By Don Kyle
Most small businesses are facing a number of challenges today. As our economy continues to flounder, consumers are more likely to be cautious with their purchases, leading to decreased sales and lower profits or quite often losses for businesses. Consequently, businesses are struggling to meet their financial obligations, which can directly impact their ability to survive. So what are small businesses to do?
Small businesses have an advantage over large businesses in that they can make decisions much more quickly to modify their strategy, workforce, product or service offerings, or even their company image to adapt to the ever-changing economy.
In the words of Michael Gerber, author of E-Myth, “Most entrepreneurs fail because you are working IN your business rather than ON your business.” In fact most are so busy just running their daily operations, they rarely have the time to take the necessary steps to improve their businesses.
Here are several suggestions that may help you create a “plan of action” to compete in our challenging economy.
- Take a look at your business by creating a flowchart, documenting how your business currently operates.
- Review and assess your current business plan, specifically describing your current market area, target customers, competitors, demand for your products or services, threats, opportunities, etc.
- Review and assess your current marketing and promotional strategy, including the effectiveness of your current advertising. Calculate the returns you currently achieve from these.
- Assess your competition and look for opportunities based on any identified advantages you have.
- Research similar businesses in markets outside of yours and look for new or different ways to grow your business.
By taking the time to perform some or all of these steps, you may identify some areas you can modify or change very quickly, which may lead to higher revenues and profits.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions about growing your business.
Don Kyle is the CEO and Founder of Small Bizz MBA, a company which assists businesses with their marketing, branding and advertising needs. (404) 580-6331, dkyle@smallbizzmba.com
