The formula for success – every entrepreneur strives to find it. Once upon a time, I also puzzled over the question of what should be the basis of a cool company. 15 years of business and consulting experience have helped me form the top rules for managing an organization. Their effectiveness is confirmed day by day by the steady growth of my personal project (I am a co-owner of a flower chain with a turnover of 500 million rubles), as well as by the cases of clients with whom I work under the mentoring program. In this article, I will share the highlighted recommendations. Happy reading!
Principle 1. The purpose of business is to bring happiness to people
Money is only a derivative of how much we make the lives of others better. A real entrepreneur does not sell flowers, but emotions; not cosmetic services, but confidence in one’s own attractiveness; not cars, but status, comfort, reliability.
A business with a mission that lies beyond profit is destined to succeed. Don’t run after money. Focus on being the best in your niche. Sincerely love your product, improve the quality of goods, services, service, burn with the idea of customer care. Truthful and inspired companies bribe, inspire trust and respect, queues line up for them.
Principle 2. Be clear and vivid about your USP
The rule of a good USP is that facts are stronger than “naked” statements.
Often, company descriptions contain a standard set of characteristics: name, logo, list of goods, services, promise to provide the best quality, service, price, promotional offer, contacts.
With such a message, you will be lost among a great many faceless companies.
Try to shift the focus of your message from goods and services to the customer and the solution to their problem.
The purpose of the USP is to answer two questions:
- Why should customers buy? – a priority question, allows you to activate a group of potential customers.
- Why do customers buy from me? – a question that will help you stand out from your competitors.
A clear, concise, quantifiable answer will be your USP (USP length is one sentence).
Important – USP cannot be considered the lowest price (there is someone who will give lower) and quality and brilliant service (this is an integral part of a good business, but not a unique characteristic).
Principle 3: Innovate
Constantly ask the question “What can I improve today in my project and the industry as a whole?”. Process automation, technological innovations, the availability of additional services, guarantees, service chips – regularly confirm the reasons why customers should contact you and not your competitors.
And your customers will become an inexhaustible source of modernization ideas for you:
- conduct surveys on satisfaction with the services provided / the quality of the goods purchased;
- ask what you would like to improve;
- ask for feedback;
- find out through customers how competitors work, ask them to highlight their pros and cons;
- Before introducing any new product, confirm through focus groups what value it brings to the client, whether the meaning of this benefit is clear, whether you will stand out due to it, and be sure to assess the risks and costs. You can also offer test products to customers and only scale successful conversions.
The only thing – do not invent. Rely on the existing needs of the target audience. But the bar for the ideality of your business should still be slightly higher than the expectations of buyers.
Principle 4. Build a system
The system is 80% of a company’s success. Strive to ensure that everything in your organization runs like clockwork. Financial tables, decompositions, standards, instructions, scripts – to help you.
System = order. A systemic business is more mobile, reacts faster to changes in the external environment, and is easier to scale.
Principle 5: Look for Opportunities in Any Crisis
Tough times make great companies. The main thing is to properly respond to difficulties: do not panic, but take risks and discomfort, not missing opportunities for growth, developing new directions, opening new markets. Acceptance of change expands the boundaries and allows you to more clearly manifest in the world. Love turbulent periods and always take advantage of them.
Principle 6. Your team is your competitive advantage
Talented and dedicated staff is the greatest value of the company. Therefore, invest as much as possible in this asset of your business.
First, choose your staff carefully. Here is my list of criteria for an ideal candidate:
- professionalism;
- intelligence;
- energy;
- nature;
- the presence of a success story (from life, hobbies, work).
Secondly, try to optimize the work of each specialist, the functionality should be clear, and any process should be efficient.
I note that at this stage, employees should be taught responsibility and understanding that absolutely all team members should deal with customer problems – impressions about the service are formed at each stage of interaction with the organization.
Thirdly, be prepared to appreciate the work of professionals. I recommend calculating wages according to the KPI system – this is the basis of the staff’s interest in the result.
Fourth, invest in team development. Unleash the potential of all employees, give chances to prove themselves, motivate them to improve their skills, set goals, encourage, praise, admire the contribution of everyone to the common cause – from the cleaning lady to the top manager, respect other people’s work.
Fifth, be empathetic. Masterfully combine compassion and exactingness. A great company can only be created by being a great person – kind, fair, able to listen, understand, joke, encourage and inspire. With such a leader, the energy of the company will increase, people will experience less stress, become more engaged and productive.
Principle 7. Build long-term relationships with customers
Increasing LTV – the lifetime value of customers (the sum of profits from the first and subsequent transactions) – should be your key task. Focusing marketing and sales only on attracting new customers is too expensive.
Yes, indeed, many companies work on the principle of “sell the product to as many people as possible.” They abandon real customers after the first purchase and direct all their energy and resources to finding new sources of income.
This is an extremely wrong strategy. The modern entrepreneur should set himself the goal of “selling as many products as possible to one person.” You need to look for treasures on your own land. Start taking full advantage of your rich “diamond mines” in the form of a customer base. You will get more profit from today’s and yesterday’s customers than from new ones.
Here are a few strategies for increasing LTV (I’ve talked about them in more detail in my other articles, links to which can be found on my blog on social networks):
- providing customers with a first-class and stable experience of interacting with you;
- customer support after the purchase;
- giving gifts;
- exclusion of risks and provision of guarantees;
- building sales funnels with an emphasis on returns;
- additional service;
- increase in prices;
- upselling;
- raising the client’s status;
- increase in the frequency of purchases;
- regular resuscitation of the client base.
Principle 8. Eliminate everything that prevents sales
Close the “sales prevention department.” Your job is to make it easy for customers to buy from you.
Forget business hours, “Cash Only” or “We only ship to certain areas” ads – that’s what sales prevention is all about.
Audit your business for such constraints and eliminate them.
Principle 9: Use Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs are an excellent tool for managing customer behavior. Using them, you will be able to track the dynamics of expanding your customer base, you will know how much each buyer leaves you with money, you will have the opportunity to make profitable personalized offers to the target audience and thank them for their cooperation.
Principle 10: Build your personal brand
A business with a leader behind it takes on a face. An entrepreneur with a well-developed personal brand will reflect the depth of his project, his philosophy, demonstrate a clear and attractive image of the organization in the eyes of the target audience.
People no longer delve into the colorful advertising offers, but they still follow the personal stories willingly. Give them this opportunity. Invest social capital in your project – start developing your personal brand! Believe me, the formula “business + personality” will always be more effective than just a unit in the form of a company devoid of personality.
