Steps to Ensure Small Businesses Succeed

Steps to Ensure Small Businesses Succeed

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent

There are strategies, steps, and processes to help your small business succeed. Brad Gara, General Manager from Community Futures Elk Island Region (CFER) asked the staff at the CFEIR what these are, and their reply was, “The first step when thinking about starting a business is to evaluate yourself. Why do I want to start a business? Is this a lifestyle for me? What are my skills? Know your strengths and your weaknesses. You want to start a business that caters to your strengths. This knowledge will make you happier and your chances of success greater. This step is crucial and often forgotten. The first stop would be Community Futures Elk Island Region. We offer business training, consulting, and financing for those who are interested in starting or expanding a small business.”

Gara went on to say if you can find a mentor in the industry you’ll be entering there is no better market research tool then this. They will have firsthand knowledge of the industry as a whole, trends, marketing, clients, cash, flow knowledge, and more.

”Even if it is someone who is not in your industry, having a mentor to guide you along the way will help you work smarter, not harder, learning from past mistakes and bouncing ideas off someone. Being around other, more experienced entrepreneurs will inspire you and help you achieve your goals.”

Gara and the staff at CFER said if you want to succeed you must be flexible and open-minded, open your networks up, always review and adapt your business plan as well as your cash.

Gara mentioned some of the challenges businesses face, everything from keeping up with marketing and the rapid changes ineffective marketing, honing in on your target audience and reaching them in a personal way that speaks to them, forever changing environments that are out of their control, money management, business owner fatigue, and owner dependant.

The best way for businesses to compete according to CFER is you must find your uniqueness. “By unique I do not mean that no one else offers what you offer. It means positioning yourself as being different from them. Think Tim Hortons and Starbucks both offer coffee but position themselves differently in the marketplace. Your uniqueness is what will make you stand out in the sea of sameness. Instead of striving to be better than, strive to be different than. Customers will not come to you; you must go to them. Get to know your customers (target market) habits, where they work, where they play, where they shop, how they find things, what interests they have, etc. and be there. You can build your marketing plan based on the answers to these questions. This also applies to how you would network within your community. Be where your customers are.

“To retain customers, develop a loyalty plan, and have your employees know this plan thoroughly. A loyalty plan is more than having a punch card. It also would include how the customers’ experience is from the marketing throughout the sales process to the moment they exit the door and continue with some follow-up process as well. Depending on your industry and business all of this may not be feasible, but for most small businesses it would be. Unless you are a bargain shop, experience means more to the majority of consumers than price does. Make them feel special, give them an experience.

The cost for a business to retain customers over attracting new ones is substantially less.

“Then retaining employees is also extremely important for a small business. It can be costly to hire and retrain new employees, both money and time. Happy employees help businesses thrive. High turnover is stressful for the rest of your team. This stress is not only felt by the team but also trickles down to the consumer and affecting the overall experience. There is a costly risk of loss of sales and customers (new and loyal). It is hard to build a business culture which creates happy employees with a team that is constantly revolving,” Gala said.