As summer approaches and temperature slowly rises, we cannot help but think about vacationing at the beach and sipping cocktails while being far away from work. However, entrepreneurs do not get to enjoy this luxury as much as other people. This may sound a bit sad, but it is life – being your own boss implies you are never really off the clock. Although the summer may seem like a depressing time for business owners, there is a silver lining – you could work extra hard now and catch a bit of lazy enjoyment later. So, let’s see what it is you can do about your business that will grant you a reward later on.
Wear your summer clothes
Once again, it is all about the looks. Summer is calling out to you and it is announcing sundresses and cute hairstyles. In the language of your business, this roughly translates to a makeover for your UI, as well as all social media accounts related to your business. You would need a new theme which is summer-related and you need to try hard to make your home page as attractive as possible. This is what draws customers, old and new, which is why it is so important. Depending on the size of your company, you might want to handle this internally or outsource. If you opt for the first option, we believe you trust the job will be done well either by you or your own trusted and skillful employee. However, if you wish to do it externally, there are some amazing options regarding energy industry web design. Of course, it all depends on the nature of your business, but if it is this niche limited, perhaps it’s better to leave it to the pros. There are certain standards followed globally and instead of doing it wrong or having to study the style extensively while losing money, outsourcing experts in the field will actually save you money while giving you a guarantee of a job well done. This also means satisfied customers and more users.
Be customer oriented for better results
Everyone wants more users and it is all SMB owners talk about. However, it is not new users that keep your business up and running, it is your old and loyal customers. This is why you should grant them very special attention. So, make sure to show them how much you value them. This can be done in various ways. The two main ways to show you care about your customers is through financials or emotions. You should use both in order to make sure they are really here to stay. When it comes to finances, there are always special discounts offered to registered members only. You can keep track of their orders and have every 5th order be free or discounted. From time to time, send in special gift cards or discounts, they will make your customers happy without a doubt. On the other hand, emotional ways to keep your customers include remembering birthdays and personalizing shopping suggestions. This can all be done quite easily by having users’ birthday be a mandatory field during registration and keeping a database of everything bought from each account. You can simply generate a template for a birthday email with a special birthday discount everyone gets. This goes a long way, even if it sounds generic. On the other hand, recommendations for buying new products are an excellent feature. Depending on the size of your business and your budget, you can either do it yourself or buy software that does it for you. In the end, it is you who needs them and not the other way around. They can probably find a similar business around the corner, but there is some reason they keep coming to you. You can also send out a short survey to anyone that makes a purchase and get some feedback on your whole business protocol. It is valuable information and you can incorporate it into the way you do business.
Test groups should be your secret superpower
Test or control groups are an amazing tool to use when running an SMB. The only trick is to form a good one, after that, everything is smooth. Forming a good test group is tricky business. You need a group of people who are mutually independent, i.e. they do not know each other and have no connections to each other. These people also need to be legitimate representatives of your target audience. You need to make a random sample of your audience with sufficiently varied members. This is more difficult than it sounds and hiring a professional to do it is more than recommended. You need an expert in psychology to handle this sort of sampling for you. Once you manage to create that perfect group, it is all smooth sailing. They can validate or disprove any idea about your business, whether theoretical or currently used. Every single aspect of your business can be tested and that is amazing news. As soon as you form your control group, make sure to use it on existing features first to see how valued and efficient they are to your audience. After that, you can use them for new ideas and updating your business plans.
You know how they say it takes a village? Well, it is true and most of us get carried away doing everything on our own and thinking that is the only right way to function. On the contrary, this can only temporarily work, after that you will end up burnt out and your business will fail. It may sound harsh, but it had to be said. This is why you need to do your best to find people you trust and people whose expertise you value to join your team and share the workload and the responsibilities. When you achieve this, you will also gain a piece of mind which is invaluable.
