subject: Key Factors that Contribute to the Success of any small Business [print this page] Key Factors that Contribute to the Success of any small Business
The factors that contribute to the success of any small business can be summarised into the following key areas:
Consumer support
Strong cash flow
Great products
Outstanding Human Resources
Outstanding systems and administration
Areas of improvement to be taken into account:
Cut costs
Decrease number of outlets
Change or add product lines
Change marketing strategy
Characteristics of a good Business Owner
Appoint and surround yourself with the best team that helps you in running your business.
Know the employees you manage their strengths and weaknesses.
Provide a climate in which employees are encouraged to solve problems.
Provide a climate that encourages participation in decision making.
Become a business owner who is always on the look out for better and more effective ways of improving the business.
Visualizes methods for effective performance and implement them.
Key areas to focus on
Streamlining processes, systems and procedures
Employees identifying skills gaps
Review operational strategy
When your business is not performing well here are steps you can take in solving the problems:
Identify possible causes to the problem.
Check whether new employees are trained properly to do the work
Check whether products appeal to the public
Check your marketing strategies
Check new competitors who recently entered the market
Problem solving techniques:
Problem reversal this technique looks at things backwards, inside out and upside down in other words try to solve the problem by means of unusual and illogical methods.
Create solutions by finding substitutes for your products, combining parts of the product, changing elements of your product e.g. re-packaging, re-naming, modifying and reducing or expanding the product.
Involve your employees in an ongoing creativity sessions that considers the pros and cons of a problem, forecasting and reaching an agreement on a decision until the best solution is found.
Steps for problem solving:
Define the problem e.g. sales have dropped and expenses increased.
Collect and analyse all relevant information concerning the cause of the problem.
Identify possible solutions train employees; increase marketing budget; develop new marketing strategies.
Investigate what new and old competitors are doing differently.
Involve all employees in solving the problem.
Develop and implement an action plan
Once the plan of action is in place it needs to be monitored, reviewed and evaluated this will entail:
Measuring the performance of employees
Monitoring the sales of products
Ongoing market research
Following the above guide lines will help you to attract new customers; sell more to existing customers and bring back your old customers and achieve your business success.
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