Running a business is supposed to be difficult, right?
Not really.
You see, starting up a business and maintaining it through a startup phase isn’t as tricky as most people would have you believe. No, it’s not a conspiracy to reduce the amount of competition they face and to scare you aware. It’s more an issue that most people seem to forget the things they get right, only focusing on the challenges they faced and how it took them a long time to get out of an unproductive mindset.
The reality is this; businesses get things wrong all the time. They struggle to fix blatant issues within their business and when it’s too late, their business has travelled down a very different path that results in poor productivity and a lack of business. Identifying and fixing issues is important for any business, and it’s vital that you start thinking ahead if you truly want to push your business ahead and be successful. So in this post, we’re going to take a deeper look into what businesses get wrong and how you fix those issues.
Stop listening to social media; listen to your analytics instead
Social media these days tends to be an echo chamber that isn’t good for your business. Listening to the loud opinions of a few isn’t going to help improve your businesses for the masses. Though social media can be a great place to pick up a larger audience, the reality is that the majority of people on social media aren’t going to buy your products at all. The people that follow you on social media are already your customers, they’re already part of the sales funnel and it only takes them a little push to make their first purchase.
This is why it’s important to stay in touch with your customers, not just your social media users. Don’t focus too much of your time and resources on establishing a social media presence for the sake of growing your audience. Sure, you might get lots of follows and people are going to listen to you, but the quality of leads on social media isn’t nearly as large as people think it is. It’s best to focus on tried and tested methods for guaranteed returns if you’re a small business, such as email marketing and search engine optimization.
Your staff are important, so treat them as such
There are far too many companies out there that treat their employees badly. This is a horrible practice and you need to focus on keeping your staff safe, happy and motivated. Doing this can seem difficult if you’re a little out of touch with your staff, but it’s a good idea to speak to them, interact with them and generally ensure that they’re having a good time in the workplace.
If you’re working remotely, then checking up on your staff and just acting like a good person can make a huge difference. Sure, you’re their boss and you pay their salary, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to shout at them or treat them poorly. Nurturing a healthy working environment is going to keep your staff motivated and push them to do more for your business.
