It all started with an idea. To have turned that idea into a business, regardless of the scale, is already an amazing feat. Congratulations! You’ve probably done your own research in starting a business. If so, then you’ve probably heard this countless times: that a business owner must need to make decisions on the fly. It seems that there is a lot of gut feel involved towards the path of success.
While that’s true, wouldn’t it be better to get your business to a point of stability instead? Don’t worry, we’re going to share with you our own secrets to achieving both financial stability and business success, starting with learning how to build and maintain brand loyalty.
1. Invest in Customer Relationships
It’s completely understandable why business owners want to earn new customers. It’s crucial if you want to boost your profits and grow your business, after all. However, business stability takes more than thousands of new subscribers in your email list.
Instead, you want to build and maintain a loyal customer following. In this way, even if your business slows down or hits a road bump, you will still have a steady stream of sales to keep your business afloat.
You should invest in building stronger relationships. Anticipate your customers’ needs. Be transparent to them. Reply to their queries and concerns. Take their comments in improving your products and services into account. Give them the occasional thank you gifts to appreciate their support.
2. Review Your Cash Flow.
You must keep track of how your business is going by keeping a close eye on your financial statements. Your cash flow is the bloodline of your business. One key point you should focus on is your production expenses.
What is your average sales level? What is your current sale volume? At what point will your business stop earning a profit? Is there any item in your financial statements that seem to be slowing you down? Are there ways to improve that right now? What are your plans should your worries start to happen?
3. Create a Risk Management Plan.
Speaking of worries, what are the things that keep you up at night as a business owner? Get your sleep back by creating a risk management plan. You can start by listing down the potential issues that you expect are going to happen at some point as your business grows. Then, list down the things that you can do to minimize (or better yet, prevent) loss.
Take some time to plan for other probable issues as well, regardless of how farfetched it might seem. Take the current global health crisis, for instance. No one expected it to happen but it still did. A lot of businesses failed not because of the losses they suffered一no, that came after. A lot of ships (both big and small) sank during the first few months of the pandemic because their captains panicked since they didn’t know what to do.
4. Take Advantage of Digital Tools.
Running a business can be compared to juggling knives. It takes a lot of practice to master the multiple tasks involved, yet failure is not an option. Otherwise, you’ll get hurt. Fortunately, there are a lot of digital tools and online platforms that can help you make things run smoothly.
Payment tracking is one thing that you should never neglect. Make sure that you don’t overlook any pending payments you owe to others or others owe to you. Your payments to your suppliers and employees are the most crucial. Think of your business as something being held up by a tripod. It has three feet: your customers, your employees, and your suppliers.
5. Find the Balance Between Quality and Quantity.
A lot of business owners swear by quality, while others focus on quantity. We believe that stability lies in between the two. You must make sure that your products and services are of good quality, but just enough to keep the prices affordable.
Here’s a tip: Do your best to make your products and services a price level higher than your offering price without your revenue suffering from it. This will not only increase your sales but will also strengthen customer loyalty and growth. By keeping the tips we have shared with you in mind, we are confident that you will attain both business stability and success in no time.