to use. It all depends on the type of business you are running, for example, if you are based online then you will more than likely do well using social media platforms. You can keep your pages updated with everything you have to offer and which offers are up and coming. Don’t be afraid to use the old methods of marketing, they are still around for a reason. This could be leaflet distribution or email marketing.
Excel In Customer Service
Finally, if you are wanting to create a strong business then you need to be on top of your customer service. Rather than waiting up to five days for a response, you might want to use a dedicated customer service team. If your competitors are getting back to customers’ questions and queries almost instantly then you will likely fall behind. The last thing you want is for your customers and clients to feel like they don’t matter.
Having a dedicated customer service team means you can have people manning the phone, webchat, and emails coming in. make sure they are trained in handling tricky customers, you need to make sure they are happy with the service they receive.
Hopefully you found this article helpful and it gave you some top tips and guidance on how you can make your new business work for your customers and clients.
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