There are some who get lucky on their first try and don’t get to experience the “birth pains” which most start-ups encounter. On the other hand, there are those who go through the wringer, so to speak, in order to achieve their entrepreneurial goals.
Here are five tips on how you can overcome the challenges, which confront most newbie entrepreneurs, and make your business stand out and become a winning venture.
1. Develop Excellent Products and Services. Everything starts with a great product or service. When going toe-to-toe with big time competitors, word of mouth can be your biggest asset and main lead generator. It is therefore crucial to get people to talk about what you offer and why you are in the business of selling and service delivery in the first place.
Being a friendly and charming business person is good and all, but these traits will not be enough to lure customers back to your shop unless you possess a product or provide a service which meets, or even exceeds, their expectations.
Continue to refine your product, devise new sales offerings and strategies, and maintain the mindset that a great product or service always makes the cash register ring.
2. Be Dependable. As a small business owner, you must do your best to live up to your company’s brand and standards. Your failure to do so can have major repercussions for start-ups like you which heavily depend on client referrals. You always have to keep in mind that brand loyalty lies first and foremost, in great service, and that a happy customer is a loyal customer. So you must learn to keep your promise at all costs even if it means going the extra mile. It doesn’t matter whether you make seemingly impossible commitments like delivering pizzas within 15 minutes or less, or finishing a complex house painting job within 24 hours.
Always remember that a business which stands by its word will be rewarded by its customers generously.
3. Have a Clear Business Pitch. As a small business owner, you must not only have the skills of an entrepreneur, but also those of a great communicator. If you are starting an online business, and are looking for small business tips and home business ideas, this will ensure that your company’s message is effectively and consistently communicated to your current and prospective clientele.
As the head of your company, you must allocate time, effort and resources to train your staff on how they can deliver the perfect sales pitch in the best way possible.
Whether in-person, on the phone or on social media, you and your personnel should develop a clear “voice” that tells customers: “We have the best product/service available in town.” If you need guidance or inspiration in developing your company’s voice, try to observe other brands and find out what makes their sales pitch worth emulating.
4. Offer An Irresistible Value Proposition. As an entrepreneur, you must never make the mistake of confusing value with price. The value of your products and services can help define your brand, and help set you apart from your fiercest competitors. Before setting up your business, you must therefore ask yourself these questions: What niche do you exactly serve?
What makes you stand out in that particular niche and makes you different from the rest? What are the emotional benefits that you derive from offering such products and services? Answering these questions will help define your true value to your customers. This could be, among others, your great customer service, excellent product quality, drive to innovate, or a combination of all these positive attributes.
5. Be Your Business’ Top Salesman. Being a business person involves passion – a huge amount of it. Therefore, if you are passionate about your business and believe in its huge potential, you should not hesitate to go out, speak to people, and become your company’s top salesman and advocate. Succeeding in business doesn’t require you to be the world’s greatest salesman.
However, being a brand advocate ties all your of sales and marketing efforts together, enabling you to act as your company’s number one salesman, number one cheerleader, and most of all, number one fan and supporter.
Be aggressive, and invite people to try and experience the great things your company has to offer.
We hope that with these small business tips and home business ideas, inspire you and turn your dream of starting an online business in to reality. Or that opening that retail outlet – will start to take form, and take flight soon!