Congratulations! You have started your own business. Now you have the right to become your own boss, work on your own terms, and plan life as you want. You have the opportunity to become independent. But, for how long? If your startup will remain as a startup and won’t grow in the market, then for how long you are going to enjoy your entrepreneurship?
This is an alarming question for every entrepreneur. Every aspiring entrepreneur has the vision to start their business. And when it has established, they dream of advancing and making it standalone in the market — seem to be a difficult task. Some pass in this job and some fail. And those who fail they need to understand where they are lagging while transforming their new business into a leading company.
Growing a business involves multiple factors — focusing on customer’s needs, managing operations efficiently, opting for a proper marketing channel, upgrading products and services according to customers’ needs, cut down business costs, and many more. Each attribute is equally important. Failing to focus on any of these may lead to the downfall of a business.
Hence, let’s discuss deeply how these factors can help entrepreneurs to convert their startup into a multi-million dollar company.
A survey conducted by American Express says that 78% of consumers have back-out from their planned purchase because of poor customer service. Also, some other studies say that it takes millions of positive customer experiences to cover up one negative one.
This proves that customer service is one of the pivotal strategies. And, every business owner should focus on enhancing customer services. Companies should think of customers and their problems and develop products and services according to their requirements. Moreover, they should create a strong rapport with customers, which enables them to gain their trust and earn more customers in the future. This allows the company to not only provide world-class customer services but also grow in the market.
Let’s assume a hypothetical situation. I visited a mobile shop where I liked one mobile of the latest brand which encompasses all modern features that I require in today’s life. Also, it was available with great qualities and affordable prices. So I purchased that mobile. Later, I showed that mobile to my friends and family members. As they also liked it and tempted to buy it, so I referred them to the same shop from where I bought that mobile. They also purchased that mobile and became happy.
This is an example of word of mouth marketing. Word of mouth is the strongest and cheapest way of marketing products and services. So, if an entrepreneur is focusing on growing his/ her business then he/ she should focus market that products and services and building a good reputation in the market.
With the changing time, customer’s requirements also change. They can ask you about the changes even late in the development process. Being a customer-friendly company, you should welcome those changes and upgrade products and services based on customers’ needs. In a nutshell, you should place customers at the center of your business and develop products and services based on their needs.
At the same time, entrepreneurs should focus on updating their business plans. Business plans, strategized at the time of establishing a business can’t remain the same throughout the business journey. To become a successful and established business, you should update your business plan annually and set up new goals or directions.
From office space to vehicles and from training employees to adding facilities — a business costs everything. So keeping a check on expenses is a focal task of business owners. But, it's a tedious and expensive task. So, if required, you can adopt new technologies like cloud-based accounting applications, which can help you to automate the process of adding expense information into your account system by attaching pictures of receipt with your mobile devices.
Hiring the right employees is one of the important factors which an entrepreneur should always keep in mind. Today, the world is moving towards digitalization; hence employees with the right set of technological and personal skills can help businesses to progress in the market.
Providing regular training about new products, business plans, and updates is another important factor that companies should prioritize. This helps employees to keep themselves updated with the company and help customers with all the information.
Though starting a new business is a brave move to make an independent career, growing that business for the long term is another tough task to sustain that career. And those who succeed in this enjoy the liberty of entrepreneurship.
