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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) face numerous challenges.While&nbsp;80% of SMBs&nbsp;make it to the first-year mark, only half survive to celebrate their five-year anniversaries. If you want your business to beat the odds, you need to invest significant time and effort into ensuring your company continues to grow. Making improvements to avoid being stagnant is a great place to start.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Keep reading to learn some important actions you should consider:</p>
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<h2 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size" id="h-8-business-improvement-ideas-to-grow-your-business">8 Business Improvement Ideas to Grow Your Business</h2>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color" id="h-1-encourage-customers-to-provide-reviews-of-your-business">1. Encourage Customers to Provide Reviews of Your Business</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Traditional advertisements and marketing efforts only get you so far. Before purchasing a product or service, customers want to know what their peers think of the item in question. In fact, a&nbsp;recent report&nbsp;shows that&nbsp;<strong>92% of shoppers hesitate to purchase products without reviews</strong>.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">If you want your business to stand out from the pack, brainstorm some ways to get satisfied customers to post reviews online. For example, you could:</p>
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<ul class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size"><li>Ask for reviews on your website and social media pages.</li><li>Invite clients to submit video testimonials.</li><li>Offer incentives to customers who leave reviews.</li></ul>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Where are potential customers looking for these reviews? Product pages, Yelp, Facebook, Google My Business, and more.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color" id="h-2-offer-flexible-scheduling">2. Offer Flexible Scheduling</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">The best businesses have devoted teams comprised of hard-working employees. Whether you employ a dozen workers or just one or two, boost business performance in 2022 by changing the way you relate to staff.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Even if you can’t afford to give top employees a much-deserved raise, increase their satisfaction and loyalty by offering more job flexibility. For example, you could let them work more convenient hours or enable them to log in from home. While companies are often hesitant about hiring remote workers, a recent Stanford study shows that telecommuters regularly put in a full day’s work or more and are less likely to be distracted than their in-office peers.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color" id="h-3-look-into-automation">3. Look into Automation</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Small businesses are frequently forced to operate with limited teams. To that end, these companies are in a special position to benefit from automation technology. Referring to systems that operate with minimal human assistance, automation expedites a wide range of business tasks, including:</p>
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<ul class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size"><li>Accounting</li><li>Tax prep</li><li>Email marketing</li><li>Social media marketing</li><li>Customer service</li></ul>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">As a result, founders have more time to invest in big-picture items like expanding their product lines and finding new markets. If you feel like you’re struggling to do it all on your own, automation could be the answer.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color" id="h-4-get-social">4. Get Social</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">As a small business owner, you probably know that social media offers a valuable opportunity to build your brand and connect with customers. Still, that doesn’t mean you’re using this resource to its fullest advantage.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">While over 80 percent of SMBs currently use Facebook, just 48 percent promote their services on Instagram. Depending on the nature of your products and services, you might do better marketing your goods in a more visual environment.&nbsp;</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">However, it’s not enough to advertise your wares online. Business owners should also talk about their brand on social platforms, sharing mission statements, charitable efforts, and goals for the future. Establish your company as an expert in your field while presenting yourself as the type of business your target audience would feel good about frequenting.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size"><strong>The goal is to stick in social users’ minds</strong>, so they think of you the next time they need to make a purchase.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color" id="h-5-attend-an-event-or-host-one">5. Attend an Event – Or Host One</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Just because social media has made it possible to connect with customers and connections online doesn’t mean you should stop trying to network in person. From town and city events to business seminars, networking events are a great way to build relationships with others in your field.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">You might even be able to partner with a related company in order to cross-promote each other’s services. Struggling to find a relevant event in your area?&nbsp;<strong>Consider hosting your own networking event</strong>&nbsp;or open house, so customers can get to know you and your business.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color" id="h-6-reward-loyalty">6. Reward Loyalty</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Did you know that&nbsp;finding a new customer&nbsp;costs three times as must as selling to a current one? If you want to build your business while boosting profits in 2022, make customer loyalty a top priority. While there’s no one way to keep customers engaged, small businesses can earn major brownie points by creating loyalty programs.&nbsp;</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">For example, think about offering perks and rewards to customers who regularly honor you with their business. You could let your VIPs skip the line, provide them with freebies, or give them early access to sales and deals.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Additionally, many businesses offer stamp cards to repeat customers. For example, a customer who buys 10 cups of coffee might receive the 11th one free. <strong>These perks will incentivize clients to choose you over your competition.</strong> </p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color" id="h-7-build-your-email-list">7. Build Your Email List</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">Email marketing is one of the best and most affordable ways of growing your business. If you want to give your SMB an edge in 2022, start by expanding your email marketing list — or building a new one from the ground up. Companies can find new subscribers by including email registration forms on their websites and social media pages. Be sure you’re providing customers with desirable content, so they have a reason to open your emails and newsletters.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">You may even want to segment your email list, so the most relevant content is going to the appropriate customers. Additionally, you can reward subscribers with perks like ebooks, coupons, and free shipping offers in exchange for signing up.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color" id="h-8-listen-to-your-customers">8. Listen to Your Customers</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">When you’ve been in business for years, it’s easy to believe you know what’s going to sell and how to market your products and services. But doing things the same way you always have may not be right going forward. The products or services you sell may be on the downhill side of their product life cycle. Or there may be a significant number of customers you’re not reaching because your marketing isn’t reaching them or isn’t reaching them at the right time. Perhaps, they don’t have time to come into your shop in town.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-medium-font-size">To find out about issues like these, <strong>ask customers and prospects for feedback</strong>. Ask what they like, what they don’t like and what else they need and what would make it easier for the to buy from you. Contact former customers and ask similar questions. The more you learn about customer needs and preferences, the more you’ll be able to grow your business.</p>
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<p>To read the full article, <a href="https://www.zenbusiness.com/blog/business-improvement-ideas/">click here.</a></p>
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