Business Innovation & Growth: How to Keep It Alive

Business innovation and growth - how to keep it alive

When money flows into your business effortlessly from banks and customers, it’s easy to ignore mistakes, take the path of least resistance, and live with the problems. But when times get tough, it becomes more difficult to ignore. It forces business owners to create REAL changes or go out of business.

Choose a Different Path

Instead of blaming others or the economy when things get tough, do what entrepreneurs do.  Put on your creative hat and make the decision to rethink, restructure, refocus and rebuild. In doing so, you’ll come out ahead in the long run.

So if you are looking to turn things around, recognize that it’s time to stop putting band-aids on your business and commit to real change. Often the problems you have, like eroding sales and profits, long hours with little pay, or poor cash flow, are symptoms of bigger issues in your business. Get to the root cause and fix the real problems.

Where to Start Rebuilding

Get Rid of the Dead Wood. Employees are an asset, but only if they produce results. You need to be willing to let go of the people in your company who don’t. You know who they are. They show up late, collect a paycheck and add little or no value for your customers, team or business. They zap your energy and kill morale. So why do we settle and hang onto under-performers?

Sometimes it’s fear of the unknown.  Johnny may be lazy, but at least he shows up. Sometimes it’s a sense of obligation.  How can I fire my cousin or brother and still face my family? Sometimes we feel we can’t. because we never communicated our expectations or dissatisfaction. And sometimes we just feel too overwhelmed and don’t have the time to hire and train someone new. Whatever your reasons, you have a choice. You can fix the problem – help Johnny become an asset to the team — or make him go away.

Fire Deadbeat Customers. Again, you know who they are. They only buy with discounts or purchase low-margin products, pay late or after numerous collection requests, complain often, and treat your team poorly. What you earn from your ideal customers subsidizes your less-than-perfect ones. Why let them hang around to zap your profits and team morale? Fire them and replace them with customers who value what you do or sell.

Apply Innovation in All Areas of Your Business. Many owners associate innovation with new products or inventions. Innovation, by definition, is the introduction of new things or methods and it’s important if you want to achieve sustainable growth and profit.

The key is to apply it to all areas of your business.  From marketing and sales to customer support, delivery, and team building. It’s simply a matter of continuously looking for better ways to do what you do.

RELATED ARTICLEIs Creativity Required for Success?

Make Productivity Matter. Busy is not the same as productive. Productivity is about producing effective results or outcomes, in the most efficient way, with the least amount of time and effort. Now, who wouldn’t want that?

So do you measure and look for ways to eliminate waste, increase outputs or reduce hours associated with daily tasks or service delivery within your company? Do you have systems for the critical activities and consistently look for ways to streamline or improve them?

If you want to increase your margins, without raising your prices, take a hard look at your productivity levels and the waste in your business. It’s a goldmine for many small businesses.

Plan, Measure and Systematize Your Marketing. A lot of small business owners view marketing as a necessary evil. They know they need it, but often struggle to get it right. So when money gets tight or owners get busy, marketing takes the hit. Unfortunately, it comes at a big cost — sustainable growth and profit. So why is that?

First, some lack a strong marketing foundation with clear targets, the right products and services for them, and compelling messages to get them to act. As a result, it makes marketing harder to do. An integrated and consistent marketing effort produces a better ROI, but it does require a little planning.

Second, some fail to measure results so they don’t actually know if their investment (time and money) is delivering a return. It’s easy to cut marketing expenses when you can’t tie the cost to specific results such as new customers or increased revenue.  Unfortunately, it’s not always the right decision.

Third, most marketing for small businesses is not systematized. There is no efficiency and most important, no consistency. Therefore, it costs more and is far less effective – an obvious frustration.

Focus More On Profit Than Sales. It may make you feel good to hit that target sales plateau or be able to tell others you do $1 million or more in sales. But if those sales are not providing you with the profit to sustain growth, increase your personal income and deliver the lifestyle you want – why bother?

As a business owner, you take all the risks. Your business must make a profit to stay in business. Your family, customers, employees and vendors are depending on it. Remember, sales growth is important, but profit and cash flow is king!

Kill the Paradigms. What beliefs do you hold to be true that really aren’t? We all have some. Those little self-sabotaging thoughts that act as constraints in our business and life. Here are a few examples: It’s impossible to earn a profit in this economy, I can’t get good help, customers are never satisfied, customers only care about price, marketing doesn’t work, I can’t get my people to do anything unless I’m there watching over them.

Any sound familiar? The problem with paradigms is they give you an excuse to settle for less, accept mediocrity or give up completely. Don’t let the attitudes held by others, but not supported with fact, hold you back.

Ready to Create Your Own Success Story? 

If you are ready to move your business in a better direction, I invite you to experience the power of business coaching with a complimentary session.  Click here to learn more or call (856) 533-2344 to schedule your session today.