Seven Tips That Will Help You Grow Your Business

The initial act of starting a business is just the first step in a long journey of business ownership. Once you get the basics out of the way the actual work comes in.

Now you need to get the business to grow and prosper. To do so you’ll need a combination of skill sets to help you reach your goals, whatever they may be.

To help you along with this I’m going to share my thoughts on how to do this. Keep in mind this is just my personal feelings on the matter. Some of them come from actual experience and others are simply things I was worried about happening to me. Either way I hope they help you get the most out of your business. Here we go…

1: Grow your business by hiring the right people

Hiring the right people to carry out your companies duties is immensely important. This can be hard to do for beginners as many times they have no experience hiring anyone. They sometimes rely on friends and “friends of friends” to fill positions because they are in a pinch to do so quickly.

Ideally you need to take your time and be very discerning during the hiring process. Avoid hiring hard luck cases and instead focus on finding those who are the best qualified to represent your company. The person you hire is a reflection of what type of company you operate, so you want to get it right.

2: Grow your business by creating standards and control mechanisms

Getting a whole bunch of customers only to lose them to poor customer service, low quality cleaning services or some other issue is not the way to go. You’ll want to create ways to measure your quality of service. This may include regular inspections by qualified personal at job sites, constant follow-up with the customer to ensure they are happy and surveys that are mailed out yearly.

3: Grow your business by avoiding complacency

Complacency is an issue that starts at the top of an organization and finds its way into every nook and cranny of the business. So in other words IT’S YOUR JOB to avoid letting that happen. I have been guilty of this from time to time in my business and each and every time it has cost me. It creates headaches that you don’t need and it costs you tons of money in lost income.

Customers will notice your lack of purpose if you let it continue for too long. When they do they will start to look elsewhere for services and before long you will be getting a “Dear John” letter from the customer letting you know they are not in love with you anymore. Avoid that heartbreak by staying focused and meeting their needs.

4: Grow your business by respecting the customer

OH how easy it is to “blame the customer” for issues as they come up. While it’s convenient to think that they are certifiably insane, odds are they are not. They have a different set of “eyeglasses” on than you do. You see things from your viewpoint as a business owner and they see things from their viewpoint of being a customer.

Sometimes these two ways of seeing things don’t always match up, and that can create conflicts. Your goal is to not let that happen. At the end of the day you need to RESPECT the customers point of view and see the issue through their eyes. When you take the time to do so it will help you understand them better, which give you the opportunity to serve them in the best way possible.

5: Grow your business by never stopping your marketing efforts

Keeping your foot on the marketing and advertising gas peddle is the only guaranteed way to keep the phone ringing with new prospects. I know it’s tempting to just “sit pat” for a while and enjoy the fruit of your labor, but when you do so that’s when bad things always seem to happen for some strange reason.

This is because sometimes out of the blue you may lose several accounts in a short time frame. Maybe it was your fault you lost the accounts and maybe it wasn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that this WILL HAPPEN no matter how good you are. This is why you need to keep marketing all the time.

6: Grow your business by making smart investments

It’s very hard to resist taking your earnings and just going hog wild spending it on yourself. After all your dream is finally coming true. You have a growing business and now you want to enjoy yourself a bit. While treating yourself a bit is OK, going overboard is not. Your business is your meal ticket, and you need to make smart investments.

At some point upgrading your equipment will be necessary. Do you have money set aside for that? How about a new computer system to better operate your business? The software that will make you more efficient? The website that brings people in? These things all cost money and you need to allocate money for them at some point. You’ll make more money over the long haul by investing smart!

7: Grow your business by providing consistent leadership

This leadership portion includes many different traits like long-term vision, the courage to do things the right way “all the time”, the fortitude to keep going when things get tough, keeping a upbeat attitude all the time and of course being sure to set the proper ” company culture”. You may or may not be perfect at all of them, but just be mindful of always doing the best you can at each of them.

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