Follow These Best Practices for Key Areas of Your Small Business
(Guest blog post by Amy Collett) Entrepreneurs are expected to be a master of all trades, but becoming proficient in managing a business takes time and experience. To help you accelerate this process, we explore various steps you can implement for managing key areas of your business.
Handle Finances
Maintaining a healthy cash flow is integral for the survival and success of any small business. Here are two ways you can maintain a balance between costs and income:
Maintain Records: Each transaction, whether incoming or outgoing needs to be recorded. This will include sales revenue, marketing spending, salaries, insurance premiums, funding, etc.
Mind Your Credit: It's important to focus on maintaining good credit since lenders will often look at this when considering business loans. Having strong credit can make a big difference in getting approved for the financing you need to grow your company.
Improve Accounts Receivables: Be firm with your clients when it comes to making payments, by including payment deadlines in your contracts and sending timely follow-ups. For regular defaulters, opt to stop services and use a collections agency.
Select the best accounting software so you’re able to record transactions automatically, create financial statements with ease and automate the process of sending invoices.
Focus on Marketing
Having a strong digital presence makes it easier for customers to find your business, learn about products and make purchases.
Work on Your Content: By creating blog posts, infographics, and other types of content, you can attract more leads and customers. Plus, regular content creation can improve your SEO and search engine ranking. If you need help with content, connect with Rebel Road Creative.
Create a Website: Utilize your website as a one-stop-shop for promoting your products, making sales, and providing customer service. To find the best website builders on the market click here!
Get Listed on Google: As reported by Eclincher, creating a listing on Google is free and will automatically make your business show up on searches and Google Maps. Additionally, it allows customers to leave reviews, visit your website and learn about your products.
Provide Great Customer Service
According to research, 70% of customers will spend more after experiencing good customer service. Here are two ways to provide the best service to your customers:
Be Present Everywhere: Provide customer service through all popular mediums your customers use, such as social media, emails, messaging apps, calls, etc.
Act on Feedback: After each sale or service, gather feedback from your customers. Analyze this feedback to find areas of improvement and make swift changes to implement them.
Implementing these best practices will help you stay on top of business finances, create a strong customer base and serve them to the best of your abilities.
Amy Collett is the creator of Bizwell.org, a website that helps professionals and entrepreneurs build and strengthen their personal brand.
