In the previous two blog posts, the Burbank asset-based lending professionals at The Commercial Finance Group gave you tips for starting your own small business, and keeping it running for years to come. We’ll continue on that topic here, with even more ways to achieve small business success in Part 3 of The Complete Guide to Starting a Small Business.
Experiment with sales.
Getting a business off the ground is difficult—all of the logistics, the brainstorming, and planning can take up plenty of your time, your energy, and your money. However, there’s nothing tougher in the business world than getting your first few sales. It can be scary to turn on the “open” sign or launch the retail website and wait for the sales to roll in (or not)—it leads people to panic a little too early in the business process.
When you’re trying to lock down those first few sales, and figuring out which avenues will generate the most sales, it’s important to experiment a bit. Putting all your eggs into one sales basket or hoping and wishing for people to walk through your doors will not generate sales—you need to bring your brand to the people, especially when you’re just starting out as a business.
“Spreading the word” about your business can take on many forms. You can pay for social media or Google advertising to drive users to your new site, present your new business at your local small business chapter meeting, or offer can’t-miss incentives, like a massive discount on a product or a free service, for the first people who come through your doors. Try out any and all of these methods, and find ways to spread word of your business inexpensively. Once you’ve worked these business avenues for awhile, evaluate your sales to see which methods generated the most income for your business. Once you’ve developed a strong base of supporters early on who (hopefully) have a positive view of your business, those supporters will tell their family members and friends, and your business will grow. All you need is a little experimentation and some hard work at the start.
Keep an eye on your competition.
At this point in the small business world, it’s incredibly rare to see a business without any direct or indirect competition in their industry. If you’re starting a small business, you better believe that you’re going to have some competitors whether they’re down the street or on the internet—no bad blood, just a part of the ever-growing, ever-changing business world.
While it’s not in your best interests to sabotage or talk trash on your competitors, it’s definitely in your best interests to keep tabs on your competitors so you can find ways to capitalize on their weaknesses and take up a greater share of your industry market. Look at the reviews of your competitors online—could your business offer something that customers demand, but your competitors can’t deliver? Do customers complain about the poor customer service of your competitors, or are they unsatisfied with their inconvenient business hours? Are there complementary products that you could sell with your primary products that your competitors don’t offer? These are things to keep in mind when studying your competitors so you can beat them to the punch, provide better service, and make your business the primary choice in your industry.
These tactics don’t just work in brick and mortar scenarios—studying the competition is important in the digital world as well. Are your competitors spending money on Facebook or Google advertising to drive traffic? Do they have a strong social media presence? With this knowledge you can do two things: work hard to beat your competitors at their own digital marketing game, or take advantage of other marketing methods your competitors might have overlooked.
Don’t be afraid to change what isn’t working.
Creating a business plan and having hard-nosed goals and objectives is important for your business success—and while it’s important to stick to your guns and work hard to reach these objectives, it’s also important to realize that sometimes, that business plan you spent years crafting and all those marketing strategies just aren’t working. Don’t get us wrong—it takes hard work, time, and a solid investment to make money in any business. You must have a certain degree of patience to see your ideas through. However, certain tactics and business ideas might be wholly ineffective after long periods of testing—and at that point, it’s time to cut your losses and adapt your business to customer demands. You might love that spicy BBQ sauce you’re selling on your BBQ sauce website—but if you’re only selling three bottles of spicy BBQ sauce per week, and 30 bottles of your Chipotle BBQ sauce per week, it might be worth considering whether your spicy BBQ sauce is worth the investment, or if a different flavor of sauce might be more appealing.
We get it—it’s easy to get wrapped up in your grand dreams for your business, and it’s easy to expect everything to go according to plan. Unfortunately, it never does. To survive as a business, you need to change and adapt—you must know what’s working and know what’s not, and tailor your business plans accordingly in the short- and long-term.
Don’t give up.
As we mentioned in Part 1 of this series, a large majority of small business will die within five years of opening, and a large percentage of that majority will die will go out of business within a year or two. There are plenty of reasons why great small business ideas never find success, whether it’s a lack of cash flow, poor market conditions, or stiff competition. However, a lot of the time, small businesses go out of business because people thrown in the towel when things get hard.
The United States has a way of romanticizing the small business world—they say anyone can start a small business, and anyone can grow that small business into something a little less small. It’s just not that easy. Starting a small business takes a hefty investment up front, endless work that goes well beyond 9-5 business hours, the right team members to divvy up the work, some miraculous marketing efforts, and of course, a little bit of luck. If it were easy, fewer small businesses would fail.
There are plenty of aspects of small business success that are out of your control—but the amount of effort you put into your business is completely up to you. If you work hard and refuse to give up, you’ll outlast the fairweather small business owners around you and have a better shot at long-term success.
Asset-based Lending from The Commercial Finance Group
Every great small business owner has a trusted business partner and dedicated teammate who guides them to business success—and that’s where the Commercial Finance Group can help. Our small business loans help those with great ideas get the cash flow they need to get started and sustain business success for years to come. Learn more about our loans, and get started with The Commercial Finance Group today!
