4 Things You Don’t Think About When Starting Your Small Business

Working with people, products, and technology all together can seem like a whirlwind of possible setbacks and hurdles when starting a business, but it doesn’t have to be so grim if you know what to expect on a more real level.To set yourself and your business up for long-term success, grab your pen and pad and dive right into these 4 critical factors you probably haven’t considered yet.

Think about the customer experience

Do you know who’s going to decide whether or not you’re successful?Your customers.
Customers used to be thought of as sitting ducks waiting to be sold to; but now, they’re more informed than ever. The unlimited flow of information makes it eerily simple to find out more about your business than you might be comfortable with but it helps consumers decide whether or not they want to spend their money on your products and services.

Since it now takes no more than few seconds to find out if you’re the real deal or just a passing trend, gimmicks aren’t going to get you to where you want to be. Do your research, find out what your customers may need from you that they are not already getting and genuinely care about meeting those needs.

Plan for the long term

If you know exactly where you want to be in 6 months, you will make decisions today that will effectively get you to that milestone. Now, if you have the next 15 years of your business planned, you will already know the answer to every decision you have to make, the direction of every project your company starts, and the expected outcome of each individual day.

If in 15 years you’re planning to expand across the ocean, you will already know the process and hurdles you have to jump through and start planning for them today. If you know with every fiber of your being that staying local and providing services to your community is where you want to be in 15 years, you’ll take the necessary actions every day to become a staple in your community.

Knowing where you will be allows you to easily make the hard choices. It makes it easier to know what to say no or yes to, who to build partnerships with, and when to welcome new opportunities.

Tackling employee retention

Do you know who decides if your customers are happy? You guessed it: your employees.

Whether it’s two employees or 200, you need them just as much as they need you. Unfortunately, Gallup polls find that almost 70 percent of employees are not engaged. You don’t have to be like Google and install nap pods or have gourmet chefs provide healthy lunches for your entire staff (it can’t hurt, though), but you do have to consider how the environment you create is affecting your employees.

Think back to a job you had that wasn’t as motivating or fulfilling for you. What was missing? For that one-third of unengaged employees in the U.S, the common grievances include: not having an opportunity to speak their mind, the employer not understanding their career goals, minimal training, a lack of clear vision for the company (aren’t you glad you planned way ahead?), and ineffective communication just to name a few.

Make your future employees part of your business plan and begin implementing the culture you envisioned from day one.

Business communications strategy

59 percent of Americans will go to a new company for a better service experience. Did you know that the right business phone services can not only reduce costs and save you time, but they can also provide a great customer experience for callers?

VoIP phone systems are becoming more popular with business owners and is being implemented by companies of all sizes across the country and abroad. VoIP allows you to configure the system to work the way you need it to, usually with minimal technical knowledge. With features like call forwarding, cloud receptionist, and analytics, you’d be surprised at what your company can do with a solid communication strategy.