In the post-COVID-19 world, small businesses should look to rebuild their operations and bring cash flow back to normal, yes, but they should also create and effectuate their growth strategies. In the new normal, the companies that will succeed over the long term are the ones that are willing to innovate and push new solutions and products to market quickly, in order to capitalize on the newest trends, surpass the competition, and build their unique advantage. One of the ways to do this, of course, is to leverage the tech revolution and capitalize on digital transformation.
However, technology alone cannot push your company forward in these changing times. If you want to strengthen your small business, you will have to follow a key set of steps that will allow you to stand out from the crowd, build a more efficient operation, and manage your finances like a pro. Here are the top ways to develop the right growth plan for your company in the new normal.
Know your customers and your competitors
First and foremost, understand that you can’t build or execute a comprehensive growth strategy without the right industry, customer, and market data at your side. Every sensible business decision should be based on hard evidence and meaningful insights, so it’s important that you do your research first, and organize your findings into actionable reports that will serve as the foundation of your growth plan. This will take all the guesswork out of the equation and allow you to maximize your company’s potential safely and efficiently.
Be sure to monitor all of your key performance indicators and compare your findings to the same time period last year, in order to gain a sense of where your company is at on the market. Check if there are any new consumer trends that pertain to your business, and don’t forget to analyze your competitors once more to see if they are prepping any new strategies. All of this will help you build a stronger growth plan with minimal risk.
Build a unique value proposition
In the modern consumer market, your business either has something truly unique and valuable to offer to the world, or it’s falling behind the competition. Given the fact that consumers have so many options and brands to choose from in the online and offline realms, they will have no problem glossing over your website if they feel that your competitor has a better deal, a better product, or a better brand. This means that you need to develop your unique value proposition to get their attention and transform them into loyal brand advocates.
Luckily, there are many ways you can do this because a value prop is not just about having an amazing product. You can develop a strong value proposition by:
- Developing a better brand experience.
- Focusing on your company’s values, promises, mission, and vision.
- Building value through stellar customer service and a customer-centric approach.
- Developing an innovation strategy.
- Investing in advanced solutions that will deliver better products to market faster.
Speed-up software and digital product development
Rushing new products and services to market is never a good idea, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t strive to cut development times and speed up the software development process. After all, the brands that roll out their digital products first while always have a distinct advantage over their competitors. To do this safely, though, you need to have a powerful development system like DevOps.
Now that professionals in the field are offering DevOps as a service for small businesses around the world, you can leverage its solutions and principles to build better workplace culture, automate crucial processes, and bridge the gap between development and operations to create a more efficient system. This will prevent setbacks and minimize risk while speeding up development, ultimately allowing you to roll out new products quickly to satisfy the latest consumer and market demands.
Cut extraneous spending and reallocate finances
Now more than ever before, it is imperative that you’re strict with the way you handle and allocate financial resources. Your objective should be to eliminate extraneous spending and make better use of the finances you have.
This means that you should create a detailed financial report to identify financial leaks, after which you can pinpoint the mission-critical departments and processes that would benefit from an influx of cash. Remember, these need to be the departments that will directly improve efficiency and output, so consider allocating finances towards sales, customer support, marketing, innovation, and automation.
Have a clear set of business goals
Lastly, keep in mind that the goals you had before the COVID-19 pandemic might no longer be feasible and attainable, and they might no longer be valuable to your organization. Now’s the time to reevaluate your short, mid, and long-term goals and come up with new SMART goals that will help you execute a strong growth plan and work toward realizing a clear long-term vision. Make sure that your new goals are attainable and realistic first and foremost so that you can start allocating resources and create dedicated success teams to tackle these objectives.
Wrapping up
The Coronavirus pandemic has definitely disrupted the modern business world, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t grow quickly in the new normal. With these tips in mind, you can develop a powerful growth plan and set the stage for success in the near future.
