Success Tips for SMEs to Navigate Through Rough Patches

Are you a businessman looking for some advice on how to make your small or medium-sized enterprise successful? This article might be the inspiration you have been looking for. So, read ahead!

Organisations with fewer than 100 employees are usually defined as Small or Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs). Running a small business has never been easy. One of the main problems facing them is proper management. It may be accounts, customer relationship management, or even projects. The ability to navigate these challenges can help to achieve success.

Small business owners need to realise how different their businesses are from large corporations. To succeed, they need to adopt their own strategies with the limited resources that they have. In this article, we share with you some business tips for success for small or medium enterprises with staff less than 100.

Invest in technologies that support work-from-home📲

In these pandemic times, it is better to have employees who can work remotely to work from home by giving them office-grade internet. Microsoft team is a collaboration program that allows people to work on Word files from different locations. Google, with its google docs, is another collaborative platform that facilitates smooth work from home.

Invest in accounting software🧾

There is much good user-friendly accounting software, and you can save money by hiring an accountant. Also, if you have to prepare invoices, they will be professionally made, instead of being made in Excel. The best part is that they are cheap and within a short time will pay for themselves. Also, you won’t lose receipts and forget about your expenses.

Train New Staff Well🤝

Train them well to do their jobs. When someone is well trained and competent, he feels more empowered and happier on the job. Also, there will be fewer mistakes, so less time wasted.

Investing in skilled employees or skill enhancement programs of the existing employees is of the utmost significance for small businesses. If you are keen on the steady growth of your business, always invest in your employees. From developing a loyal customer base to the implementation of the latest technologies, and every other nitty-gritty, everything depends on the quality of the workforce.

Don’t Encourage Multi-Tasking📵

Studies have shown that multitasking makes employees less productive. So, don’t allow your staff to multi-task even though it may be tempting at first. The reason for this is when you are fully paying attention to one job, there won’t be any cognitive recognition in your brain for any other task.

Maintain a proper website💻

The site of any small business offers essential information. So, if anything is wrong with your website, it can spell disaster.

Have a business bank account🏦

When you set up a business bank account, it will help you to separate your business and personal finances. Any client payment or sales proceeds will go to your business account and not to your savings account. Separating your business funds from personal funds will help you in the day-to-day running of the business.

Also, if God forbid, there is a lawsuit against your business, you will be better protected by the separation of your business and personal finances.

A separate business account also helps to track your tax deductions. So, you save time and money while filing your tax returns.

If you have a separate business account, you can qualify for certain rewards and perks like cash backs or a longer grace period from credit card companies.

Many new entrepreneurs find it difficult to qualify for small business loans. Opening a business account will help you to build business credit.

How to manage business Using Technology?✔️

The use of technology has become an integral part of running a business. It is particularly beneficial for small or medium-sized businesses. Technology is leveraged from the basic business operations such as bill generation and productivity tracker to more significant areas such as directing marketing campaigns or client service.

One of the technologies that small and medium businesses must use is email management software. It can help you to work with large volumes of emails.

Another technology that you should use is project management software. It will help you in identifying problem areas in your business processes and get organised.

Though the use of technology can impact your small business, you should invest only if it supports its growth and sustainability.

Tips for marketing📣

Every business needs a tailored marketing strategy and you have to choose the one that will give you the best Return on Investment (ROI). Small businesses have to jostle with the bigger ones to get customer’s attention and show them something of value. Because, unless they do that, nobody will buy from them. Small businesses can use the following business tips for marketing:

1. Invest in research. First, you should do some research on what works best for your business model. Is renting a booth at an event going to work? Or is online marketing a better option?
2. Properly manage the budget. Regardless of how much marketing budget you have, you must use it effectively. The marketing budget for your small business should be between 2-5% of your net sales.
3. Optimise video marketing for optimal search rankings and keep up with digital transformation.
4. Use Behaviour Analysis to market your business online. For effective online marketing, it is important to understand customer behaviour and use analytics tools. You can get insights on customer’s behaviour and opinion while interacting with them on social media.
5. Use social media algorithms for branding.

Business Tips to Help Small and Medium Business Owners increase productivity📊

1. Prioritise important tasks: Make sure, each day, that all team members are focussing their attention on the tasks that are most important for your business. Make sure that the most important tasks are completed each workday.
2. Be flexible: Small businesses are nimble and can adapt quickly to market demands and trends.
3. Account for everyone’s time: Create a timesheet on a website like Podio or Harvest, and you can tell your employees to quantify the activities that they engage in during the day.

Tips on How to Build Customer Loyalty🌟

Any small business functions on the needs of its customers. You are either creating a need among your consumers or filling a void in the market. You, as the owner have to promote an easy and transparent feedback channel for the business.

Business Development Tips for Small and Medium Enterprises🏆

Below are some business development tips for lead generation:

1. Set goals for achieving growth targets. Your business goals should be clear and achievable but should be such that they test your staff’s capabilities.
2. Look at your different market segments. Whether they are contracting or growing. Engage in customer research and find out whether some sectors are harder to enter than others.
3. Try to understand why customers are buying from you. Then you will be better able to pitch your business to new customers.

The Government is also giving incentives to those businesses with a staff of less than 100. In companies with less than100 staff, and if 90% get pay below Rs 15,000, the Centre will pay the PF of employees. At present, the EPF contributions of both the employer and the employee stand at 12% each.

“I’m convinced that half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance”-Steve Jobs. So, apart from your efforts, we do hope that the small business tips that we shared in this article will surely benefit you.

Also read:
Business Success Tips Every Business Owner Should Know
Tips to Grow Sales of a Small Business
Mantras and Tips for a successful business

FAQs

Q. Should I consider investing in medical policies for my employees?

Ans: Medical policies come with a lot of benefits when you opt for a group policy. And besides, it is one of the most trusted and tested employee benefits that help you to win their loyalty towards your company. So, yes, it makes sense to invest in the medical policies of your employees.

Q. What else can I do to keep my customers and my employees loyal to my brand?

Ans: People on either side of your bill counter is crucial for the growth of your business, and both need strong enough reasons to stay with you. Try to evaluate the aspiration of your employees and motivate them in a way that they get prepared to give it all for the mission and vision of your company. Once you have your employees on your side, it won't be difficult to have your customers coming back to you repeatedly.