There are many ways to help your business grow, but what works for one company might not work for another. Your business is unique and, well, yours, but three very important factors are constant when you ask yourself “What do I need to measure to figure out how exactly to grow my business?
1. Measure Your Online Presence
In a world where customers are searching for everything online, take advantage of the trending topics on social media. Interact with users on different platforms and show off your products while announcing promotions at the same time. Customers are looking for you and want to follow you; about 77% of small businesses are already using social media for marketing purposes, why shouldn’t yours be one of them?
If you can’t seem to drive more traffic to your website, check out what’s happening by looking into web data and seeing what your online viewers are checking out or avoiding on your website. Seeing daily statistics can be quite informative and give you insight into what the average consumer is looking at. You can also learn things like how many people visited specific pages, what countries your visitors are from and what time zone they live in if they’re Americans.
It might be time to revamp your website design entirely. This in itself can be an event! Build up excitement and mystery by dropping subtle hints on social media. Let your followers guess what’s happening and encourage the speculation. A website relaunch can be an exciting way to unveil the changes that you hope to make as a company, be that in new company culture, improved customer experience or a new line of products or services.
2. Evaluate The Happiness Of Customers
Who but your clients are the lifeblood of your business? If they’re doing well and things are going smoothly, figure out why that dynamic works and what you are doing right. Can you continue to promote that culture in the future or carry it over if you open another location? Keep it up, buttercup, you’re doing great! Pass on the positivity and keep it going.
If customers are not happy then your business could suffer for it in a bad way. Sometimes there is that wildcard client that gets unnecessarily snippy and leaves raging reviews on Yelp and Google Review and anywhere else they can find to complain, and whether you like it or not these negative reviews can hurt your business. To turn a bad customer experience — online or in person — into a positive learning experience, follow some guidelines:
- Take responsibility and own up to whatever the issue is, apologizing as well. It doesn’t matter if you think the complaint is unjust, remember that the customer is always right.
- Offer an amicable resolution to make them happy.
- Tell them that you’d like to speak to them personally and arrange a time to call/meet with them personally.
3. Measure Yearly Revenue
You went into business for yourself to make money, so obviously the amount of income you’re making every year is a major point to assess when you’re trying to figure out how to grow. Take a look at your most recent year-to-date sales numbers and ask yourself:
- What did you do well and how did you make that happen? How can you keep the good times rolling?
- What could you have improved upon? Are you bringing in a healthy revenue or are you struggling to stay afloat?
- Is your current budget plan working? What mistakes did you make that you now see are easy enough to fix?
Hiring an accountant can be a great way to keep you organized and stay on top of your finances. Certified accountants are great for offering financial advice, giving you their opinion on your debt to income ratio and take care of all the behind-the-scenes paperwork. If you already have an accountant, ask them to help you look over your numbers and develop a plan of attack.
Each business is different, and not everyone will measure exactly the same things to figure out how they can grow better; however, the preceding three are truths in every business. The internet is here to stay, the opinion of customers will always matter and it will forever take money to make money. Use the knowledge you have at your disposal and take a good hard look at your business plan. It might be time to tweak it, alter it or scrap it entirely — just make sure that you know what aspects are most important to help you grow.
