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Health & Fitness

6 Traits of Highly Successful Small Businesses

 6 Traits of Highly Successful Businesses

 

1. They Cater to Customers and Their Changing Needs

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The products and services of successful businesses improve people's lives. If they aren't delivering on the needs of their customers, they’re doomed. Small business owners make every effort to understand why customers do and don’t come back and leverage tools that will insure honest feedback (not from the salesman who wants your business, your networking contact who wants a referral, or the friend who’s trying desperately to help you but is sugar-coating their words so they don’t hurt your feelings.) The ability to empathize with the customer from their perspective is essential in helping them understand the real value of what they do for them. Successful Business owners not only seek out the perspective of others, but use that feedback to understand the value of their offering.

 

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The reason so few companies make it past a first generation is their inability to adapt to the changing needs of their customers. Successful companies realized typewriters were dying and sold their customers their first word processors. Successful companies know precisely who their target market is and make their life easier.

 

2. They Understand the Value of What They Sell and Sell Accordingly

Successful business owners understand the core marketing concepts around value proposition and pricing their product accordingly. Successful business owners know the purpose of your business is to make money and understand the core marketing principles to price and market it appropriately. The ability to sell and market their product or service is an undeniably important facet of their success.

 

3. They Measure and Monitor Every Aspect of Their Business

Successful Business owners know that an increase over last year is critical to future success. Rather than saying “We’ve had our ups and downs,” a successful business owner knows that means you are not continuously grabbing new business and marketing your business effectively. Successful business owners know exactly which items are selling and which are not. They track every detail (daily sales, recent deposits, new versus returning sales orders, inventory, receivables, payables totals, etc.)

Successful business owners must constantly monitor against their business plan or last year. By doing this, they recognize small changes so they can adjust their marketing strategy before it’s too late.

 

4. They Build Strong Teams around Them

Successful business owners also recognize the need for talented employees and recognize the benefit (and risk) associated with hiring the right people. They understand that they are only as good as their worst employee. Essentially, every employee is a direct reflection of you as a business owner. Successful business owners develop and train their team to not only perform at optimal levels, but create the reflection of the company they want seen. They are strong leaders who leverage available tools to protect and manage their teams.

 

5. Focus on Their Strengths and Hire out the rest.

Small business owners can't do it all themselves, even though they want to sometimes. Successful business owners focus on 2 strong teams; the team that directly reports to them and their team of advisors (attorneys, accountants, marketing consultants, business advisors, social media teams, human resource advisors, health care liaisons, etc.) A better option is to build a team of smart professionals who know more than you do about their area of expertise. Although consultants are costly, a successful business owner knows a great consultant can save you thousands and values their diversity of thought and fresh perspective. Sometimes a Business Owner can be their own worst enemy and not realize it. Advisors helping successful leaders have a more accurate perspective.

 

6. They’re all in.

Successful business owners know it takes hard work and commitment to have success – and sometimes that road is hard. Those who are committed (we’ve all heard of the 10,000 hours principle) know that there are no overnight successes. Those who commit to being successful and leveraging the tools necessary to move their business forward, win. By surrounding themselves with the right tools and the right people, success can be easier.

 

Small Business Connecticut  (SmallBusinessCT.com) has studied the success and failure of small businesses in depth. Leveraging our teams of experts and consultants, we’ve created a tool that offers a solution to 90% of the pitfalls small businesses face. We provide an intense marketing program, peer guidance and access to top consultants in their industries all at a very affordable price. We are proud to facilitate the movement of the community towards individual and local success!

Hi, I’m Colleen, the founder of Small Business Connecticut. I grew up in a family owned business and watched as my mother’s retirement was lost when she was stricken by MS. Like you, she gave her heart and soul to her business. She sacrificed time for herself to create something truly special. However, she didn’t have the tools, people or infrastructure in place to protect her top agents, stave off embezzlement, or inspire her team to rise and perform without her. I swore I would never own my own business- I went on to Business School, earned a degree in Human Resources, and went on to lead a team of 3500+ with a revenue stream of over $500 Million. I was utterly astounded to see the tools and resources that a Fortune 100 team has at their fingertips that small business has little to no access to at all. This is my chance to change this.

                                                                                                                                      -Colleen Ferrary

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