Small Business challenges for 2021

2021 is upon us and with it brings new challenges and promises for 2021. If you’re a business owner have you made any new year resolutions for your business for the next 12 months?

If not, then here’s a few things you could consider to help make your business more profitable and successful in 2021.

Customer Service

Delivering outstanding customer service is essential for the success of any business. Although attracting new customers is important, retaining those customers you already have will really help to in keeping costs down. Depending on the service you offer there are a whole range of things you can do to consistently deliver great customer service. From building relationships, to responding and communicating as quickly as possible, there are plenty of ways you can ensure you deliver the best service to your customers. Visit the Survey Monkey website for more tips: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/mp/6-keys-improving-teams-customer-service-skills/

Delegation

If you run your own company you are probably very aware that you wear the hat of many roles. Make 2021 the year that you delegate some of your responsibilities to others in your team. This will allow you to step back from the business and work on your business rather than in your business. With this distance you can start planning and building a strategy for your business’s future. If you do not have a big team and worry about workloads you could also consider outsourcing certain roles. For instance, outsourcing your IT and looking into colocation solutions could not only save you time but this could also save you money. HR is another area that can easily be outsourced to free up more of your time.

Take time for yourself

Young fitness woman running in morning

This is probably way down your list of to do’s but its essential for your mental health and well-being. Many business owners don’t work the standard 9-5 hours. They live and breathe their business throughout the week as well as at weekends. But working at this pace is not good for you as we all need downtime to recharge the batteries. But switching off isn’t as easy as it sounds when the responsibilities of the business lie on your shoulders. If you find it difficult to relax here are a few things you could try.

  • Start exercising
  • Make time to see the people in your life that you care about even if it is via zoom calls!
  • If you’re not sleeping well, look into changing your sleeping habits

Review your marketing

If your business has struggled over the last 12 months be rest assured you’re not alone! The pandemic has shifted the way the world thinks and acts. But the changes in consumers behaviours have not all been for the worse. As things have changed rapidly, how you marketed to your consumers prior to 2020 may need adapting to the new world we are all embracing. You should also make sure that your marketing plan is not being spread too thin. A classic mistake that businesses often make is that they have a scatter gun approach to generating leads when they should be focusing on quality rather than quality. Salesforce has some great ideas which may be helpful: https://www.salesforce.com/blog/small-business-marketing-strategy/

Good luck for 2021!

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