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How To Take Your Business From ‘Small Fry’ To ‘Big Fish’

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Right now your business is small. You love what you’re doing and where you’re going but you’re starting to wonder how you can progress your business success more quickly. Being a small business is great but if you’re someone who aspires to go from ‘small fry’ to ‘big fish’ then you’re probably wondering what it takes to give your business the boost it needs.

Growing and developing a business isn’t always simple or straightforward, as there is a lot to think about, from budgets to planning. You have to think about a wide number of things if you’re serious about expanding your business. It’s stressful growing a business, that’s a given, but if you get your approach right, it’s worth taking the time and putting in the effort.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | How To Take Your Business From ‘Small Fry’ To ‘Big Fish’

So, what steps should you take to start growing your business? Below is a guide to some of the ins and outs of achieving successful business growth.

Create an action plan

First things first, if you want to give your business a boost and actually see results, you need to create an action plan. Your plan of action should lay out the approach that you are going to take to growing your business.

It’s best to set large targets with a number of small goals leading to each one – this approach makes achieving growth seem more doable. You don’t want to set overly ambitious targets as this can make them seem impossibly difficult to reach. Instead, aim to keep goals achievable – remember, you can always exceed them.

Speak to a consultant

If you feel like you could benefit from some professional advice about any area of your business and how to utilise that to see growth, consider booking an appointment with a specialist consultant. Whether that’s a general business consultant or with a consultant from a more specialised field, such as speaking to a finance consultant.

If you’re struggling with a certain area of your business, such as your brand’s marketing, for instance, then you might want to consider expert marketing consultation. You might find that taking the time to speak with a specialist gives you the insight and knowledge that you need to give your business the boost it requires to meet your goals.

Work smarter, not harder

Be a smart worker, not a harder worker. Yes, growing a business requires a lot of hard work, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be smart about how you achieve business growth. Don’t be afraid to utilise smart tech as a means to an end for your business. Believe it or not, you can use smart tech to make managing your business processes simpler and easier – you can simplify and automate your entire operation.

There you have it, a simple guide to how you can make achieving business growth simpler, easier and more doable. Take note of the tips and ideas above, utilise them for your business and you should be able to make growing your business into a ‘big fish’ a little easier to achieve.

Advantages of VoIP for Small Businesses

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Advantages of VoIP for Small BusinessesYou want to do everything you can to realize and surpass your small business’s potential. Have you thought about implementing a Voice over Internet Protocol phone system? Don’t think this communication is only for larger businesses. Understand how VoIP technology is ideal for companies of every size in practically every industry.

Functionality

You may not realize that you can do more with VoIP than make phone calls. For instance, you can use the technology for teleconferencing, instant messaging email faxing, and video conferencing. With current events impacting business operations in unprecedented ways, having a reliable way to communicate with employees and customers from a distance is more vital than ever. When email, instant, or text messaging just aren’t enough, it can be a comfort to know that you can video chat with your team through a reliable VoIP service. Another great feature of VoIP technology is that you can have faxes and emails sent directly to your email, which can save you a lot of time.

Superior Call Quality

An essential aspect of understanding how to use VoIP it’s worth noting how great the call quality is on VoIP systems. Even the call quality on some smartphones is questionable at times. With VoIP, the technology has advanced to such a degree that it’s surpassed traditional landline call quality.

Security

Besides securing your business’s physical location, your business site, and your customer’s and employee’s sensitive data, have you taken steps to secure your phone calls? If not, you risk someone accessing your phone calls and other data. With VoIP, you can rest easy knowing that your phone calls and data are encrypted with standard protocols.

Portability

A VoIP system isn’t contained in a single device. Instead, VoIP systems depend on an internet connection. The way the technology works is you can use several devices to receive and make phone calls. This means you do not always have to be at the office to handle business. It also means you can easily transfer calls to your team without the caller needing to use a different number. Also, VoIP technology gives you the option of setting your status so people know when you’re available for phone calls, like your status on an instant messaging service.

Call Recording

Have you ever gotten off a phone call and realized that you forgot an essential piece of information or detail? Rather than calling the other person back to see if he or she recalls the detail, which is not always a guarantee, wouldn’t it be better if you could record future conversations so you do not have to worry about that happening again? VoIP’s call recording technology allows you to play back phone conversations, ensuring that you never have to guess a detail or piece of information. Additional advantages of this particular feature including accessing call log data, allowing you to predict when a person is likely to call in the future and how long she or he is likely to keep you on the phone. This lets you schedule your time more efficiently.

Improved Productivity

How many times have you missed a phone call and called the other person back only to have them not answer the phone for one reason or another? With VoIP, you can set it so that your call goes through different devices before going to voicemail. This feature saves everyone time and better ensures the other person answers your call the first time.

Do you feel your small business could benefit from a quality VoIP system? Try one out for yourself to see how you, your employees, and your customers like it.

2 Ways to Take Your Business to the Next Level

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Entrepreneurship | Next Level | 2 Ways to Take Your Business to the Next LevelYou didn’t start your business just to see it flounder and struggle at the foot of its market. You took the plunge and brought your organization to life because you wholeheartedly believed that it would one day be capable of reaching the pinnacle of its industry. If your business is to scale these incredibly lofty heights, you need to start taking action today. More to the point, you have to find a way to take your business to the next level.

To find out how this can be achieved, be sure to read on.

Expand Your Workspace

The bigger your workspace is, the more work you will be able to produce on a day-by-day basis. This will result in being able to provide your customers with a greater product range, which will ultimately result in standing a better chance of increasing your revenues. If you want to turn over a far greater profit and subsequently invest this extra money into taking your business to the next level, then you should seriously consider expanding your workspace.

Taking such action can entail you doing a number of different things. It can simply mean finding and moving into a bigger space, it can mean adding more space onto your current operational area, or it can even mean building your own bespoke space. Should you opt to follow the latter route — building your own workspace — you will be able to create an operational area that is tailored to your business’s specific wants and needs. Whatever you do, however, just make sure that you align yourself with a professional that is capable of creating bespoke buildings for businesses, such as BBB accredited Armstrong Steel. With them by your side, you will be able to circumvent the challenges of expanding your workspace and ultimately build an area that is optimized, safe and suited specifically to your needs.

Focus on Customer Service

If you want to attract and retain your target audience, you need to focus on your customer service capabilities. Quite simply, you should treat each individual consumer in a highly optimized and bespoke manner. Anything less, and your most desired client base will start looking for an alternative service provider in your market.

To improve your customer service, you must:

  • Understand your customer needs
  • Seek and analyze customer feedback
  • Go above and beyond to ‘WOW!’ your customers
  • Invest in customer service training for your sales team
  • Set clear standards and expectations with regards to customer service
  • Build your customer service processes around the consumer, not your organization
  • Empathize with your customers
  • Cross-sell as often as you can
  • Use positive language and body language
  • Know your products and services inside out
  • Always seek to establish common ground
  • Communicate with your customers clearly
  • Be an active listener
  • Respond to customer queries quickly

If you want to reach the very top of your industry, you constantly have to find a way to take your business to the next level. Put the above advice into practice, and you’ll be sure to do just that.