5 Habits Small Businesses Should Adopt in 2012





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As the New Year begins, a lot of us are hoping to do better in our business than last year. And if last year did not meet our expectations, we are looking to improve things. Here are a few thoughts that have emerged as I battle to grow my business:

business rest

Get a Higher Goal

We all know how hard it was to start our company, get the product out and get those first 10-20 customers. Now, you are sitting at 65 customers and there is a little bit of money coming in. There is hope for more. You would be at a super comfortable income at 200 customers. Make sure you aim for a 1000 this year. If you don’t plan for a large enough target, you will find it a tough hike to 200 as well.

Get in Deeper

What can you do different for this higher goal? Let’s say you have certain marketing channels to promote your site/product. You are spending on online advertising, have a part-time sales person, are sitting on Twitter and have your web designer helping you with SEO. It’s time to become proficient at some of these things yourself. If you know that getting your site showing on Google will make a much more accelerated impact than making cold calls – learn some basics on SEO (search engine optimization). Take a course, ask people, see what your competition is doing. Sites like Crazy Egg, Alexa, SEMrush and others give you detailed insights into what makes your competition rank higher on Google.

Get Some Uncle Scrooge in You

Are you still spending $500 per month on those banner ads? Have you calculated conversions on these particular ads to your site? Or is it just a black hole? Those customers you got last month could have come from word of mouth, not those ads. Make sure you measure every dollar that you spend on marketing. Early on, you might not have the cash to splurge on “brand building.” Spend the money if you know you are getting something out if it. I know, it’s hard at times, but you have to be a hawk – don’t give in to sharp sales pitches and good looking sites.

Get a Physical

When was the last time you checked in with your old customers? I know they are still paying you and hence happy, but make sure you know if something is hurting them, or if they are missing something that you could add easily. Also, keep an eye on Twitter, Quora and LinkedIn on what people might be saying about your product or the competition. You can also post questions on this forum to learn more about what you could do better. For the customers that left, send a gentle, personal email asking them what was missing.

Get Some Rest

Thinking of quitting? This might be because you are burnt out with all the effort and hours you are putting in the business. The only reason a business fails after getting to 100 paying customers is because the primary driver (you) did not continue long enough. Make sure you switch off for a few hours in the evening, go to the gym, take a trip or a vacation – you need a reset button. Come back and kill it!

Setting daily goals will convert some of the above ideas into habits that will ensure you hit your targets for this year.


Rest Photo via Shutterstock

7 Comments ▼

Raj Sheth Raj Sheth is the Co-Founder of Recruiterbox, an online Recruitment Software & Applicant Tracking System designed especially for small businesses. Growing a small business himself, everything he writes is based on what he has experienced in his ventures.

7 Reactions
  1. Raj–
    I like your first tip. I find that as long as I’m complacent with how much I’m making, I don’t make more. But as soon as I set a goal to make more…magic! I make more.

    Great post.

    Susan

  2. Referring to tip #3, any banner advertising should be trackable so that you know which conversions are coming from the ads and how much business those conversions generate. That’s the beauty of online advertising, you can track it so well.

    • Sure. And I usually give it 2-3 months to know if anything is going to change/improve in those conversions.

      I was paying $3 per click on an ad engine which gave me around the same clicks every month. I had to then decide if it was worth it – if any of these clicks had become customers. And if they had, then what was the cost of each one. Thanks for the comment.

  3. Raj,

    Thanks for pointing out the last point, get some rest! 🙂

  4. I’m just now getting into the rest/health aspect. Bringing a new content marketing business to launch is grueling. Great tips!