4 Biggest Challenges Small Businesses Face

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Small Businesses|4 Biggest Challenges Small Businesses FaceMany entrepreneurs are often excited to get their business idea off the ground. Yet, many can feel overwhelmed by the many obstacles they will face.

Unfortunately, the issues they encounter might impact a company’s survival. The Bureau of Labor statistics reported 20% of small businesses close within their first year.

If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or have recently launched a new venture, learn about the four biggest challenges small businesses face and the solutions to fix them.

1. Growing Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is crucial for developing a strong industry reputation, establishing trust, and generating substantial revenue.

Yet, building awareness is a major challenge for small companies, as they may need to compete with established rivals with huge marketing power.

For your company to follow in the footsteps of the biggest household names, it must introduce strategies for growing word of mouth referrals and boosting its reputation.

Hiring a PR specialist will increase a brand’s media coverage, which can lead to a bigger social media following and customer base.

Also, you could reach many more potential customers by co-partnering with local brands that sell complementary products or services. This will allow you to tap into their social media following and customer database.

2. Hiring Talented Employees

Labor quality is an issue for many small businesses. Attracting the right candidate for a role might be a challenge, as there might be a particular skills shortage in a town or city.

Also, a brand might not have access to a large database of hardworking professionals with extensive skills and experience.
If so, find an experienced staffing solutions company to help you discover and hire talented, experienced professionals on a permanent or temporary basis. If this sounds ideal, search for staffing agencies near me.

3. Ensuring Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is essential for building loyalty, growing revenue, and encouraging word of mouth.

Yet, keeping customers happy might feel difficult for new business owners, as they may not have a large customer service team to resolve issues.

Also, a lack of capital might make it hard to create loyalty programs to encourage repeat custom.

Improve customer satisfaction by meeting consumer expectations to avoid complaints or refunds, go above and beyond when possible to make customers happy, and measure satisfaction to find ways to improve the customer service experience.

4. Workflow Management

Workflow management is one of the biggest obstacles small business owners must overcome.

It is your responsibility to introduce processes to support efficiency and enhance standards.

As you can’t be everywhere at one time, you might struggle to feel in control of your operations and processes each day.
Unfortunately, managing workflows will become a significant challenge as your business scales.

Take greater control of your company and identify roadblocks by:

  • Introducing anonymous employee satisfaction surveys
  • Asking direct reports to host one-to-one meetings with their team
  • Hosting one-to-one meetings with your direct reports
  • Asking employees about the issues they face in their roles

Every business owner will face challenges when running a small or large company. However, the solutions introduced will determine whether a brand stands the test of time or closes its doors.

Why Your Employees Are the Most Important Part of Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Employees|Why Your Employees Are the Most Important Part of Your BusinessWhat’s the most important part of your business? You might not be able to get much done without the right equipment and you need somewhere to get all of your work done. But the most important asset that your business has is definitely your employees. Other things can easily be replaced, but it’s more difficult to find valuable employees who can meet your demands. Even in “low-skilled” roles, the hiring process can be expensive and time-consuming. It’s not something that you want to be doing all the time. There are several reasons your employees are the most important part of your business and you need them to survive.

They Provide Essential Skills

Your employees bring much-needed skills to your business. There are some skills that you can teach to new workers when you hire them. Training could take a matter of weeks, but it could also take years and a lot of money to ensure someone has the skills that you need them to have. When you hire someone who already has the skills that you need, they will bring their experience and knowledge from their education and the other roles that they have worked. They can do things that you can’t do alone and that no technology can do for you.

They Can Be Expensive to Replace

Treating your employees well is one of the most important things that you can do if you want to save money for your business. Finding good staff can be very expensive, particularly if you want to find people with specialized skills or plenty of experience. Companies that have a high amount of employee churn can spend a lot on recruitment and waste a lot of time on hiring people too. When you have good employee retention, it’s a big improvement to your business and it’s great for company culture too.

They Have the Power to Disrupt Your Business

When you lose an employee, it can be a big disruption to your business. And that disruption doesn’t end when you find them a replacement, either. Even when you hire someone new, you have to spend time integrating that person into the organization. You should make sure that you’re protecting your business by taking out key employee life insurance, which will help you out if you do suddenly lose a valuable employee. It will ensure your business doesn’t suffer a loss when someone important to your organization is no longer around.

There’s No Business without Them

Ultimately, there is no business without your employees. While some businesses can be run by just one or two people, you will usually need the support of other employees if you want to grow your company. Your employees keep your organization going, whether they’re cleaning your office or closing deals with clients. You rely on them to be the essential cogs in your well-oiled machine, so it’s vital to keep them happy.

Take good care of your employees if you want them to stick around. They’re the most important part of your business.

5 Issues Every Landlord Needs To Plan For

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Becoming a landlord|5 Issues Every Landlord Needs To Plan ForAre you considering starting a property business? Becoming a landlord can be a hugely successful strategy to secure a long-term secondary income source. Every landlord understands the importance of finding:

  • a great location
  • a great rental setting
  • great facilities

However, landlords need to think outside the box to plan proactively against some of the challenges they might face. Here are the top 5 issues you must prepare for to maintain your property business.

Protect your home against second losses

Over time, a property can develop faults and damage by no fault of your own. Even responsible and trustworthy tenants can cause accidental damage to the furniture or the structure. To preserve the property and your income, you need to invest in dedicated landlord insurance. Ultimately, the landlord cover protects both the property, like home insurance coverage, but also your income in case tenants can’t pay for any reason.

Consider natural disasters

Natural disasters are becoming unpleasantly frequent. Flooding and heavy rain are some of the more frequent occurrences. You might assume that your landlord insurance can provide protection against extreme damage. Unfortunately, most insurers will recommend taking additional cover to ensure the landlord doesn’t have to pay for a water damage restoration company out of their own pocket. It’s a good idea to review the recent extreme weather events in your local area to figure out which protection is best suited for your home.

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Tenant screening is a must

Tenant screening is a no-brainer when you start your real estate side hustle. However, most landlords are unsure about how to organize the screening process. Many choose to interview tenants to build a first impression. In reality, the screening process should include running credit checks and criminal background checks, confirming employment, and verifying prior residence history. It can be beneficial for landlords to rely on a professional screening tool to ensure they can use the most relevant and accurate data.

Sudden changes in the local community

A rental needs to maintain access to public transport and local amenities. However, when the local community changes, making your rental attractive to new tenants can be tricky. For example, if the local medical practitioner moves into a new place further away from the rental, future tenants may consider the rental location less suitable.
Ideally, landlords need to keep track of all infrastructure and business plans and projects in the local area to make sure they can market their property accordingly. A rental in the vicinity of business areas should target professional adults in age of working rather than seniors.

The no-pet policy needs to change

Should a landlord allow pets on the property? Almost 7 in 10 households have a pet. So, if a landlord doesn’t authorize pets, they could lose approximately 70% of the tenant market. Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that pet owners tend to be responsible tenants who take care of the space and rent on time. They are more conscientious and loyal, ensuring long-term rental lease agreements and frequent renewals.

Are you ready to bring your rental to the next level? Smart decisions regarding your tenants can make it easier to attract reliable individuals through tenant screening and a policy allowing pets. Landlords must consider multiple cover solutions to protect their properties, as the typical home insurance is not suitable. Finally, the more involved a landlord is with the local communities, the better they can market their rental.

The best techniques to close a deal!

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Close a deal|The best techniques to close a deal!Closing a deal remains a crucial step in the sales cycle. It is therefore important not to miss a chance to close when the opportunity arises. Discover the best techniques to close a deal through this article.

Secure a deal through the sale price

The sales price is elastic. There are three ways to present it and turn a prospect into a customer. However, you can also turn to tools like Kaspr to help you convert your prospects into customers.

The addition of your features

Announcing the full list of your features is a very effective closing technique. It is a way for the prospect to have a full understanding of what they will pay for. It is the same principle as the shopping list. In addition, you can announce your price before or after.

Recurrent payment

Here, the price is divided into small units per day or month. Displaying a sliding scale price according to the package gives the possibility to highlight certain formulas and to nuance the investment. This closing technique is a classic in the SAAS sector. In order to reduce the perceived cost of the standard offer, the latter generally display a prohibitive premium price.

The Delta

You can advertise your selling price as “+X%” or “-X%”. You can also compare it to the market. This method will work if the solution you offer is easily comparable.

Introduce incentive bonuses

If your customer is hesitating for any reason, it does not necessarily mean that they are unwilling or unable to buy. It may be that the product or solution you are offering is not valuable enough to them for the price you are offering.

In order to close a deal quickly, it is therefore necessary to argue the perceived value of the product or to reduce the price.

The best way to increase the customer’s perceived value is to offer an incentive bonus. In general, the bonus should be valuable to the customer, even if it doesn’t cost you much. Remember that a high-value bonus is not necessarily a high-priced bonus. A high-value bonus is a valuable addition to the customer’s willingness to pay for the product. This is why it is important to have carried out good customer discovery beforehand in order to reach the target group.

In addition, in order to achieve an effective negotiation, you can reduce the price and at the same time ask for interesting counterparts for your company.

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Focus on scarcity of supply and urgency

Urgency and scarcity are effective ways of closing a deal. However, most salespeople use this technique inappropriately. The idea of this method is to communicate the feeling to your customer. To this end, here is what you can do:

  • Mention that you are limited on this offer or product.
  • Tell the customer that the offer or product is already of interest to several other competitors.
  • Adding that your internal capacity cannot cope with the current order volume and that this will undoubtedly lead to a delay.

There are many applications for this purpose. However, the most important thing is the reality of the points raised. You should always think about the elements that would really allow you to capitalise on urgency and scarcity. Credibility cannot be bought, it is built as you go along.

Draw up a balance sheet

When your prospect is hesitating, it is necessary to review the characteristics of your offer. This method is useful, especially for clarifying the sales pitch and closing a deal more easily. The aim is to clarify the situation in the customer’s mind with regard to the content of the offer and the benefits it can bring.

When you take up the whole offer, you logically explain the interest it presents to them. This makes it easier to reach an agreement.

Choose a tool that makes your job easier

A lead generation tool can also help you close a deal more easily. By multiplying contacts and focusing on the hardest-to-reach leads, you can use Kaspr.

Kaspr is a lead generation tool that allows you to get the contact details of your prospects via their LinkedIn profiles. This tool takes care of searching for this contact information in real time from the web. It is one of the best ways to get qualified information about your prospects in record time.

Conclusion

You can close a deal through the sale price and incentive bonuses. You can also use the scarcity of the offer. However, don’t forget to take stock and use an effective tool to help you in your approach.

How Do You Get 5k Instagram Followers on Instagram?

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, How Do You Get 5k Instagram Followers on Instagram?

Growing an Instagram account can be a daunting task for starters. While buying Instagram followers is one of the quickest ways you can increase your follower count, there are many strategies you can roll out to get over 5k followers.

To build a strong following on your Instagram account, you must first focus on what type of content you will be sharing. Even though buying Instagram followers is a powerful way of building a strong online presence, the success of this strategy heavily relies on the quality of content you are likely to share with your target market. The better the quality of content you share with your prospects the higher the chances of getting more followers.

With many brands scrambling for the same market segment, being creative not only puts you ahead of the pack but also improves brand visibility on search engine searches. That way, you can easily cross the 5k Instagram followers without having to break the bank.

Remember hitting the 5k mark on Instagram not only unlocks your growth potential but also opens up an array of opportunities for your profile. To build that initial momentum for your Instagram account, you need to invest in a robust growth strategy. That way, you not only increase the chances of getting more conversions but also improve brand visibility.

In this article, we give you tips on how you can easily get the first 5k Instagram followers without breaking the bank.

1. Buy Instagram followers

If you are stuck on how to grow your Instagram account then it’s high time you try out buying. Although it may be challenging to identify credible sellers of Instagram followers, buying followers is one of the ideal strategies that you can use to get more followers.

Whereas buying followers can help you fast-track your Instagram growth strategy, you must invest in quality content to stay relevant and connect with your audience. As such, you not only increase the chances of getting more followers but also boost your growth potential.

2. Use the right Content

The success of Instagram’s growth strategy heavily relies on the choice of content. Just like Tiktok and Instagram, you can leverage the power of videos and images to grab the attention of the target audience. To gain real followers, you must choose the right style of content that will help induce engagement.

With engagement, you stand a chance to attract more followers and achieve growth. If you have no clue about the type of content that you can use to attract more followers, you can try out a blend of inspirational quotes and informational graphics.

All you should know is that Instagram is mainly a visual platform, unlike Facebook or Twitter that thrives on mainly text content. To identify the right content, you must first identify the type of content that blends well with your brand.

3. Include a Call to Action Button

Every conversation that excites your client ensures you direct it to your sales funnel and close to purchase. The same applies to converting a visitor into 5k followers within 5 months. If you include a call to action button on your post, most visitors are likely to follow through on that action than without it.

Instead of always requesting followers to like or follow your page, be creative with your CTA and drive people towards your purchase buttons. For example, you can request people to DM you with questions regarding your tutorial. That way, you stand a chance to generate more leads than a typical like and share request.


4. Choose the right hashtags

The use of hashtags is a great way of targeting industry-specific followers for your account. If you use hashtags correctly, your brand can leverage trending issues on the hashtag to get more followers. For an effective content strategy, ensure you choose the right hashtags that resonate well with your brand.

If you show up frequently on your follower’s feeds, you stand a chance to get real connections and become a trusted brand in your industry.

5. Share your brand Story Consistently

Most people are likely to follow who they connect with and do business with them. Therefore, the secret to building real connections is through sharing your brand story consistently. When you share your brand story consistently, you increase the chances of new followers stumbling on your content thereby increasing the chances of generating more followers. This not only helps in building a strong brand image but also improves chances of improving conversions.

6. Follow other brands

Following other brands that offer similar services is an effective way of getting more following. To succeed in this, you must first ensure the accounts you follow offer similar services. That way, you can easily grow a truly engaged audience and boost brand visibility.

Alternatively, you can creatively share your content with various influencers and brands to expand your scope. While connecting with big brands and influencers is ideal in getting real followers, you must first identify the right brands that may add value to your platform.

Not every brand that offers similar services is legitimate. Carry out research to identify what people are saying about the brand. This not only saves you from networking with the wrong platforms but also compromises the credibility of your brand.

7. Engage with the audience

Just like any other typical social media platform, engagement helps in improving trust in front of your followers. Whether the response you get from your platform is either positive or negative, responding restores confidence and increases the chances of getting return clients.

Additionally, you are likely to attract more loyal customers if you are responsive. This is because the more responsive you are the more likely you can attract more followers. Lack of engagement not only raises questions about your credibility but also creates mistrust among followers. In that case, you may not be able to appeal to more followers if you aren’t able to dive into their comments, ask questions and even react to their comments.

Should you come across negative comments then you must approach with utmost caution to avoid picking fights with potential customers. This can easily breed bad blood with your target market and injure your reputation.

Regardless of how well you can finance your PR strategy, a negative image can not only be costly to repair but comes with great damage to your brand reputation.

Conclusion

If you are yet to invest time in growing your Instagram follower count, tips highlighted in this article are ideal in helping you achieve your growth potential. Aside from earning from sponsorships and advertising, generating 5k followers for your Instagram account comes with many benefits.

However, in case you find growing your Instagram profile a bit challenging, you can choose to buy 5k Instagram followers to kick start your growth strategy. On the flip side, this may not yield good results if you are unable to invest in creating and sharing valuable content.

It is against this backdrop that we advise you to buy 5k Instagram followers from boostlikes.uk or any other credible platform. The bottom line is ensuring that you buy real and active Instagram followers to avoid compromising the credibility of your account.