Experts Advise How to Increase Business Growth in 2018
Starting a business isn’t easy, yet keeping that business afloat is often the more grueling task.
According to recent research, 20 percent of small businesses don’t make it past their first year in business, 30 percent don’t make it past their second, and an additional 50 percent don’t make it past their fifth.
Only 30 percent of small businesses survive past their tenth year in business. With such staggering statistics, new businesses are rightly afraid of failure.How do you beat the odds and ensure your business is part of the 30 percent that soars past the 10-year mark?
How do you give your business the competitive edge to overcome obstacles and avoid standstills?
Here’s the best advice from business experts about increasing business growth in the competitive age of 2018:
Part 1
Avoid complacency
Kokulan Mahendiran is the Founder and President of an online retailer of respiratory medical devices (CPAP machines) and accessories, Maple CPAP. He urges fellow business participants to avoid complacency:
“Don’t ever let yourself become content with what you’re already achieving. Finding comfort after a certain degree of success is entirely natural; however, it is important to keep pushing yourself, not only to keep your company growing but to keep it competitive.”
Mahendiran continues to say,
“always aim to beat your targets, and make sure to increase your targets every time you beat them.” Lastly, he reminds us that “sustained growth is essential for a sustainable company.”
Start a podcast
In light of our technological times, Doug Staneart, CEO of The Leader’s Institute, suggests that business owners start a podcast.
With podcast popularity rising, Staneart decided to start a presentation skills podcast called Fearless Presentations almost a year ago. Staneart says since then,
“we have seen our registrations into our presentations skills class almost double in that same time period. We find that being able to communicate with a specific group of people on a weekly basis via a voice message is more personal and intimate, so our customers are even more loyal now.”
Staneart explains podcasts work well to sustain and build business growth because
“we are constantly building and strengthening that personal relationship over time with each of our listeners.”
Staneart provides a couple statistics to back up his findings:
“According to Nielsen Ratings, podcast listenership is up 157 percent since 2014 because of smartphones.”
Consequently, Staneart’s business “had an additional 27 percent increase in repeat business over the next three months.”
If your business doesn’t have the resources to start a podcast, there are still options; you could find local podcasters that relate to your industry and volunteer to be a guest on their show, resulting in more customers and better customer relationships as Staneart described.
Use social media to your advantage
Zach Hendrix, co-founder of the lawn care service GreenPal, recommends using Facebook Groups as a simple and effective method for increasing your business growth. Hendrix explains:
“No matter your niche or vertical, there is a Facebook Group you can participate in to contribute to the discussion, answer questions, and develop a presence to refer people to your business, often times when they are looking for exactly what you offer.”
He continues to say:
“Facebook also just launched a dedicated mobile app to support their groups’ communities, so now it’s easier than ever to manage the groups that you participate in, monitor the conversations, and participate while on the go throughout your day.”
Hendrix and his company use Facebook Groups to monitor local group conversation regarding lawn care. If anyone is searching for a lawn care service, Greenpal respectfully lets the inquirer know about the company. Hendrix’s business has had a great success with this strategy:
“We track the success and 60 percent of the time we make a recommendation, they sign up for our services.”
Hendrix adds that an additional benefit to Facebook Groups is that it could work for almost any business, regardless of its niche.
Michael Arking, co-founder of Social Motion Films, agrees with Hendrix that implementing social media into your business is essential for growth. Arking’s advises to
“Leverage video across channels on social, on your website and marketplaces like Amazon.”
He continues:
“Video today is not the same as 10 years ago; it needs to be short, entertaining, and on message. For instance, on Facebook, the cost of video advertising can cost pennies compared to still image ads because Facebook prefers video for engagement. Video on Instagram is also very important, as videos get close to 10 times the clicks and engagement.”
With social media’s significant effect on businesses, Hendrix and Arking use these social media platforms to improve engagement with their brands and to ultimately increase their business growth.
Find tools to automate parts of your busines
Owner of a marketing solutions company called Empty Desk Solutions, Brittany Hardy suggests automating parts of your business when possible and necessary. Hardy begins:
“Seek out time-saving tools that can automate parts of your business. It’s more than just finding the right tool for one job and calling it a day; it’s being relentless in your search of the tool that can automate the most in your business without compromising your core promise or customer experience. It doesn’t matter if you offer a service or a product, there are always tools that can make you more efficient as a business owner.”
Hardy believes that automating parts of your business can free up your time for other, more important tasks. Afterall, in business, time is money. Hardy provides an example of a problem that could be addressed with automation efforts:
“Last month we decided that the ads we were running for our clients on Facebook while effective could probably take less time to set up, which would save our clients’ money, and we wanted to seek out a platform that would give us more easily digestible information for our clients. The reports that Facebook provides us don’t give our clients the level of detail they are looking for, and when we create a custom report, it’s no longer understandable.”
Hardy acted right away:
“We went on a search for a tool that could help us optimize the ads in less sets and provide us with a cleaner interface for seeking the reporting stats. Within a couple of hours, we found a tool that allowed us to set up 30 variations of one ad in less than 10 minutes. This is something previously that would have taken upwards of two hours. Sometimes trying out different tools and platforms can seem like a headache but when you find the right one, the time you stand to save can be absolutely game-changing for your business!”
Automation not only helped Hardy and her business save time and effort, but it directly resulted in business growth and more efficient spending.
Nurture your business community
Caris, Accountability Coach and E-commerce Consultant at Learn With Caris, advises business owners to nurture and grow the community surrounding your business.
She says:
“When you nurture a community, you open up the opportunity for your potential clients to get to know you without you even trying or being ‘salesy.’ And when they get to know, like and trust you, they are more likely to invest in what you put out.”
Caris proceeds by correcting a common mistake in business:
“It’s not about collecting a bunch of business cards; it’s about building genuine relationships with people who eventually want to see you win just as much as you want for them.” Caris thinks that “having great relationships with the right people opens you up to opportunities you never knew possible.”
Of all the business growth strategies Caris has implemented, she says nurturing the community and the relationships within it has been the biggest driving force for her business growth.
Increase word of mouth through the Pareto Principle
Regardless of the changing times in business, one growth strategy never seems to die out: word of mouth. Adam Jon, CEO of Hollywood Mirrors, swears by using word of mouth to keep his business growth booming.
Watson uses the Pareto Principle, the idea that
“80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of your customers or 20 percent of your activities.”
With this in mind, Jon urges business owners to focus on this group:
“Treat your customers like a king and they will then refer their friends, and you will get natural organic growth through word of mouth. Only when you have tried and optimized this pipeline of 20 percent of customers should you start looking elsewhere to get sales.”
Jon implemented this strategy by utilizing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Google AdWords to get better exposure and improved Return on Investment (ROI). Online marketing combined with customer satisfaction led to a 300 percent increase in his business.
Identify the true problem, not just the symptom
In business it’s easy to get tunnel vision, only focusing on one goal, such as sales numbers, and neglecting other areas that need attention.
Sarah Brennan, CEO and Principal Strategist of Accelir, validated this fixation on what she calls the “problem area.” Brennan’s advice is to steer clear of this preoccupation:
“It is important to look at growth as a holistic issue. Too often leadership teams focus on the ‘problem area,’ like lack of sales, and invests energy trying to fix that instead of looking at the product, marketing strategy, and current customer and employee satisfaction.” Brennan realizes that “it is easy to spend a lot of time, money, and effort trying to fix the symptom rather than the problem causing a stall in growth.”
To fix this, identify the true problem area in the company, not just the symptom. Your business will get to the root of the issue immediately instead of simply treating the symptoms of a larger issue that needs resolving first.
Take a listening tour
Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder and CEO of a marketing consulting firm called Mavens & Moguls, explained a difficult time when her business hit a lull.
What freed her company from this slump was a listening tour.
Fenn encourages businesses to start a listening tour by making
“a list of the movers and shakers, people you admire and prospects. Ask a few smart, open-ended questions, then sit back and take notice. They will be more than happy to tell you what is on their mind. If you listen to what they share with you, there will be plenty of opportunities to help them.”
Fenn explains that listening with no strings attached allows people to be more open and considerate of what a business has to offer. Fenn started this outreach with simple emails and phone calls, and when the time came to meet with people, she brought a pen and paper to listen to potential clients and to ask what they needed from her.
For the price of a few coffees and meals, Fenn tells us she got an earful and several new clients, getting her business growth flowing again.
Sustaining business growth is difficult but these tips from business experts will help you achieve your advancement goals for your company. If you’re newer to the business industry and need additional help preparing your business for growth, check out the top merchant account companies to help you set up a merchant account and handle your future business payments.
We also interviewed experts on merchant account services to make your transition into business operation as smooth as possible.
Want more business growth tips from additional experts? Check out part two of this article.
Originally published at bestcompany.com.
Part 2
As mentioned in part one, sustaining business growth, especially in the competitive market of 2018, can be extremely difficult. Even if your business is currently doing well, you never know when a roadblock will emerge. How do you prepare yourself for obstacles and ensure you are doing everything in your power to grow, avoid standstills, and keep your company from going out of business?
You start by consulting business experts who have done just that.
Here are even more tips from experts who have learned how to grow a business in demanding times:
Choose the right shopping platform
Brandon Chopp is a Digital Manager for iHeartRaves, a festival fashion shopping platform featured in the INC. 5000 four years in a row. His company also expands to two other brands, INTO THE AM and Emazing Lights. Chopp’s vast experience has shown that choosing the right shopping platform for your business is crucial.
Chopp’s business originally used the e-commerce stor Magento and ended up losing money based on the shopping platform’s inability to handle a high volume of customers. After the company’s CEO was featured on ABC’s Shark Tank, the site was hit with too many users at once, and Magento’s website crashed.
After learning the importance of a shopping platform, Chopp’s company switched to Shopify and has been able to handle high volume traffic ever since. Chopp says,
“The moral of the story is to take your time and research every possible option before choosing your shopping platform. It can make or break your company.”
Thankfully, Chopp’s company bounced back after its shopping platform mishap, but other companies may not be as lucky.
Invest in yourself first
CEO of Velo IT Group, Taylor Toce advises investing in not only your company, but in yourself as well.
“Invest in yourself first; make yourself better by constantly challenging yourself. As a rule of thumb, if I ever feel comfortable, I know I am not doing the right thing, that I need to do to scale my business. You must become comfortably uncomfortable.”
By trusting and pushing yourself to improve, you will have a solid foundation for your business. In turn, your business will grow and improve as you personally grow and improve.
Hire and properly train the right employees
A business can’t survive without good employees. Founder of LUMAsearch, April Davis says businesses need to take the time to hire the right employees for the job.
Simply selecting employees to up your body count isn’t going to work; you need to ensure the people you hire are going to treat it like it’s their company too, rather than just another job. Davis expands,
“For a small business looking to grow, it’s important to have the right players at the table. They need to be people who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves. The words ‘that’s not my job,’ should not exist in their vocabulary. They have to be dedicated to the mission.”
Davis also realizes that to have this type of staff, you need to provide them with extensive training that will give them a solid foundation at the company.
A thriving staff is one of the resources you need to make sure your business thrives too.
Identify core values
Rob Braiman, CEO of Cogent Analytics, expresses the need to identify your desired core values at the birth of your company:
“Most Entrepreneurs fail due to missing fundamentals at inception, or during the lifecycle of their business. Growth cannot occur in an environment where foundational business principles have not been adhered to.”
When foundational core values aren’t developed, Braiman says,
“Any weaknesses are exposed usually post growth when the aforementioned have not been shown appropriate diligence. Every aspect of operations is negatively impacted by an organization without core values and a mission. Lost opportunity due to employees playing fast and loose and negatively impacting a brand has a long-lasting effect, not just with the one sale lost, but most often in relationships where potential customers view the organization negatively over a long period.”
Without values and a mission to build the foundation of your business, Braiman explains the high risk of failure. Whether it is right after launch or five years down the road, a cracked foundation will likely catch up with your business.
Reinvent your business when necessary
President of the highly successful business CelebriDucks, Craig Wolfe advises business owners to reinvent themselves when necessary. If what you’re doing isn’t working, consider coming from a new angle.
Wolfe took his original concept of celebrity look-alike rubber ducks and instead of changing the ducks to look exactly like celebrities, he decided to produce
“regular rubber ducks dressed up to give you the feeling of famous people.”
Wolfe explains,
“It was a bit of a different way of orchestrating our same concept.”
Wolfe reinvented his product, which ultimately reinvigorated his entire business.
Although it was strenuous, Wolfe’s company did at least five years’ worth of its best work within one year. And since its reinvention, the business has exploded, being voted one of the “Top 100 Gifts” by Entertainment Weekly, and being featured on The Tonight Show and Conan. A different approach to a similar concept was all his business needed to reach its potential.
Reflecting on his success, Wolfe concludes,
“It’s like a shark. They have to keep moving or they die. And so it is with business. You must always be reinventing what you do even if you have to undermine what you did in the past.”
Create an extensive FAQ section
Cristian Rennella is the CEO and co-founder of oMelhowTrato, a comparison tool of financial products, such as car insurance and investment funds. He suggests content marketing through an extensive FAQ section on your business websites.
Through his years of experience, Rennella tried more than 54 content marketing strategies online.
He says,
“I can assure you there is only one marketing idea that generated the best ROI results for my company in 2018: Answering the questions of my users as an expert.”
Rennlla’s company received more than 50 queries per week and the vast majority were general questions. Rennella’s company decided to use this to its advantage and created a FAQ section to answer commonly asked questions, boosting the company’s conversion rate on customers and its Google ranking.
The precise responses to specific consumer questions were indexed by Google which then listed Rennella’s site as a top result, driving further traffic and potential customers to his company. Rennella expands,
“This mechanism of transforming the traditional questions and answers (FAQ) section in a blog where we published all our answers helped us to grow by 34.7 percent.”
Any business, small or large, can benefit from developing a robust FAQ section for its website.
Focus keywords on voice searches
Reuben Kats, the COO of Falcon Marketing, suggests implementing keywords into your website with voice searches in mind. Kats explains,
“According to Google, one in every five searches comes from a voice search. This shows us that the rise in the digital assistant is real and is changing the way search queries are performed. Because of the rise in voice searches, it’s important to make sure that your SEO marketing strategy shifts to meet with this growing trend.”
He suggests focusing on longer keyword searches for a more natural and conversational tone.
Link build for quality over quantity
Kats also suggests that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to link building for your business website:
“The 2018 SEO trends that deal with link building sum up to one thing: quality over quantity. What you want to accomplish and acquire with your backlinks is to add value to your company, as well as become a stronger authority in your field. This doesn’t necessarily mean that backlinks should or should not come from the most popular sites; what is important is that they should come from sites which are the most relevant to your industry.”
“The success of these kinds of SEO trends moves towards developing powerful contacts in your niche, as well as building a strong relationship in the long run.”
Optimize your website for mobile users
Kats’ last piece of advice for growing your business is to optimize websites to satisfy mobile users. With user experience becoming more and more crucial for e-commerce business success, Kats recommends delivering a hassle-free platform to increase the chances of people engaging with your website.
Optimizing for mobile users does more than just increase customer satisfaction. It also
“tells search engines which pages are more useful for visitors. Search engines will always favor a website with an excellent user experience.”
Kats believes
“SEO trends come and go, but these are three SEO trends that should be around for the long haul.”
We know sustaining business growth can be anything but easy, but this expert advice along with the advice of experts from part one provides an inventory of skills and ideas to keep your business growing.
Originally published at bestcompany.com.
