Everyone has advice when it comes to running your small business. At ASBA, we want to make sure our members are empowered to make their small businesses even better with the below tips to do and pitfalls to avoid.
Do Find Your Competitive Edge – and Keep It
Knowing more than your competitors gives you the better advantage as the consumer landscape changes and grows. Being ahead of the game lets you tweak your business so that your product becomes impossible to imitate.
Another way to keep this competitive edge is to protect your trade secrets. Make all documents confidential and proprietary and limit who has access to critical information.
Don’t Ignore Unhappy Customer Feedback
Complaints aren’t fun. No one likes dealing with negative feedback, but being ready and willing to address the problem, and fix when necessary, makes your customers feel valued.
Do Create an Annual Budget
Setting goals for how much you can spend annually on expenses keeps you on track. Can’t buy that new printer in 2014? Allocate the costs for 2015. Doing this minimizes the risk to your business and decreases the chances that you’ll commit to excess expenses.
Don’t Forget About Social Media
It’s the way of the (new) world. While there are many social media mediums out there (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+), your job is to select AND use the one that is right for your small business. Opening a clothing store? Pinterest may be for you. Bookstore? Tumblr could be a good option for posting your weekly book recommendations.
Whatever social media you select, it’s important to identify how it will be used since it’s a vital component for interacting with your consumers on a whole new level. Do Hire (and Keep) Good Employees
It’s worth paying more to recruit and keep good employees. Employees who are proud to work for you represent your business well. A happy workforce is an upbeat business. Not to mention, having employees you trust makes it easier to hand over the reins when you make time to take that two-month vacation to Paris. Don’t Forget to Network
Having a big network is important to your small business. Opening the door to new opportunities exposes your company to others who can use it and even promote it. Attending local business mixers, speaking at conferences and joining LinkedIn are just a few of the ways to get involved. Networking isn’t always an instant payoff; however, over the months and years, your connections will grow and so will your business opportunities.
