5 Ways to Seriously Kill Your Small Business Business
Companies make cutbacks. It may seem harsh or unfair to those getting cut but the fact of the matter is that it is a hard fact of life. It’s going to happen. The only problem with cutbacks is that it often leaves many small business owners short-handed and many to-do lists looking as daunting as ever. An easy solution to this, however, is to stop performing those tasks that drain useful energy and resources out of your company and focus on the ones that are guaranteed to produce profitable growth.
1. Quit Watching the Bad News
If you focus on all the negative aspects about your company or all the bad news that may flow in, then your outlook on everything will be negative. If you come into work everyday with a negative outlook on things, then the only way for your business to go is down. All the good aspects will appear bad and all the bad ones will appear worse and before you know it you are in a 10-foot hole with a 5-foot ladder.
2. End Contentious Relationships
If you have a talented employee that deals with your customers all day, then you probably want both parties to be in a good mood. However, as any businessman knows, people can be mean, rude and downright despicable at times. If you allow any of your employees to repeatedly be verbally abused by an unruly customer, then it may be best to just drop them as a client. By ending a contentious relationship with a bad customer you can increase productivity from not only your employee dealing with the customer but also your entire workforce who may feel the need to pick up the slack.
3. Lighten Your Product Load
If your company has a strong core product line, then stick with that. One of the worst things you can do is to branch out into something that seems profitable from the outside but will pull your company in too many directions that they may not be comfortable in going. This could lead to revenue loss where sticking with what you know best could bring you the most profit.
4. Don’t Become Obsessed with Your Own E-mail
One reason some small businesses lose money and kill their business is because the boss focuses a majority of his time reading and answering e-mails. If you are the boss then you know that your inbox is usually cram packed with endless e-mails from customers, suppliers, delivery companies and the like. Try hiring an assistant to scan through your inbox. They can weed out the unnecessary junk mail and forward you the information that matters.
5. Don’t Pass on a Lunch Meeting
Many businesses these days are passing on lunch meetings with potential clients. This is a huge business killer because by doing so you are passing up vital business leads. By treating a potential client to a friendly lunch you are not only making a good business relationship but also a good personal one, one that tells your potential client that you care about them and their business.
If you take all of these into consideration and end things that have been known to kill businesses in the past, then you will do fine. These aren’t hard things to follow and they could very well mean big profits for your company in coming years.
Source: CNN Money