Photo by Akil Mazumder
Running your business for X years doesn’t guarantee you Y results. Some businesses gain hundreds and thousands of customers during their 1-2 years of existence, while others stay micro-small even after tens of years.
What’s the problem and are there fixed activities that will help you appear on the list of Fortune 500 companies?
Of course, there isn’t. But you shouldn’t stay micro-small all the time either. To achieve sustainable growth, businesses must prioritize innovation, efficiency, and customer engagement, which can be supported by a range of business solutions. Here are 5 components that will help you skip the first stage and make your way to at least a mid-size business.
Branding
Photo by Kaboompics .com
Today it’s easy to create an Instagram business profile and think of growing that business. Many owners don’t even care about creating a logo, choosing a name, colors for their brand. And how can a similar “Instagram business profile” think about growth?
This is a page that we found accidentally. It’s obvious that the profile image is a stock photo, the business doesn’t have any name, and the story highlights don’t have a common style.
There will be people who will buy from this page, even more people will have doubts about the origin and quality of the products.
Ordering a logo is expensive but you may use a free logo maker to create something unique until you are ready to invest. Wrapping up your products in branded boxes again will cost you money but that’s what makes your business a brand.
Photo by Annie Spratt
Cash
Can you start a business with $0? Sometimes you can. But most of the time you will need to pay for branding, hire employees, run ads, etc.
For example, let’s say you started a jewelry business. You order the pieces at the jeweler but you need to promote it. You will probably open a business page on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram.
Well, it’s free, and using hashtags, adding location tags is also free but you need professional photos, videos to succeed.
Then you need someone to answer the comments and messages in a few hours after receiving them. You will also need someone to write nice captions, add stories, and engage with prospects via comments, likes, story reactions, etc.
Can you handle everything from supplies to delivery to social media? Will you find a free online store maker and free hosting? Well, you can’t.
This is just an example but any business sooner or later will need a website, social media presence, and services provided by third parties.
Penny saved is a penny earned. But if you don’t start with some cash in your pocket and don’t invest 25-35% of your revenue back into business, your growth efforts get closer to failure.
The right team, the right procedures
89% of all businesses in America have less than 20 employees. In many businesses, owners and their partners (friends, family members) are the only employees who handle everything by themselves. But does it lead to growth?
One-two people can’t be good at everything (sales, marketing, product management, accounting, legal aspects, etc). But even if they are, it’s so exhausting to work all day long.
Business owners should learn how to hire candidates, what tasks to assign, and what results to expect from them.
Mindset
Carol Dweck, an American psychologist published a book where she was talking about the difference between fixed and growth mindset.
Business owners with a growth mindset welcome challenges, try to find solutions, and dare to task risks. And it’s they who can lead their team, make growth-oriented decisions, and prevent regress.
Mindset isn’t something physical, you don’t need money to buy it and you can’t borrow it. It comes with education. continuous learning, and of course belief.
Product
You will waste thousands of dollars if your product/service isn’t truly worth your customer’s attention, time, and investment.
You have probably heard the term “product-led growth”, a methodology that puts the product at the heart of your activities. It’s when you care about the product itself more than about marketing and sales because you are confident in what you deliver.
For example, one SaaS company may be hugely investing in B2B lead generation, hoping that the more leads, the more conversions. However, another SaaS company may invest most of its resources in following trends, developing new features, fixing technical problems.
When it comes to products, you should also think about things like USP, price, etc. Low prices and constant discounts aren’t always the best ways to sell.
Author’s Bio:
Michael is a member of the editorial team at Leads At Scale. His main areas of expertise include business growth, inbound, and outbound marketing & sales. He is a walking wanderer and a travel enthusiast.
