Whether you’re a budding solo entrepreneur or a middle-manager in a larger organisation, you’ll soon realise that getting ahead is going to take a lot more than simply showing up every day and hoping for the best.
If there’s one factor that marks out those who ultimately succeed, it’s that they are sticking to some set of core principles for both themselves and their business. Check out our list of 9 business boosting techniques to master and you too will soon be rising to the top of the field!
- You have to be organised
Yes, it doesn’t take an MBA to realise this. Yes, it’s obvious. Yes, you’ve heard this a million times before. But still, ask yourself this question honestly: how well organised is my business really? How well organised am I?
There is always room for improvement in this regard and the general standards of organisation on display in businesses around the country is frankly shocking at times.
Lack of organisation is the core error that can scupper any wider efforts at boosting performance so get this dialled in first.
- Document. Document. Document.
Following naturally on from the first point, your business will succeed or fail on the quality of its documentation. This should not be an afterthought or a “nice to have”. This should be a requirement.
- Keep tabs on your competition
The amount of people in many businesses who have literally no idea what their competition is up at any given moment to is astonishing.
Competitive analysis is one of the greatest resources at your disposal and, done correctly and ethically, it should be a constant source of productive and revenue-generating ideas for you and your company for years to come.
Make sure you’re dedicating adequate resources to tracking your competitors’ offerings and initiatives throughout the year.
- Understand your risk/reward ratio
Every person has their own personal tolerance for risk and their own understanding of what is an acceptable risk/reward ratio in any given situation.
The same applies for businesses. If you’re in charge of the entire business, or a significant proportion thereof, make sure you understand the appropriate levels of tolerable risk and what the potential rewards on offer in your market really are.
Remember, people are optimists by nature. The classic mistake to avoid is underestimating risk and overestimating reward. Make sure you’re living in the real world when making your plans.
- Get creative
Process, documentation and risk analysis will get you a long way but what really gets the revenue gears grinding is creativity.
Business is ultimately a creative pursuit and the more imagination and creative flair you can bring to your actions, the greater the rewards that will accrue to your company.
- Stay on target
Gathering initial momentum in growing your business is an unavoidable, and sometimes a difficult step but it is only half the battle. The real work comes down the line where you have to muster up the moxy to stay focused and keep putting in the hard yards month after month and year after year.
Success is a road with many steps so be prepared to do some consistent walking for quite some time to come.
- Success demands sacrifices
There’s no point in sugar-coating it – the road ahead of you will not always be smooth. Sacrifices will have to be made along the way.
You’re going to have to take some lumps every now and then and at some point you will be faced with decisions that seem to have no potential for upside regardless of how you proceed. Rather than catastrophizing the immediate situation, accept this fact early and deal with it as calmly as you can when those moments arrive.
You’re in this for the long haul after all and the pluses will balance out the minuses over time.
- Never compromise on service
We can probably all think of a local or national company that has been coasting on its reputation for years, if not decades, while service standards plummet. Don’t be that company.
You might be able to get away with this short-term but, sooner or later, customers vote with their wallets and the damage to your bottom line will be immense.
Great service is the key that unlocks the door of improved Lifetime Customer Value. Get this right and you are building a revenue stream that will pay off for years to come.
- Consistency is the key
All of the points we’ve discussed so far mean nothing if they are implemented haphazardly. The real secret of long-term success is small sensible actions performed on a consistent basis.
Quietly showing up and doing the right things well every day beats short-lived “initiatives” every single time over the long-run.
