5 Action Items for Every Small Business Owner

There is no crystal ball that will tell you exactly what you should do next to grow your small business. However, there are a few things that we can recommend based on our experience working with thousands of companies to help them reach new heights.

In this post you will find five action items that you can begin working on today to successfully grow your small business.

1. Empower & Educate Your Employees

When it comes to growing your business you should empower and educate your employees. Continuing education for everyone in the company ensures that you’re always putting your best foot forward with customers.

It keeps everyone on top of the latest industry trends (such as new product offerings, new features, product updates and so on) which organically improves your customer service.

2. Give Back to Your Community

There’s nothing better than giving back to your community as a thank you for their patronage.  You can do this by sponsoring an event, donating to a local charity, donating to a community project like a park cleanup, or having your employees participate in a corporate sponsored volunteer activity.

When your community sees you out there supporting the locals you will earn goodwill and more business!

3. Refresh Your Marketing as the Seasons Change

Right now take a moment and think about the next six months — which holidays will occur during this time frame? Christmas? New Year’s? Mother’s Day? First day of Spring? First day of Summer?

Now put together a list of promotions that you can run in conjunction with these holidays. Once you have your list together plan out what type of marketing materials you’ll need to prepare in order to really capitalize on the different seasons and holidays.

You may need: website graphics, social media graphics, print or newspaper ads, TV commercials, billboards, etc.

Refreshing your marketing as the seasons change is a lot easier when you plan out six months to a year in advance so you’re not rushing towards last minute deadlines.

4. Coordinate Events with Your Neighbors

Your neighbors are in the same boat as you — they are looking to bring in customers and grow their sales.

Depending on the time of year it is, you can host a summer block party or a holiday party and have all the businesses in the area participate.

When you all come together for an event and promote it, the turnout will likely be larger than if you went it alone. You may also get some local press for hosting the event, which will benefit everyone and draw even more people to your stores.

5. Give Your Customers a Reason to Linger Around

The biggest advantage mainstreet businesses have over online stores is the ability for customers to touch, taste and feel items in your store.

Layout your store in such a way that you capture the attention of customers and lure them in to lingering around for a while touching, tasting and feeling multiple items. Group like items together so that consumers can easily find complimentary (and buy) complimentary items.

Martin Lindstrom, a branding expert for mainstreet businesses writes “For every minute you extend the time a customer spends in your store, they spend another 1 percent. Give them 20 minutes worth of reasons to linger and sales go upwards of 20 percent. That’s a lot of money.”

Would you like to explore financing options to fast track your business growth? ARF Financial is a lender you can trust. We have a quick and simple funding process. Contact us today to learn more or read more marketing posts in our blog!