In every business, there are day-to-day tasks that contribute to the overall success of the organization as a whole—we’ll refer to the sum of these tasks as business operations. Typical business operations could include purchasing and organizing resources, creating products, providing services, keeping track of accounts, and general office management.
When it comes to manufacturing, determining the right process is everything. But developing the right process for each element of your small business is something that takes a lot of time and constant editing. Many people are familiar with the brand Toyota, but not many people know all of the changes the company’s manufacturing process had to undergo before it could become what it is today.
Every businessperson knows how essential a business proposal is in the process of obtaining new clients, but not everyone knows how to do it right. Business proposals can either make or break your small business, so it is very important to always put your best foot forward. To ensure that a great proposal is coming a potential client’s way, proposal management is needed.
Each and every nonprofit organization has a common purpose: to serve the public through outreach programs, donations or even scholarships. Although the term nonprofit states in and of itself that the people who run these organizations are not seeking to make any money for themselves, sometimes it helps to run the organization in the same manner one would run a business.
In small businesses, obtaining clients is a primary objective for growth. It’s pretty much Business 101. The more clients you have, the more your business grows. Every small business owner has their own way of running their business, particularly when it comes to onboarding new clients, but the general definition of what this should look like is as follows:
In order to build valuable customer relationships, small businesses must have great customer service. For many consumers, this is the primary factor in why they choose to buy a product or service from a small business instead of a large company. Clients want more than good customer service. They want relationship.
There comes a time for every small business when either new standard operating procedures need to be introduced or specific issues within the team need to be addressed. Although some information on company guidelines and expectations can be passed to your staff through memos, one of the best ways to ensure that your team is completely on the same page is to facilitate internal workshops.
Time and time again we hear stories of how yet another big corporation has run a mom and pop shop out of business. It actually seems to be a trend these days. Maybe this even hits close to home for you, as your business has experienced the threat of a large competitor. As much as you may wish it wasn’t so, competition is always going to be a factor in how well your small business performs, but thankfully, size doesn’t always have to be the deciding factor in who comes out on top. It’s all about the strategy.
Have you ever dealt with a company that offered terrible customer service? Maybe they completely ruined your order or the staff was difficult to get in touch with or if you managed to connect with a staff member, they weren’t very kind or helpful. What was your response? Most likely you chose not to do business with them again.
