After scaling the hurdles of
setting up a business, experts say the next major challenge is running
it successfully. This report highlights on ways you can keep your operations smooth and efficient.
Running a business comes with a lot of
challenges. According to experts, these challenges are likely to
increase as the excitement business owners feel when they first set up
the business wears off. Those who went into business just to because
they want to be their own boss or because that’s what their peers are
doing, will find it more difficult to overcome this challenges and keep
their business running smoothly, experts say. This is because they are
likely to lose interest in the business and therefore fail to put in the
creativity and drive the business needs to grow. To help you improve
your business and run it effectively, experts suggest that you:
Continue after the cut...
Avoid hoarding knowledge
Yes, you are the boss and employees look
up to you to provide direction and leadership; many of them even
expects you to ‘know everything’ or more than they know. As a result,
you may be tempted to hoard information. But this is one urge experts
say you have to resist. According to them, while there is the need that,
as an entrepreneur, you need to strive to have as much knowledge as
possible about your industry, and about how your company functions,
there is also a need for you to freely share your knowledge. By sharing
information or knowledge experts say you can boost staff morale. This is
because your employees will truly feel like a part of the company and
make more effort towards its growth. When you hoard knowledge, however,
you may leave them alienated and ‘force’ them to be less loyal. If your
business is such that has branches or offices in other parts of the
country and you can reach your employees regularly, such steps as having
a newsletter can help you pass information to your employees.
Information contained in newsletters do not have to be strictly about
the organisation or the industry; it could contain safety or personal
finance tips, for instance.
Stay up to date
One of the reason why some businesses
have failed to live up to expectation, according to experts, is because
their owners are stuck in the past – they do little to know research,
neither do they follow happenings in the industry. According to experts,
in every industry there are facts or data upon which decision making
ought to be based. When you ignore such information, you may end up with
a business that is out of touch with reality. This is more so because
the information keeps changing. Your competitors, consumer expectation,
etc. constantly change, and experts stress that you must keep tabs on
similar developments and make appropriate changes. You need to
constantly find out what people want, what is the trend, who are my
competitors now? Etc. Regardless of whether you have employees who are
responsible to monitor such information, you need to have an idea about
it.
Take your customers seriously
As many businesses grow, as the
customers flood in, there is the tendency for them to be taken for
granted. Experts say you must guard against this. Don’t forget that the
way you treated your customers on their first visit, is part of the
reason why they came back again. Experts advise that you must always
ensure that customer service is a priority for you. This they say is
because without the customers, you will be out of business. While doing
your best to keep existing customers happy through an excellent customer
service, experts say you can also attract more customers via networking
and existing clients.
Don’t just set the standard, keep it
Many businesses that are battling for
customers today once had customers queuing for their services and
products. Experts say many of them raised the bar when the first
started, but failed to keep after years in the business. So, you did
your research then, found out what was obtainable in the industry and
improved on it. What’s stopped you from making it a habit? Once your
competitors see that one approach is effective, they are likely to not
only copy it, but to try to improve on it. This is part of the reasons,
why experts, warn that business owners should not just set the standard,
but also keep improving on it. The idea is to start off strong and when
the business get busy, strive not to let your standards slip. To
achieve this, and possibly improve the standard, experts say it is
important to keep your staff motivated and happy.
Lead by example
As the boss leading your team is not
just about giving directives and laying down rules, it is equally about
playing your role and keeping the goal in focus at all times. Experts
say your team is likely to take a cue from you, your actions and mood.
Once you lose your focus or relax so will they. They advise that you
stay motivated and on top of the game. According to them, keeping your
eye on your goal is essential to successfully running your business.
The Chief Executive Officer, R&S
Consulting Limited, Mr. Olufemi Adebiyi,says your passion for the
business will play a huge part in your ability to stay focused.
According to him, if you are not passionate about your business, over
time – as the challenges increase, you will be more likely to quit the
businesses and move on to something else. He explains that if you are
passionate about your business, “if there are challenges along the way
your heart will tell you ‘keep on, you will make it; and then you will
start using your skills to address the challenges.”
Stay creative
Experts say a great entrepreneur wakes
up every day thinking of ways to improve his business. By doing this,
they say he is unlikely to get complacent. While it may not be possible
to improve the business every day, by thinking this way the say a
business owner is unlikely to get left behind as he will almost
certainly seize every opportunity to add something new and creative to
his business. Experts say it is therefore important that business owners
make research a constant thing and review the performance of their
business regularly. Are you doing better than you were last month? What
is responsible for the change? Asking yourself such questions are
important.
Outdo yourself
Regardless of what has been achieved,
experts say great business owners always strike to do better. So, you
set a target and after 10 years you achieved the target. What is going
to happen for the next 10 years? While it is up to you to decide experts
say failure to set a target which is an improvement on your initial
target will only leave room for your competitors to displace you – that
is if you were already at the top.
- Simon Ejembi
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