September 9, 2019

You’ve started your business, and now it’s time to sustain and grow it. Launching a business is one part of the journey. The real journey begins when you start strategizing how the business can become bigger and better. Growing your business works similarly to growing yourself as a person. You learn along the way with a lot of trial and error. The best advice for entrepreneurs trying to grow their company is to stay open-minded, listen and learn from advice.

Pay attention to your customers

You need a solid understanding of your customers to keep them interested. Your customers are what keep your company afloat, so it’s crucial to hear what they have to say to accommodate their needs. Although it may seem like a waste of time and ineffective use of energy and resources; surveys, review programs and research will provide incredible insight into your customers’ patterns and needs.

Not only should you listen to your customers, but you should keep a personal relationship with them. Customers are loyal to personable businesses, especially businesses where they feel part of the family. By creating a relationship with your customer(s), you not only serve them, but you become their friend and build trust. After all, people support their those they’re close with!

Hire and delegate

Entrepreneurs have the habit of doing everything themselves due to their soaring ambition and perfectionism. These are not bad qualities, but when it comes to running a business, one simply cannot do it all alone.

One of the biggest lessons an entrepreneur learns over some time is that hiring the right people for your company changes the game. Your employees determine the success of your business. Once hired, it’s all about delegation. Entrepreneurs will hire their first few employees and learn how to effectively delegate tasks to the team.

It’s also about creating a culture and values for the team to follow. Univest believes that “building a strong and motivated team is the key to making your business prosper.”

Employees want to feel a sense a purpose with their work. They want to know their work is making a difference and that it matters - whether that impact is on a large or small scale. The more your employees care about their work, the more they will care about the company.

Strategy and Foundation

When building a business, it’s important to build a system where the business will run smoothly in your absence. A business relies on its foundation and how operations run. It’s not easy finding the right system, but with time and experience, your company will adjust accordingly. Eventually, you figure out what works best for you and your team and it’ll increase overall efficiency.

As an entrepreneur, you need to be prepared for whatever may happen. That’s why it’s essential to have different plans, including exit strategies. Whether ‘exit’ means selling the company to another party, giving up a portion or walking away from the business, the business itself should be built on a foundation where if an ‘exit’ were to happen, the business wouldn’t be affected by it.

Look the part

Keep your company relevant in the marketplace with your image. Many small businesses will overlook setting a budget towards branding and marketing, thinking that the service or product can sell itself. The truth is, today’s world is a marketing world. Everything around us is marketed and branded. So why avoid one of the largest components that can lead to success?

Investing time, thought and effort into the image of your company is crucial. You want to create a presence and an image for your customers to remember you by. Branding is the identifying factor of a business. It is how you differentiate two similar products from one another.

Starting a business is one hurdle, but growing it is a whole new obstacle. Implement these ideas, take note of the changes and watch your baby grow! Head over to Univest.com for more advice and suggestions on business and finance.