Observe, Imitate, and Modify: Growing a Business During The Pandemic
To have great ideas and innovation, one truly has to spend a lot of time researching and finding many sources to get inspired. However, the biggest dilemma comes from insecurities like “Is my idea so standard? If I apply it to my business, would my products go viral?”. Yes, if we want to talk about insecurities, we would be running out of pages.
As an entrepreneur or business owner, you have to be confident in your product and business. Even with the presence of this pandemic, we have to stay confident, never give up, and always believe in ourselves. Having a business is definitely tricky, especially when you run out of ideas on how to make it even more standout during this time. Many businesses are fighting to attract as many customers as they can.
Bagja Putra, the owner of Daging Sapi Diasapin, is one of Tokopedia’s sellers who had to adapt and pivot his business due to the pandemic. He started selling different kinds of smoked beef in Bandung and quickly had to sell them frozen online. To help other business owners who are currently struggling in growing their business, Bagja shared three simple yet effective tips that make business growth a super easy thing to do.
Tip #1: Observe
We are constantly occupied by reaching our targets, achieving a sales goal, and aim to be the best business anyone could have. Those focuses might leave you to feel stuck, not knowing what to do next, or even wonder if your products are not selling as well as before. When that happens, Badja suggests that you stop and observe.
Take some time to assess every aspect of your business, starting from the product quality, the sales, responses from customers, and much more. You might be surprised to find some errors or failures that hinder your business growth. In addition, we are in an era where everything, including trends, preferences, needs, and wants, is changing so quickly. Hence, by stopping and observing, you will be able to examine the situation from a helicopter view.
If you are stuck with your own ideas, this tip encourages you to seek ideas outside sources you usually refer to. You can brainstorm with family and friends, benchmark with other business owners, going through internet sources for ideas, and more. Remember: ideas can come from anywhere, so don’t limit yourself to known possibilities but also explore new ones!
Tip #2: Imitate
Sometimes, an idea or creation is not purely ours to claim. Ideas come from different places and people, so there’s a slight chance that the idea is 100% yours. Although the title of this section explicitly states ‘imitate’, we suggest something different.
The needs and wants of our customers will eventually be the same over and over again. This means that many businesses would have to produce the same product or service to fulfill everyone’s needs and wants. With this in mind, it’s okay to produce similar goods with someone else, but don’t forget to add your own touch to it.
Copying and pasting someone’s creation can cause many issues. These issues are definitely not worth it, especially when the product you’re selling does not stand out and catch customer’s attention. Therefore, we suggest you follow the next tip as a follow-up!
Tip #3: Modify
Make sure to create a differentiating aspect or detail to your product or business. The differentiator is limitless, it could be in the design, shape of the product that offers the same purpose, flavor, experience, and more. Price and quality are no longer the only two main differentiators.
Creativity is definitely essential for this tip and it is what makes your business and products unique from others. Everyone likes a business or product that has its own personality or identity. Give your customers a reason why they should always go to your business to get a specific product.
Growing Is Easier than Ever
It’s safe to say that the three tips that Bagja shared are quite easy to do. It takes great patience, willingness to improve, many trials and errors, experiments, and evaluations to beautifully grow.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the situation certainly asked us to stop for a while. As we lower our pace a bit, the tips that Bagja shared are perfect for us to reflect on. By taking some time to stop and observe, Bagja is still able to experience a 300% increase in sales due to the growing demand for frozen meat. This is possible because he really took the time to experiment and explore new recipes and ingredients, although smoked beef is not something new in the market.
Just like Bagja, you should not only put so much pressure on reaching a target or profit but also remember to have fun as well as aim for sustainability and longevity for your business. The challenges of the pandemic are merely a mindset. With this in mind, Tokopedia invites you to always support our local sellers and go through this pandemic hand-in-hand!
