Business Advice from Business Owners – Part I

Have you ever wondered what makes businesses and the people behind them successful? At Elevate, we help dozens of businesses every day, and can share some insight into what drives them to be successful. Many Elevate cloud-bookkeepers and managers were also business owners at one point in their lives.

It is clear that in order to be successful, organizations need to have a sound strategic plan. However, in an increasingly competitive market, there are more and more ways that companies can stand out from the pack. It is important for organizations to understand which of these tactics will benefit them most and which tactics will be best suited to their specific business.

Here’s what you need to know. 

Get the Mystery Out of the Employee Trust

By drawing together all of your employees into one unit, you are empowering them with knowledge about how the business works, their responsibilities, and why decisions are made.

At the same time, as an organization there is one less head to make mistakes under and one less group for disgruntled employees to blame. By pushing all decisions through voting processes and giving all employees a stake in the business success you will be creating a better working environment.

Build Your Brand From Within

A strong brand can have a significant impact on company performance in many ways. The most obvious is the impact it has on the bottom line. A strong brand makes it easier for your company to attract customers, and is more likely to be associated in a positive manner with the quality of products or services that you offer.

A strong brand can also act as a social safety net. If an organization is well known, if may be more likely to be trusted by its customers. In turn, this trust may result in a boost in sales and a fall-off in complaints.

Branding should not just be about creating a logo that looks good, although that is important too! Come up with a creative slogan or tagline that sums up your company’s vision and values. A slogan like “The Good Life” will be more impactful than “How to be Successful”. Most importantly be authentic and create a brand that has meaning for your target audience.

Expose Your Employees to New Ideas and Concepts

A well-educated workforce is better equipped to perform at the highest levels, especially in the new and fast-paced job market. When we do not know how things work, then we have no choice but to rely on other people who have that knowledge. Although it may seem that this knowledge can only come from outside of the company, it is possible to share this information with the right people inside the company. The key is to expose employees to new ideas and take an active role in their growth.

By sharing knowledge with your employees, they will gain an understanding of how their daily job fits into the bigger picture. This might give them a better sense of purpose when performing their job, which can impact on performance in a positive way. It also gives your business the opportunity to attract, develop, and retain talent that has a higher level of skill and competency.

Keep Financial Score

In a business it’s important to keep track of how you are doing and how everything adds up. It’s easy to lose sight of the big picture when you are working on specific tasks or projects, so it’s good practice to take a step back every now and then and think about what this means for the future.

Cash is king so always make sure you have cash flow. It is also important to watch your company’s profits and losses and keep track of how the business is doing. This information will give you a sense of where your business is headed, which can be used to help make strategic decisions in the future.

Have a Budget and Stick to it

It can be tempting to spend as much money as possible on sales and marketing in order to bring in more new customers. If you are not careful this can increase your expenses far beyond your income, which will lead to cash flow problems.

Start planning your budget now and try to stick to what you have set aside for sales and marketing. If you are offering a special deal or promotion, it is important that you do so in accordance with this budget.

Keep the Balance Sheet Closely Held

When building your business finances, it can be tempting to set aside some money in the bank for emergencies or unforeseen things. However, this can lead to problems down the line if something unexpected happens and you haven’t covered it off in your budget. It is important to keep an eye on cash flow so that you know exactly how much money is coming into your business.

If you tie your budget down to an exact number, it can become a little bit restrictive. Instead of having a specific number in mind when writing your budget, make a list of the things that need to be included in it. While you can’t possibly allow for every expense that may come up, this is a good way to re-evaluate and update your budget as needed. By keeping all costs in line with the revenue of the business at any given time, you are much more likely to stay under control.

Set Goals/Targets/Objectives

There is no point in setting up goals unless you do something with them. The whole idea behind setting goals for your business is to help you decide where you want your business to go.

For example, if you want to increase the volume and value of sales over the coming year, then it’s important to look at what led to this increase. Were there certain marketing strategies that worked well? Was it a larger amount of traffic coming through your website? Or was it just one particular product or service that did really well? By setting goals for your business, you can figure out what worked and then repeat this as a success model in future.

High-Impact Marketing: Brings Awareness To Your Business

The approach that you take during a marketing campaign will have a significant impact on both sales and costs. If you’re spending money on ads and promotions, then it is important that they are effective, especially when it comes to driving traffic to your website. There are a number of different ways to do this, including video campaigns, TV ads, social media campaigns and more.

When you incorporate these techniques into your marketing strategy over time, you can see the results in better sales and less cost for your business. By creating a successful advertising campaign with high impact for your customers, you are helping them find the kind of products or services they need and helping them achieve their big objectives through your company’s support.

Wearing many hats comes naturally to some, but to most it means being diligent, purposeful, and consistent. While it may feel like your role in the business is to be at its head, it’s important to remember that you work within a team of people.

If you keep these things in mind when planning out your goals for the future, you will be able to put your company on the path to success.

If you feel that some of the pieces mentioned above could be worthwhile to explore together, please reach out to us . We’d be glad to be of assistance.

Please feel free to share the content found on this blog, post freely and with attribution, if it can help you and others to grow your business.

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