Best Practices to Leverage for Small Business Success

When you run a small business, the learning never stops. There’s always room to grow and improve your entrepreneurial skills so you can make your business even better. Implementing small business best practices is a great area to focus your initial improvements. Instead of wasting money testing new ideas that don’t work, apply tried-and-true practices that have shown wide-reaching benefits.

Go Lean Agile discusses some ways to reduce your operating costs, improve business efficiency, enhance your customer experience, and take your business to the next level!

Invest in Automation

Businesses that invest in automation are specially positioned to get ahead in today’s tech-driven world. Countless automation tools can help you automate everything from email marketing and social media to inventory management and client billing. Take advantage of these tools to keep up with your competitors.

Manage Your Invoicing and Payroll

If you want to get paid, invoicing needs to be a priority, as many small businesses fail because of cash flow problems. The best way to avoid this is by sending out invoices in a timely manner and staying on top of overdue balances. When you’re running the show yourself or with a skeleton staff, manual invoicing can be a challenge because of how long the process can take. Try to expedite the process by using an invoice generator that merges with your accounting software so you can quickly turn out customized invoices. 

Managing payroll is an important part of running a business. An efficient and accurate payroll system will improve productivity and help you grow your business, and your employees will be able to rely on you to pay them on time. If you’re working with a smaller team, a payroll calendar template used with other payroll tools can help you track work times and schedules. Find a template that allows you to enter pertinent employee information and calculate employee and employer taxes accurately. 

Make Use of Digital Marketing

While you get familiar with the wonderful world of technology, consider adopting digital marketing strategies and scaling back on your traditional marketing techniques. Compared to traditional marketing, digital marketing is much more cost-effective, offering lower costs and much higher conversion rates. The best digital marketing strategies implement content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, audience targeting, performance analytics, and landing pages to maximize conversions across the board. 

Develop an Effective Personalization Strategy

As you embark on your digital marketing journey, try to focus on personalization. As Frosmo explains, personalization in marketing — and across the entire customer experience — is the next big e-commerce growth trend. Gone are the days of irrelevant, intrusive digital ads. Today, consumers expect to see ads tailored to their preferences and custom-made to align with their recent behaviors. To get started, consider hiring a marketing professional with experience in machine learning and personalization. 

Prioritize Cybersecurity

An increase in customer data acquisition necessitates an increased focus on cybersecurity. Did you know that cyberattacks on small businesses are incredibly common? A cyber attack can devastate your business whether it halts your cash flow, creates extra expenses, or destroys your reputation. Take the time to learn about the cybersecurity best practices that will protect your business today and in the long run!

Outsource Time-Draining Tasks

If you’re not sure how to implement all of this new technology, hiring experienced freelancers and consultants is a great way to get your business up to speed without spending weeks and months learning to do it yourself. Likewise, you can save a lot of money by outsourcing time-draining business tasks to a virtual assistant so you can focus on the core business activities that drive growth. Whenever you come across a task that falls beyond your skillset or directs your attention away from growing your business, it’s time to outsource.

Join Your Local Chamber of Commerce

All of the business best practices recommended here revolve around modern technology. But there is at least one traditional business practice that still holds relevance today. Joining your local chamber of commerce comes with numerous benefits that can help you launch and grow a business of any size. For example, as a member of your local chamber of commerce, you will form invaluable relationships with other entrepreneurs who can help promote your business and offer special discounts on everything from office supplies to insurance.

Become an Expert at Problem Solving

When you’re running a small business, you’ll need to learn how to address the different problems and issues that come with the territory. For many people, the Lean Six Sigma process has been a life-changing experience, as it essentially provides individuals and businesses with the ability to efficiently and effectively address any problems. In short, Lean Six Sigma is all about process refinement and looking for ways to improve problem-solving skills, which can help your business run much smoother.

Go Lean Agile offers self-paced training for managers and teams, allowing them to understand how Lean Six Sigma works and how it can be applied to their business. Go Lean Agile also offers special discounts for groups, meaning that everyone in your organization can benefit from the Lean Six Sigma system.

The process of running a business today looks a lot different than it did in past centuries. Thanks to technology, business owners have more opportunities than ever to automate business tasks, tap into top talent, and connect with consumers on a personal level. Prepare your business for successful growth by taking advantage of all the tools at your disposal.