Small businesses are the heart of the economy. They generate more than half of the nation’s job growth and contribute significantly to global financial wellness.

Notwithstanding the challenges that accompany entrepreneurship, small businesses are increasingly thriving. The secret to success is persistence. To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to know how to lead your team through the necessary stages of growth in small business startups.

By the end of this article, you will know and recognize the four stages of growth in small business management and understand how to lead your company through each.

Why is Understanding Stages of Growth Useful to Your Small Business?

Different stages of small business growth require different approaches. Innumerable variables are involved in the production, marketing, and sale of products and services, and it is impossible to manage them all without being overwhelmed.

There are tangible actions you can take to understand and predict a business’s behavior and growth. The Dynamic Growth Model (DGM) refers to a small business’s four discrete growth stages. Understanding the DGM will lend you the confidence to persist through difficult moments and the faith it takes to see a small business through to success.

How to Grow a Small Business into a Large Business

The first and most crucial step toward growing your business is establishing a clear and comprehensive vision. Once you have set the foundation, you’ll be ready to launch into the next phase: promoting growth.

The primary drivers for business growth apply to every business across all four stages of the DGM. For example, if you were looking for how to grow your barber business, you would want to connect with your customers and community, market your business well, and take tips from other successful entrepreneurs in your area.

If you don’t have an idea of where to start, however, here are a few tricks that can help.

Maintain Consistent, Effective Marketing

Marketing is the key to reaching your audience and driving sales. To ensure you are continuously promoting your business and inviting more customers into your community, you should make sure you’re keeping in touch with clients through social media, internet searches, and email.

Prioritize Growth and Quality

Growth and quality are often inversely correlated. Developing an understanding of growth and quality and when to focus on each is essential to last success. Alternate your focus between quality and growth to ensure that scaling your business doesn’t mean sacrificing the value of your product.

Plan Your Growth Strategy

To grow your business, you will need a firm understanding of the stages and strategies for growth. With your team, develop quarterly plans for growth, accounting for quality in the process. If you were wondering how to grow a video production business, your team might be able to help you think of strategies you wouldn’t have otherwise considered.

Four Critical Stages of Growth in Small Business, When They Occur, and How to Survive Them

The four stages of growth in business often occur in consecutive order and require different responses from leaders. Why is an understanding of stages of growth useful to

your business? Understanding the demands of each step can mean the difference between success and failure.

The Start-Up Stage

This stage represents the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. At this point, you are building and launching products and focusing on raising capital and developing marketing strategies. This stage consists of dramatic highs and lows, as you are still testing products and strategies.

Success during the start-up stage depends on your ability to acknowledge misconceptions and errors and adjust rapidly. You must maintain confidence and humility to defy the expectations of what your business is “supposed to be.”

The Grow-Up Stage

At this stage, your business gains momentum. Your focus will be primarily on sales as you seek to build a loyal consumer base and generate enough capital to justify the existence and operation of your business.

During the grow-up stage, the complexity of your operations is likely to reach new heights; you will need to delegate tasks and hire the right people. You will likely have to consider some fixed expenses as you work out potential flaws in your business model.

Again, you will need humility to navigate this stage and appropriately delegate tasks successfully. You must clarify roles and allow people to perform those roles with sufficient freedom and trust.

The Scale-Up Stage

At this point, your business is likely experiencing consistent growth. You have tested and selected employees, products, and strategies to identify what works for you. You have solidified systems and processes and have developed consistency in your operations.

Businesses face important decisions about their potential for continued growth during the scale-up stage. Your business will likely need to expand into new markets and develop a more robust sales infrastructure.

To succeed during this stage, you will need either financial understanding or the help of a finance expert. You will need to take risks and trust in the long-term potential of rewards. You must exercise flexibility and comfortably invest money in your business.

The Dominant/Enterprise Stage

The final one of the stages of growth in small business has two names for two conflicting considerations. At this point, your business will have widespread recognition and established employees, and you can comfortably depend on an influx of profit.

However, you must consider whether or not to continue expansion (typically by acquiring other companies) or rest on your laurels. You may also struggle with the sheer volume of employees, expenses, operations, and day-to-day tasks.

Continue to remain open-minded, humble, and flexible. Think towards longevity rather than short-term success. Don’t forget to keep quality front and center as you continue to grow. Remember that you will have to make short-term sacrifices for long-term gains.

The Top Business Growth Examples in 2020

While preparing your growth strategies, reading up on other small businesses that have made it big can give you an idea of some business growth examples that work.

Etsy

Etsy, the online marketplace for hand-made goods, was one of the fastest-growing companies from 2019-2021.

At the start of the pandemic, the company provided free shipping, developed its secure selling and buying technologies, and re-branded itself as a marketplace for hard-to-find items. It successfully moved from the scale-up stage into the dominant phase. At that point, Etsy’s total profits grew from $96 million in 2019 to $493.5 million in 2022.

E-Plastics

E-plastics, a small San Diego-based company that produces plastics and fiberglass, experienced tremendous growth from 2019 to 2020.

In 2020, the company’s employees developed the first sneeze guards, catapulting the company into the scale-up stage as it expanded into unprecedented markets. This was made possible by the leadership’s trust in quality personnel.

Before You Go

Now that you know the different stages of small business growth, you can successfully lead your company through each discrete step to becoming a household name.

Remember that the essential characteristics of a good leader are not just management skills; they are one’s ability to remain humble, flexible, and open to others’ suggestions.

Any business owner will tell you that running a business is no easy feat. There are a lot of moving parts and pieces that need to come together to make a business successful. One of the most important aspects of running a business is strong partnerships.

We will explore the importance of partnership in business and the benefits and risks associated with partnerships. Read on to learn more!

What Is Partnership in Business?

A business partnership is a formal agreement between two or more individuals who wish to conduct business together. The partners agree to share the business’s profits, losses, and management.

There are three types of business partnerships:

• General partnership: all partners are equally responsible for the business.
• Limited partnership: one or more partners have limited liability.
• Limited liability partnership: all partners have limited liability.

What Is the Role of Partnership in a Business Organization?

The role of partnership in a business organization can be divided into three main categories:

• Financial
• Managerial
• Marketing

Financial partnerships help businesses raise capital. For example, if a business needs to buy new equipment but doesn’t have the cash on hand, it can partner with another business with the money. The two businesses would then share the profits from the new equipment.

Managerial partnerships help businesses share the burden of managing a company. For example, two businesses might decide to open a joint venture. This partnership would allow them to pool their resources and knowledge to manage the venture better.

Marketing partnerships help businesses reach new markets. For example, a company might partner with another business with access to a different customer base. In turn, the new customers would generate profits for both businesses.

Why Are Business Partnerships Important?

Business partnerships are important for several reasons, some of which include:

Competitive Advantage

Collaborating with other businesses can give you a competitive advantage. A recent study has shown that form partnerships are more likely to survive and grow than businesses that don’t.

Reach New Markets

Through partnerships, businesses can reach new markets they wouldn’t have had access to. This is because partnerships give businesses a larger customer base and a wider distribution network.

Stable Revenue

Partnerships can help businesses stabilize their revenue. Partnerships give businesses a diverse customer base, which can help offset the effects of seasonal changes or economic downturns.

Increased Efficiency

Partnering with another business allows each company to focus on what it does best. For example, one company might handle manufacturing while the other handles marketing and sales. This division of labor can lead to increased efficiency and output.

Risks & Benefits of Partnership in Business

Like any business decision, there are risks and benefits associated with business partnerships. Therefore, it’s necessary to consider both before entering a partnership.

Risks of Partnership in Business

The three main risks involved in a business partnership are financial, legal, and personal.

Financial Risks

Business partnerships can be a financial risk for both parties involved because each business is responsible for its debts and liabilities. If one business goes bankrupt, the other business may be liable for the debt.

Legal Risks

Partners are jointly liable for any debts or liabilities incurred by the partnership. Therefore if one partner faces legal action, the other partner may also be held responsible.

Personal Risks

Partnerships may pose personal risks to the involved partners. Business partners may have disagreements about the direction of the business, and these disagreements can lead to tension and even dissolution of the partnership.

Benefits of Partnership in Business

Here are some of the benefits of a business partnership:

Faster Growth and Development Opportunities

Partnerships allow companies to grow faster than they would be alone because more people work together toward common goals, which means more work gets done. More opportunities arise for everyone involved as a result of their shared efforts.

Reduced Your Risk Exposure

Most of your risk is personal and financial if you’re a sole trader.

In a partnership, the other directors will share responsibility for these things too – which means they could take over some of the burdens if things go wrong (and vice versa).

Enhanced Visibility

Partnerships can provide increased visibility for both parties. As both companies promote their collaboration through advertising campaigns and other marketing methods, customers will be more likely to recognize their collaboration. Through this, both parties can increase sales over time.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Partnership

There are several advantages and disadvantages of partnership to consider before entering into this type of business arrangement.

Advantages include:

Saving Costs

In a partnership, partners can share the cost of resources, such as office space, equipment, and staff. As a result, they’ll save on costs and allow each business to operate more efficiently.

Work/Life Balance

Recently, there has been an increased focus on work/life balance. A partnership can offer business owners more time for themselves and their families by sharing the workload with another business owner.

Tax Benefits

Partnerships can offer tax benefits to the businesses involved. For instance, the United States does not tax partnership profits. Instead, the profits are “passed through” to the partners and are taxed on their personal tax returns.

Disadvantages:

Some disadvantages of a business partnership include:

Loss of Autonomy

When businesses form a partnership, they may lose some of their autonomy in decision-making, especially when partners may have different opinions about how the business should be run.

Increased Liability

In a partnership, each partner is jointly liable for the debts and liabilities of the business.

Vague Roles and Responsibilities

Partnerships can sometimes be challenging to manage because roles and responsibilities are not always clear. This vagueness can lead to tension and conflict between partners.

Small Business Partnership Examples Of 2022

Let’s take a look at some examples of small business partnerships:

The Pioneer Woman & Old World Spices & Seasonings Inc.

The Pioneer Woman is a famous food blogger and TV show host. Old World Spices & Seasonings Inc. is a spice company that specializes in gourmet spices and seasonings.

The two companies have teamed up to create a line of Pioneer Woman-branded spices and seasonings.

Taco Bell & Doritos

The two brands have collaborated on various products, including a taco-flavored Doritos Locos taco and a taquito-flavored Dorito. Most recently, the two companies announced a new line of tacos inspired by Doritos.

They’ll be available in three flavors: Flamin’ Hot Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos, Cantina Crispy Chicken Tostada, and Cantina Crispy Chicken Tacos.

The Takeaway

There are numerous advantages and disadvantages of partnership to consider before entering into this type of business arrangement.

Cost savings, work/life balance, and tax benefits are some advantages. Disadvantages include loss of autonomy, increased liability, and vague roles and responsibilities.

Ultimately, the decision to form a partnership should be based on careful consideration of all of these factors.

Business divestiture is an important strategy for the growth of many companies, but what does it mean and what is an example of divestiture? Here’s everything you should know about this topic.

What Is Business Divestiture

A business divestiture is when a company disposes of some or (more rarely) all of its assets. In this context, assets include intellectual property, manufacturing facilities, physical buildings, and anything else that may be of value or relevant to a particular product or service.

What Does Divestiture Mean In Business

In business, the primary goal of a business strategy divestiture is to refocus the company. This usually means reducing the number of things the company is focusing on so it can give more focus to those and, hopefully, become more profitable.

How this occurs depends on the unique status and needs of each company. For example, in 2022, an investor of entertainment company Hasbro asked them to divest their Wizards of the Coast division, suggesting that the division had outsized value and it was the overall company that was holding the division back, not the other way around.

Hasbro ultimately rejected this idea, which was probably wise of them. They know that most of their core products have cyclical lifespans, so they’d rather keep things and sit on them for decades if necessary.

The real divestiture meaning in business isn’t limited to getting rid of low-performing segments. It can also include getting rid of high-performing things to help them reach their full potential.

In other words, divestiture is like having business and personal accounts at the same bank. It may sound nice to have everything consolidated at first, but as each grows, you may realize that a different bank would be more appropriate for one of those sides. Other banks may have more services or opportunities, so keeping things together is ultimately a bad idea.

Types of Business Divestiture

There are several common types of divestitures that a company may go through. Divestitures are more likely when they’re agreed upon internally or when major investors present a persuasive case to the board of directors. If an individual shareholder doesn’t have much power and can’t get any outside backing, divestiture is rare.

One of the preferred options is selling the assets outright. This gives full rights and control of the assets to another business that’s in a better spot to invest and capitalize on the opportunity. Selling provides a one-time cash infusion and possibly shareholder dividends, but requires a selling company to prove that the assets are still valuable.

Acquiring assets sold this way is often a great plan to grow small business organizations. Even if the assets aren’t hugely profitable, they may bring in enough revenue to help a smaller company grow its core focus and reach its full potential.

More rarely, companies may exchange assets with one or more other businesses. This can allow all companies involved to lose assets that don’t match their business and gain other assets. It’s rare for assets in any exchange to have the same value, so this may also involve a payoff to equalize the difference.

In a worse scenario, companies may close down the assets entirely. Most companies try to avoid this because there’s no return at all on their investment. Shareholders also tend to hate this result. However, if a company can’t find any buyers, it may decide to accept the loss and move on.

As an alternative, companies may spin off the assets to form a new company. This is generally preferable to closing it down entirely. Investors usually get shares in the new company and help generate value, although they may not be independently profitable right away. This is also used to help free high-value segments up to focus on one thing, as in the Hasbro example above.

Finally, companies may go through bankruptcy. This is usually similar to selling the assets, but may be necessary for paying creditors or changing the company enough to let it keep operating.

Ultimately, all types of business divestiture point to one thing: how staying agile in an ever-changing world is important to businesses.

What Is an Example of Business Divestiture?

There are plenty of examples of a business divestiture, but here are some company divestiture examples to show how it works in the real world.

Microsoft

In January 2022, Microsoft announced its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard King (a video game software company) for about $68.7 billion. This is an example of a complete divestiture, where an individual company is selling all of its assets to become a division of another company.

This move allows ABK to eliminate many of its marketing and leadership requirements, transferring those to Microsoft so the company can refocus on making games. It also gives Microsoft extensive control over ABK’s employees and assets, which some people consider necessary given allegations of abuse and other problems at ABK.

The acquisition also works well for Microsoft, which has been aggressively acquiring video game developers as part of its long-term strategy to perform better in that software sector.

Roche

Roche is a Swiss pharmaceutical company. Beginning around 2000, Roche started to divest various divisions, including those dealing with products like fragrances, vitamins, and some types of chemicals. Together, the divested assets accounted for about a quarter of the company’s assets from the previous decade.

However, they needed to make large investments to maintain performance in those sectors, and Roche wanted to focus on its medical technology instead. It divested in several ways, including spinning off some companies, selling assets to other businesses, and simultaneously acquiring other assets.

Is Business Divestiture Worth It?

Ultimately, the only way to tell whether business divestiture is worth it is to evaluate the unique situation and needs of each company. Details like the time for a buyer to realize the deal’s value, the realistic pricing for a deal, and even motivating employees can all affect the final value of a divestiture plan.

However, it’s worth noting that many companies have seen great success through divesting their assets. Public companies are always seeking growth, but sometimes the growth they get isn’t as valuable for them as it could be. Divesting allows them to refocus on the things they’re best at and expand into different areas.

As such, the larger a company is, the more valuable divesting will probably become at some point.

Ethics in business has always been important, at least to a point. If there comes a time when customers don’t believe you’re honest about what you’re selling, they can abandon you overnight, ultimately ruining your business.

It’s becoming more apparent all the time that going a step further and practicing a higher standard of social responsibility can ultimately be more profitable.

The Importance of Ethics in Business

Businesses don’t exist in a vacuum. Instead, they exist within the complex circumstances of their customers’ lives. As a result, everything from customers’ disposable income to the number and quality of competitors impacts how a business performs.

These days, consumers are increasingly tired of businesses that exist solely to profit with no regard for the cost of their actions. Imagine a 20-year-old in college studying the impact of climate change, then looking at businesses contributing to that trouble. Sure, the companies may be profitable, but that income isn’t something everyone will admire.

Ethics in business isn’t just about going green, either. Most people want to be treated fairly. If your job offer doesn’t address the rapidly rising cost of living, yet you demand your employees work 20 hours of overtime a week with no overtime pay and you yell at them the whole time, you can’t expect them to be loyal. You’re acting unethically.

The Benefits of Ethics in Business

There are many benefits to acting ethically in business. For example:

• Employees work harder and are more loyal when they’re paid well and treated fairly.
• Customers are increasingly more likely to buy from businesses with a good reputation.
• Other people are more likely to help you when you need it.

Being ethical isn’t nearly as challenging or expensive as some people think. Giving back to your community isn’t throwing away money. It’s investing in the place where your employees live and work. A community that receives more gives more. Besides, reciprocity in marketing is a thing.

Why Should Businesses Be Socially Responsible?

Most businesses value profit ahead of everything else, which means there’s ultimately only one reason for businesses to be socially responsible: it makes more money. Ethical business practices impact a company at every level.

Be honest: Do you think an employee will give their full attention and work their hardest if they’re wondering where their next meal is coming from, or whether they can afford rent this month? Will customers come through your door if word is spreading that you’re hurting the community and making it a worse place to live?

Profit is not something you can measure exclusively by sales and income. It’s complicated, with factors like public opinion, employee morale, and external market forces impacting your success.

Businesses cannot exist without a good environment, and businesses have an enormous impact on that environment. If your customers and community are in a better spot, they’re more likely to spend money on you.

Is Profit Incompatible with Social Responsibility?

The short answer is no. Most people won’t argue that businesses trying to be profitable are fundamentally wrong. However, if profit is the only goal of a business, that can lead to more significant issues.

Many government regulations exist as a way to mandate a minimum level of social responsibility. For example, let’s say that your company produces medicine. You can reduce expenses by adding cheap filler, then increase the price of your product because people will pay almost anything to maintain their health.

Both of those are profitable strategies, but often not ethical ones, and that’s why they are (sometimes) regulated. Keeping tabs on regulations is essential, so make sure you know how business owners can monitor government updates.

Ethical business practices can also prevent constrictive legislation. For example, a company that willingly provides accessibility services might pay less than if legislation comes out demanding more.

The truth is that there’s no magic number where profit, in itself, becomes bad. However, businesses that focus on short-term gains at the expense of long-term profit often cause more harm than good, and that’s where people tend to draw the line.

In other words, social responsibility is essentially a company acknowledging that it wants to keep operating. If you destroy the foundation below your building, you have no room to complain when it collapses.

Example of Ethics in Business

Here are some examples of ethics and social responsibility in business.

Carbon Negative: Forget trying to be carbon-neutral. There’s almost no cost difference for going carbon negative, which means actively reducing the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

Fair Pay: If the cost of living increases 10% in a year and employees get a 1% raise, they know they’re worse off than before. Fair pay means at least keeping up with the cost of living. Otherwise, all the skilled employees will leave, and you’ll be saddled with the cost of training replacements.

Good Customer Service: People love companies that have excellent customer service. If people trust that you’ll make any problem right, they’re far more likely to tell their friends about you.

Socially Responsible and Profitable Companies

Some of the most profitable companies in the world are socially responsible.

Microsoft, which needs no introduction, has an impressive track record in areas of social responsibility. Their offerings include tens of millions of people learning new skills through their systems, a carbon-negative plan that drastically reduces their environmental impact, and protection against billions of threats to electronic devices.

Consider that last one for a moment. Microsoft deals with technology, and people are far less likely to use it if they think it’s unsafe. People don’t buy a new copy of Windows OS every time Microsoft stops a virus for them, but making technology safer has a significant impact on people’s willingness to use it.

Ben & Jerry’s is a profitable ice cream company with a solid margin and is famously outspoken on social justice issues. They actively use food to talk about various social topics and helped pave the way for other companies to do the same.

Wrapping Up

In the end, being socially responsible is about learning how to find opportunities in every situation. Ethics may not bring obvious and immediate profit, but socially responsible policies are ultimately better for the company.

Any business owner knows the key to success is attracting and retaining customers. But, of course, prices are a major factor in this equation, and raising them can be risky.

After all, if your prices are too high, you risk losing customers to your competitors. But if your prices are too low, you may be unable to cover your costs or increase cash flow for small businesses. So how can you raise prices without scaring off customers?

The answer may vary depending on your business. This blog post will discuss a few scenarios and tips to help you raise prices without losing customers. Read on to learn more!

What Is a Typical Price Increase?

If you’re considering raising prices, you’re probably wondering how much is too much. Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to this question. A “typical” price increase will vary depending on several factors, including:

• Your industry
• The current market conditions
• How much your costs have increased

In general, most businesses raise prices by a few percentage points.

Why Small Businesses Raise Prices

So why do small businesses raise prices? There are several reasons. Here are a few common ones:

To Stay in Business

In some cases, businesses raise prices to stay afloat. The increase is usually due to higher costs for goods or services, rent, or other operating expenses. If your costs have gone up, you may need to raise prices to continue running your business.

To Make a Profit

In other cases, businesses raise prices to make more money. For example, perhaps you’re not making as much money as you’d like or need to raise funds for a new project. If you want to increase your profits, raising prices may be the way to do it.

Competition

If your competitors raise their prices, you may need to raise yours to competitive advantage pricing, particularly if your competitors have a significant pricing advantage.

When It is Time to Increase Prices – 3 Scenarios

Now that we’ve discussed why businesses raise prices, let’s look at a few scenarios where you might want to raise prices on your products or services.

1. When You’re Introducing a New Product or Service

If you’re introducing a new product or service, you may want to raise prices, especially if your new offering is significantly better than your old one. For example, if you’re a clothing company introducing a new line of high-end clothes, you’ll probably want to raise prices.

2. When You’re Making Changes to Your Business

If you make changes to your business, such as moving to a new location or expanding your product line, you may need to raise prices. These changes will likely increase your costs, and you’ll need to pass along those costs to customers through higher prices.

3. When Costs Go Up

Finally, you may need to raise prices if your costs go up. These costs include increases in raw materials, rent, utilities, etc. As a result, you’ll need to raise prices to maintain your profit margin if your costs go up.

What Are Acceptable Reasons to Increase Prices

Studies have shown that customers are more likely to accept price increases if they’re due to factors beyond your control. Such factors include:

Inflation

One of the most common and acceptable reasons for price increases is inflation, which refers to the overall increase in prices for goods and services. Various factors, such as transportation costs or simply a higher demand for goods and services, can contribute to inflation.

Cost of Living

Another reason for price increases is the cost of living, which measures how much money is needed to maintain a certain standard of living. Cost of living can also be affected by inflation and other factors such as job loss or unexpected medical expenses.

Government Regulation

Finally, government regulation can also cause prices to increase. For example, if the government imposes a new tax on companies, they may pass that cost on to consumers through higher prices.

How Companies Raise Prices without Raising Prices

There are a few ways that companies raise prices without actually raising prices. Here are a few standard methods:

Add New Features or Benefits

One way that companies can raise prices without raising prices is by adding new features or benefits. For instance, if a company raises the price of its flagship product, it can offset the increase by adding new features that justify the higher price.

Or, if a customer is reluctant to pay more for a product, the company can offer free shipping or a gift with the purchase. Companies can sometimes convince customers to accept a higher price by offering more value.

Redesigning Products

A company might change a product’s packaging or add a new flavor or scent. These changes might seem minor, but they often convince customers to pay more for the same product.

Offering Discounts or Coupons

Customers are often more willing to accept a higher price if they feel they’re getting a good deal. So, companies might offer discounts or coupons.

For example, a company might offer a 10% discount to customers who purchase a certain amount of their product. Such a discount encourages customers to buy more of the product, which raises the company’s profits.

How to Tell Customers about Price Increase Example Of 2022

Telling your customers about a price increase can be difficult. Still, it’s essential to do it in a way that doesn’t alienate them. Here are a few tips:

Be Upfront

The best way to tell customers about a price increase is to be upfront about it. Don’t try to hide the price increase or bury it in the fine print. Customers will appreciate your honesty, and it will help build trust.

Give Advance Notice

Whenever possible, give your customers advance notice of a price increase. Doing so will give them time to budget for the higher prices.

Offer a Discount

If you must raise prices, offer a discount to soften the blow. A discount will show your customers that you’re still committed to giving them a good deal.

Explain the Reason for the Increase

Be sure to explain the reason for the price increase. Your customers will be more understanding if they know why the price increased.

Bottom Line

Raising prices can be a difficult decision for any business. Still, there are ways to do it without scaring off customers.

The key is to be upfront about the price increase, give advance notice whenever possible, and offer a discount to soften the blow. Customers will be more understanding if they know that the price increase is due to factors beyond your control.

By following these tips, you can raise prices without losing customers.

No matter what industry you’re in, improving client relationships is essential. The clients are the backbone of their industry, and they are also a vital part of your business.

Not using the proper business skills to engage a client will create a domino effect. A lack of practical actions and poor leadership, communication, and trust with your clients can ruin business for you.

However, being accountable, clear about your intentions, embracing their visions, and being consistent with your actions are just a few ways to improve the relationship.

Let’s look at other ways you can maintain a solid, healthy, and successful relationship with them.

What Is a Good Client Relationship?

A good client relationship is built on trust and a solid work ethic. In addition, it contains honesty and consistency, which allows the client to build confidence in your tactics.

Ultimately, the client understands that you place their needs as a priority. Their business results will be direct evidence of how much you prioritize them and the future of their business.

A good client relationship also means open communication, a great partnership, and meeting expectations.

Show them you listen to their concerns, and you can genuinely help solve their problems. Then, take steps to create structured processes to improve their performance and yours.

In the end, your clients will be satisfied and desire to remain loyal in the long run.

Why Is It Important To Always Improve Relationships with Clients?

Improving client relationships is vital in many aspects. Constantly improving your relationship with a client means your business will continue to grow.

Working for a client with a well-established relationship means long-term business. If clients see you’re willing to go above and beyond, they will want to carry on the connection for their business.

Also, the clients will need you in their arsenal for their business. Once they see consistent growth and how your strategies have helped them succeed, they will be dedicated to your methods of success.

Not fostering a relationship could mean losing these clients and losing money. If you’re coming up short and lacking effort, it will reflect your end and theirs.

For the clients, it is about having the proper support and skills on their side to nurture their business.

Furthermore, it means creating a healthy partnership filled with solutions, transparency, effective planning, healthy communication, and collaborative efforts.

How to Set Up Client Relationship Goals

Creating relationship goals can help set the relationship with your client in the right direction. This will provide clarity, strengthen communication, and establish credence with your client.

Frequent Follow-Ups

Following up or checking in shows that you respect their time and you’re making an effort to ensure everything is in balance.

Taking the initiative to reach out and not disappear for days lets them know you’re reliable and consistent with communication.

Promote Transparency

It’s crucial to set a goal of promoting transparency. A good client relationship means ensuring you understand how they feel and are concerned.

This creates a safe communication space for your client. It allows them to engage with you worry-free. This process further builds trust and establishes loyalty.

Put Your Client First

Your clients need to know how important they are to you. Set a goal to put them first as often as possible.

Learn and gather a deep understanding of their goals. Then, create steps to assist them in accomplishing each objective.

Discuss their weaknesses and create a plan to help turn them into strengths instead. Putting in this effort will ultimately thrive and flourish in critical areas. Understanding how how your staff can make or break your overall customer experience will enable you to make a welcoming environment for your customers for years to come.

These outstanding results will then reflect on your efforts and even your reputation.

Adopt a Solution-Based Attitude

Clients have many problems they need to solve, and sometimes those issues seem endless. However, your attitude can help to change their outcome.

When problems arise, you need to be prepared and have the ability to take them on. It doesn’t matter what the issue is; show that you can solve them.

Don’t look at the problem and point out even more problems. Your client needs to be able to rely on you and your advice truly.

By taking control of these kinds of situations, your client will see that you work well under pressure, and you can handle stress even in the worst of times.

Best Practices for Improving Client Relationship

Improving a client relationship takes work that is often never-ending. It’s a task that is meant for the long haul. First, however, you need to prove to them you’re up for the job. Here are ways you can accomplish this.

Be open to Feedback

Knowing how you can improve your business based on customer feedback can set your business apart. Receiving feedback can sometimes make us feel very uncomfortable. However, it’s a great way to improve the relationship with clients.

Studies show that 85% of businesses say receiving feedback from clients helped benefit and improve their company immensely.

Being open to receiving feedback shows that you care about your clients. It tells them you value what they think and that you’re committed to helping them reach their goals.

Listening to their needs also shows them you’re willing to take action to ensure their desires are met. This level of commitment can easily create a long-term relationship in business.

Show Appreciation

A great way to foster any client relationship is to show them your appreciation. Doing so doesn’t have to be with grand gestures. Instead, show it through small but impactful actions.

Doing things like thanking them for feedback, telling them you appreciate them utilizing your services, sending thank you notes in invoices, or even using social media to show you value them.

These sorts of gestures can go a long way. Taking these extra steps to show your appreciation will help your client feel respected, acknowledged, and valued.

Get to Know Them

Getting to know your client is significant when seeking to improve the relationship.

Learning about them on a personal level can help them to open up and let their guards down.

When it comes to working with clients, things can be very stressful. Constant talk about deadlines, projects, to-do lists, etc., can become overwhelming for both parties.

So, asking them about their day or inquiring about their favorite activities outside of work can help them relax. Of course, it’s best to do this after you’ve known them for a while, but it will certainly help them become more comfortable with you.

Conclusion

The customer relationships you form today can create opportunities for tomorrow.  The ultimate goal is to create a steady and robust connection with your clients.

Suppose this connection is powerful and filled with focus, a strong foundation, trust, concise action, and strategic endeavors. In that case, you’re well on your way to developing a long-term relationship with your clients.

Great leaders have a series of management tasks that enhance the achievement of goals in organizations. These tasks mainly involve team coaching, the delegation of work among subordinates, and decision-making. To be a great leader, you’ll also need to prioritize networking.

Networkers connect with like-minded individuals in the industry, employees, and other company managers. Your personality traits significantly contribute to your ability to connect with various individuals in the industry. Some of these traits include integrity, passion, and courage.

Leaders create and use networks mainly to learn from more experienced individuals in the field.

Why Networking Is Important For Leaders

Your professional network is the most powerful tool at your disposal as a leader. You build, interact, and maintain your network to achieve your development plans successfully. However, in leadership, “no man is an island,” you need support from your peers and role models. 

Learning why establishing a network of peers is important will catapult your career to the next level.  

Most leaders create and use networks tips and tricks to enjoy the following benefits:

Earn Career Opportunities

Networking is a mutually beneficial relationship. Every individual you connect with is relevant to your career growth. First, understand your contribution to their future success and the benefits you draw from their knowledge.

Career opportunities arise from idea exchange with knowledgeable individuals. When you listen to other people, you learn different tactics to handle business challenges.

In addition, as you connect with colleagues in the workplace, always lookout for development opportunities and mentors.

For instance, department leaders create good relationships with senior individuals to gather tactics on how to earn promotions.

Build Successful Teams

Leaders always focus on networking as a strategy to learn about a specific profession of interest. Your new finds from other professionals equip you with leadership skills such as confidence and empathy to build a strong team of employees.

Your colleagues offer advice on various ways to motivate your employees. As a result, motivated employees feel empowered and raise the company’s productivity levels.

Your team’s networking skills have to meet specific principles for you to succeed. These principles include trust and humility. In addition, do not confuse trust with control because once your team feels controlled, you might not achieve your networking goals.

Learn About Industry Trends

Market dynamics shift, and you might miss out on important deals because of a lack of sufficient information. Your network earns you quick access to recent trends in your industry.

Why Is It Important for Rising Leaders To Network

Rising managers in companies have few friends and use networking to make friendships. From these friendships, you earn referrals that get you more clients. The more referrals you get, the faster you can penetrate the market and gain a competitive advantage.

Professional friends also provide testimonials about your business to potential clients. These testimonials include your company name and the type of products offered. Some go further to explain the benefits of working with your company. This way, they ease the client’s ability to find your business.

How to Build a Strong Network

Networking may put you in a better position to earn favors from other professionals, but it is more than a means to collect favors. To earn every benefit associated with professional networking, you need to understand how to start networking. 

Attend Networking Events

Where you go influences the type of people you make connections with. Every event may be a networking opportunity, but local business events will lead to valuable information since you’ll meet your peers.

Conferences and seminars are a good opportunity to overcome introversion. You’ll make valuable social relationships if you effectively communicate with other attendees. Attend such conferences with close friends who also intend to expand their businesses. This way, you’ll have familiar faces to boost your confidence.

Business events can also be virtual. Some people assume virtual networking is a challenge, but such an event is an opportunity to identify who to befriend.

Consider addressing other attendees at roundtables on matters that you understand well. Some attendees will identify you because of what you know. This way, you’ll have positioned yourself as a valuable resource, and the other members will be included to contact you. You’ll also be able to learn how to communicate with those in your position.  

Choose the Right Goal

A suitable goal gets you everything you need from networking endeavors. First, figure out how a particular event or business meeting is important for your business. What do you want to achieve from your relationship with a particular individual?

Setting goals for client and professional relationships may seem one-sided, so base your goals on your value to the other party.

For instance, if your main goal is to formulate a suitable product marketing strategy, then research how existing businesses operate in the same market segment.

Focus on Follow-Ups

Networking events allow you to get business contracts. However, it may be easier for the other party to forget about such agreements, thus the need to write a follow-up letter. Your follow-up efforts also solidify your relationship.

Maximize Internal Networking

Internal connections within an organization open doors for aspiring and current leaders. As a leader, It should not be difficult for you to make connections within your organization since you have time to understand these individuals well.

First, make it your main goal to attend every meeting in your organization. Then, once you attend meetings from different departments, demonstrate your interest in your subordinates’ work.

Other leaders also choose mentors from within their organization. Your mentor can be a former holder of your position. Internal marketing also happens through simple activities such as lunch dates or discussion sessions with your colleagues. Your regular cheat chats create valuable peer networks.

Successful Network Leadership Examples

The importance of networking cannot be diminished. Network leadership has played a significant influence on the success of most leaders today. For instance, presidents create good relationships with others from different continents to access raw materials, military support, and food material.

Social entrepreneurs are also visionary, relentless, and ambitious leaders in society. They utilize client relationships to gather trending information in the market. These entrepreneurs quickly penetrate the market and operate for a long time.

Conclusion

Successful networking goes beyond linking to various individuals. It requires effective connections, collaborations, and creativity. As a leader, you create a strong network through sincerity, division of resources, and thoughtful use of power. Take these networking tips to better network in your professional life. There’s no telling how your relationships today can create opportunities for tomorrow.  

There are no shortcuts to running a business. The general upstart can be rough, and even when you think you have a handle on things, management gets tougher with increased popularity. 

It’s not easy, but it can be.

The best way to run a successful business is by developing a plan for your growth. With a business growth plan, you can keep your thoughts organized and build a strategic road map for your business.

This article will tell you what a growth plan is, why creating one is essential for your business, and how to make a business growth plan.

What Is a Growth Plan?

A business growth plan is an ideal vision for your business’s future. It is where you would like it to be in the next year or two.

With a growth plan, you can plan out the company’s goals and objectives and the strategies to get there. There is also room to lay out strengths and weaknesses and how to go about them.

Ideally, the growth plans don’t take too long to draft as it’s focused on a 2-year timeframe. It may take some time to list out all future objectives, but the payoff for an efficient business plan is worth it.

What Does a Business Growth Plan Look Like?

A business growth plan needs to be focused and clear for anyone to read. It should cover strategies to improve sales, quarterly financial goals, expansion opportunities, and a breakdown of the staffing’s needs and responsibilities.

Other details that could fit into a growth plan include:

•  Marketing aims to focus on the target audience and the number of new customers gained by the end of the operating period.
• Financial forecasts to predict upcoming profits, losses, cashflows, sales, and audited accounts.
• Operational information detailing the location of your business, suppliers, and any additional equipment needed.

Why Is a Growth Plan Important In Business?

Who should prepare the business plan? There are several benefits that prove why planning for your business is critical.

Small, new businesses would need a plan that prioritizes their resources and know the right direction to take their company. It can help strategize ways to increase sales revenue and weed out paths bad for business.

More mature companies could write out a growth plan to keep track of their progress and analyze possible flaws in their current workflow. With years of experience under its belt, an older company can still find ways to improve growth in the business.

Developing a business growth plan is also great for investment opportunities. Having a solid idea of running your business operations will go well with investors and place more trust in management.

Team-building can also come from working on a growth plan. Not just the head managers, but the entire team can put their heads together to bring out some creative and productive strategies. An employee might carry a different perspective from the managers that could breathe new life into the company.

What Are The Types of Business Growth Plans?

There are no restrictions on how you should draft your growth plan, but they generally fall into 1 of 4 categories:

Market Strategy

This business growth strategy is one of the most common reasons to create a business growth plan. Companies will outline their next course of action to understand the trending demographic and ways to attract more customers to the product or service.

The plans in this category include marketing campaigns, target demographic research, and following up on the latest trends that attract potential customers.

Product Strategy

The plans in this strategy are focused on the products and services themselves. If it sells well enough, more customers will flock over to the desired item and generate popularity around it. When this happens, the growth plan will outline how to capitalize on this growth.

Some examples of this strategy include possible upgrades or service deals and collecting surveys, reviews, and other feedback about the product.

Development

Development plans usually deal with finding new ways to transfer your product or service into a new market; The focus is on finding new ways to branch out into different markets, if possible.

Diversification

This strategy expands beyond the current market and creates new products for different audiences. This business path gives your company a good image and, if successful, opens new growth opportunities for profit. 

How Do You Write A Business Growth Plan?

Whether you are just starting your business or in the thick of it, writing out a business growth plan maintains the same steps for any stage. Here are the steps that will help you write the best growth plan.

Specify Your Ambitions

Before writing down your ideas, think about what goals you are trying to achieve with the plan. Brainstorming will be the most time-consuming part as you will need to look at your company from all accounts. 

What’s not working at the moment? What areas could be improved?

It would be easier to focus on setting and achieving small incremental goals for yourself. You can also list long-term goals with a checklist of subgoals to accomplish.

Determine Your Metrics

How will you define your measure of success?

If the plan is to increase sales, you’ll be more focused on the profits earned quarterly. If your aim is towards the marketing aspect, then the follower count or views will determine the impact of the product.

Understand the value you will attach to success and build a plan around it.

Set a Timeline

All good plans have an end goal, and it helps to know how long it’ll take to reach your objectives.

If your goals will take longer than a year, plan out the necessary steps to stay on track. What’s important is to remain dedicated to the deadlines and try not to slack.

Use a Template

Microsoft and Excel have made it easier to create a business growth plan with templates that outline all the information you need. 

You can find one that fits the needs of your business or treat them as examples while you draft your own.

Final Thoughts

Building a growth plan does a lot of good for your business. It will keep your ideas organized and offers more opportunities to advance. 

Whereas many businesses focus more on customer acquisition, customer retention is equally important. Customer retention is your business’s ability to make your customers come back for a given period. It is also how to survive inflation as a small business.

When you retain your customers, that indicates that your product or service pleases them. Your customers don’t see the need to turn to your competitors. So, how to boost client retention?

Why Is Customer Retention Important?

You spend a lot of resources to get new customers, so you wouldn’t want your efforts to go down the drain. Customer retention is a vital aspect of business strategy and helps your business gain a competitive advantage.

Customer retention is how to adapt to inflation and aims to maintain your business customer base and improve loyalty. You can also learn how to use marketing during a pandemic. Other benefits of customer retention are:

• Loyal customers give positive reviews and recommend your business to other people.
• You get a higher RPI from repeat customers than first-time customer acquisition.
• Return customers spend a lot on your business over time and increase profits.

5 Successful Client Retention Strategies

With inflation, prices rise, and your customers want to cut costs. You can deploy various retention strategies to retain your customers when inflation happens. If you’re wondering how to increase customer retention rates, here are five strategies on how to boost client retention.

1. Appreciate Your Customers

A customer who feels valued by your business will want to come back repeatedly. Your customer’s loyalty increases when what you offer goes beyond the usual product or service.

For example, handwrite a customized thank you note to customers. You can include something specific like your customer’s name to create a sense of personal touch.

Other customer retention examples are discussed below.

Add a Package Insert to an Order

Your customers yearn to open the box and see or use the product. How about you increase your customer’s delight with a gift that isn’t part of the original order? For example, if you sell cakes and bread, you can add a packet of coffee to your customer’s order.

Then, attach a note to let your customer know that the package is not a mistake but a gift.

Offer Coupons

When a customer makes several purchases from your store, give a coupon for the current or next purchase.

A coupon makes your customer feel the care and value you place on clients. If you provide a coupon for the next purchase, your customer will want to come back and use the coupon to get a good service at a lower price.

Give Surprise Upgrades

Be generous about customer elevation, no matter what business you are in. Surprise upgrades could make a customer’s day, boost self-esteem, and make your customer come back.

For example, if you have a restaurant, surprise a regular customer with special table space at no extra fee. Surprise upgrades shouldn’t be costly, so you don’t have to worry about losses.

2. Leverage Customer Feedback

Always have a platform where you can get views-appreciation, complaints, suggestions-from your customers. You strengthen the customer-business relationship when you get direct information from your customers about your goods and services.

Once you learn how your staff can make or break the customer experience through feedback, you can also re-engage a customer who plans to give up on your business.

Be there any complaints, catch the pain points and adjust to satisfy your customers’ needs. A customer who complains is ready to stay if you work on the complaints.

You wouldn’t benefit if a customer walked away and you didn’t know why the departure occurred. Through complaints, you understand any defects in your goods and services.

3. Frequent Communication

Keep in touch with your customers to boost trust levels and eliminate post-purchase doubts. Even if your customers don’t reach out with feedback, be proactive with the communication.

Also, monitor those customers who haven’t communicated in a while to reestablish the relationship.

Invest in a communication calendar tool to keep track of customer communications and manage customer engagements. With a calendar, you receive alerts when a customer reaches out and when repeat customers haven’t interacted with you for some time.

Also, when you inform your customers about your processes, your customers feel valued and important.

4. Build Trust and Good Relationships

Your first tactic toward a relatable brand is to build trust with your customers. If there is no trust between you and your customers, you won’t establish a solid customer base.

So, use your customer data to explore your customers’ needs and offer a positive experience. Once you build trust, you don’t have to convince customers to buy your product or seek your services.

Your customers are human and love when you understand and treat them right. When you know your customers, you make rational decisions to cultivate the relationship.

So, improve your business based on customer feedback to understand and give the best experience to customers. Many customers who trust you will stick with you and recommend other people to your business as an added advantage.

5. Educate Your Customers

Invest in your customer base with customer education services. For example, you can have a self-service portal and then train customers to find solutions before contacting your support team.

Let your education program extend beyond your products or services to other fields that interest many customers. Areas that may not be directly about you include sales and entrepreneurship.

Educational programs position your business as a resourceful brand. Customers will stick to your business if you can offer solutions to problems.

So, create content that answers questions to your customers’  life puzzles. If you aren’t sure what to educate your customers about, do a survey and use the results for inspiration.

How To Survive Inflation as a Small Business

The basic counterpunch for your business to survive is to increase the prices of goods and services. Whereas most of your customers wouldn’t want a price increase, you can’t acquire goods at a higher price and retain the selling price.

Nonetheless, you can raise the prices of products that have a higher impact on your margin or that are likely to help most customers easily adjust.

Even though customers are price-sensitive, most don’t always read the fine print. So, if the price rise doesn’t sit well with you, use the shrinkflation strategy. Shrinkflation is when you leave your prices unchanged but reduce the number of products in each package.

For example, you can reduce a box of biscuits from 16 to 14 ounces and retain the price.

Conclusion

Customers are your business’ foundation because you can’t succeed without business strategies for high inflation. So, learn how to boost client retention after you use resources to obtain the customers.

An effective way to do so is to use the strategies discussed above. Also, inflation is bound to happen, so always be ready to take the necessary survival steps.

Confusion usually follows when discussing marketing and sales. Marketing and sales do differ, but they still work together hand in hand. Knowing the difference between sales and marketing will help your business form coherent teams that tackle your business issues while improving your marketing and sales efforts. 

What Is the Difference Between Sales and Marketing?

The difference between marketing and sales lies in their goals and focus. The marketing team focuses on the company’s image and spreading brand awareness. Their overall focus is to get people interested in a business product. 

The sales team in the contract doesn’t necessarily focus on the image of the product or business. It focuses on closing deals with prospects to turn them into customers. 

Sales and marketing examples typically show the dynamic of how both teams come together. For example, a prospect sees a billboard advertisement and calls the number they see on the ad. Then a representative closes a deal with that consumer, that representative being part of the sales team. 

What Is the Most Important Thing about Marketing and Sales for Your business?

The most important thing for your business’s sales and marketing strategy is synergy. Working correctly with the sales and marketing team allows your business to capitalize on sales and marketing trends. 

It’s arguable what is truly important, but if the sales and marketing team don’t work together, there will be inherent problems acquiring new customers and closing deals. 

Without the marketing team understanding their core audience and who is buying their product, they won’t be able to effectively target and adjust their marketing efforts to capitalize on reaching new prospects. 

Similarly, the sales team will be unable to close deals if the marketing team hasn’t appealed adequately to the prospects. This dynamic is crucial to the success of a business and why it’s vital for marketing and sales in your industry.

The Best Sales and Marketing Techniques for Your Business

As the years go on, consumers start to value different things from companies. You, in turn, have to think about how to change your marketing strategy to ensure you’re getting the maximum value from your efforts. 

Currently, sales and marketing trends for 2022 have emphasized the importance of dominating the online environment and staying agile in an ever-changing world. While there are numerous techniques for businesses to utilize for sales and marketing, essential ones apply to most businesses. 

Content Marketing

It’s become common for consumers to research products and services independently. Since this practice has become common, businesses need to start promoting and writing content to help make a better case for their product or service.

The question for many becomes how to grow your business with content marketing, but as vague as it may seem, it comes down to a basic SEO and keyword choice formula. 

Targeted Advertisement

Businesses must take advantage of targeted advertising. With numerous agencies’ data collected and sold, targeted advertising has become more accessible. Taking advantage of this marketing method is vital to reaching new prospects while not wasting funds and efforts on people that are naturally not going to be interested in your product or service.

Company’s reputation

Customer service today may be more important than anything else. Today, if someone has had a bad experience with a business, several mediums can help that particular customer express their dissatisfaction. 

Unfortunately, there will always be a consumer who isn’t necessarily pleased with how your business operates. Getting on the wrong side of one customer can lead to a chain reaction of potential prospects boycotting your product off the word of one or two people.

Treating your customers with respect, fulfilling your promises, and working with them to ensure that their experience with your business is one of the, if not the best experience they ever had, will prove vital in marketing your business to the world.

Communicating Intent

An essential aspect of marketing is for businesses to communicate intent properly. Currently, the trend for many companies is building a connection with their consumers. People are more willing to listen to companies with good intentions. 

Public opinion matters a great deal when earning people’s trust. The majority of people won’t easily purchase or use a service from a business they don’t believe is competent or backed up by the public. Companies that emphasize their good deeds and what they do for the community have a better public opinion than a business that doesn’t. 

Personalized Content

Consumers are now expecting advertisements and products to cater to them specifically. Over the years, we’ve seen companies try to personalize each consumer’s sales, marketing, and product experience.

Media content such as YouTube videos has become a popular way for marketers to advertise to prospects by evoking strong feelings towards specific individuals. These prospects are more inclined to check their product or service out of curiosity or relatability. 

Influencer Endorsements

Currently, marketing teams have been following a trend to use influencers’ audiences to reach out to communities that would usually be out of their grasp or hard to obtain. Trust is one of the critical factors in making a sale, and in 2022 trust may be one of the most important things for consumers. 

Influencers bypass a lot of the trust-building stage as they have already earned the trust of their following and, in turn, promote their audience to trust your product or service. 

Affiliate Programs

Marketing and sales are no longer limited to internal and outsourced teams. Through affiliate programs, businesses can take advantage of the vast audience of influencers and other individuals to expand their audience and increase sales.

This sales and marketing method utilizes a commission-based system that rewards the affiliate, the person making the sale, and the business providing the product or service. 

E-Commerce

The future of sales coincides with online shopping. Businesses are no longer tied to physical locations. Companies are starting to rely on their online stores to sell their products worldwide. 

Relevancy

Marketing doesn’t just help generate sales by attracting new customers. It also helps continue your relevancy by reminding your current customers that your business is still the best at what it does. 

Today, it’s become more challenging to retain consumers’ attention in the digital space. If your product or service has competitors willing to go the extra mile to maintain their image, your business may fade into obscurity. 

Fortunately, while it has become harder to maintain consumers’ attention, it’s also easier to reach them through the digital space. Through proper content marketing, most businesses can continue to provide support to their consumers while still attracting new customers.