5 Survival Tips for Small Businesses for the Second Half of 2022

Interest rate hikes, persistent inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain disruptions are all adding to the challenges small businesses currently face. Many businesses are struggling because they haven’t been able to recover from the economic impact of the last several years. Understanding what activities you need to double down on and what activities you need to set aside (at least for now) will help you streamline your business and create a sustainable base for growth.

Here are five survival tips small businesses can start now that will help you to see some business growth before the end of 2022.?

Know What You Are Good At and Focus on That

Conduct an audit of your products and services to determine which ones offer you the best return on your investment with the least amount of effort. Focus all of your business strategy, marketing budget, and sales efforts on these offerings to help maximize your revenue growth.

You can increase revenue from these offerings by creating multiple income streams. For example, if the main offering is a product, are there related products you can leverage to cross-sell or upsell current and prospective customers? Including online sales can also help you create multiple ways customers can find, and purchase, your local products.

If your main offering is a service, there are many ways to scale the service to create additional revenue streams. For example, you can create 6 month and 1 year contracts for your service, with discounts for customers who choose these options. You can also create additional service levels and offer an auto renew option to help create consistent revenue.

Pivot Don’t Stop Your Marketing Efforts

Many businesses cut back on their marketing efforts when times are lean. The problem with that strategy is that the ground you lose now will be impossible to get back. Statistics show that 70% of businesses who lost market share in 2001 were never able to regain it later.?

People are still spending money, they are just more discriminating on where they spend it. Now more than ever it is important to keep yourself top of mind with customers and prospects. Email, social media, and content marketing should be increased instead of decreased at this time.?

Sales teams can also find ways to hit their goals by reaching out to people who were once in the sales pipeline but dropped out and by contacting previous customers who your company hasn’t heard from in a while.

By focusing sales and marketing efforts on your one main offering, you can repurpose budgets to more specific targeting strategies. Collect data on current customers and sales efforts for that main product to determine marketing and sales strategies that will be the most effective for winning back prospects who ghosted you and bring back customers to buy from you again.?

You can also use this data to create strategies to increase your market share. Take advantage of the fact that many companies are contracting their marketing efforts to expand. Research your competitors to see who is scaling or slowing down and see if you can win their customers and prospects over to your business.

Be Hyper Customer Focused

It costs less to maintain existing customers than it does to obtain new ones. Yet, with inflation, supply chain issues, and staffing issues, it can be challenging to create an excellent customer experience. With a little bit of work, and help from your customers, you can create a customer journey that will not only elevate the customer experience, but also inspire loyalty and generate raving fans who will help bring new prospects to your business.

One of the most important steps in this process is to be transparent about any potential issues that may delay delivery or cause an increase in your pricing. Communicate with your customers frequently, keep them apprised of any updates you have, and offer ways for them to monitor the situation, such as an online customer portal.

It is also important to create a multi-channel approach to customer service. Unhappy customers will often reach out to you via social media. When that happens, make sure you answer them promptly, politely, and do the best you can to solve their problem online. Not only will this make the current customer happy, but it will also show other customers and prospects that you are a good company to work with.?

Once you have delivered your product or service, have a procedure in place to follow up. Ask the customer what they thought of your offering, ensure they had a positive experience with your company, and ask what they think you can do to improve. Not only will this help you improve the customer journey, it can also help you come up with additional features or even other offerings you can create in the future that are aligned with your main offering.

You want to create strategies and procedures that not only keep your customers happy, but also encourage them to buy again, purchase other products or services you offer, and refer your business to others.?

Make Every Expenditure Count?

Find ways to cut spending and save money. Many small businesses don’t have savings to help survive tough times, and many of those who did have money saved up used that money over the last few years to help them survive lockdown and the other economic crises that have occurred over the last few years. Here are some areas you may want to revisit or even consider for the first time to help you cut costs:

Investing in technology, a common tactic during recessions, will help you streamline your expenditures and increase revenue. Technology that can help you improve your marketing efforts and take tasks off of your plate will not only help you save money but optimize your time as well.

Now isn’t the Time for Layoffs

Human resources is another common area where small businesses look to make cuts. However, it costs more money to search for, hire, and train new employees than it does to keep existing ones. And with today’s labor market, where it’s difficult to fill vacancies, many businesses are already facing labor shortages. Reducing staff now may not be an option for your business.

Instead of laying off workers, you can explore other solutions, such as reducing the hours your employees work, offering flexible hours, furloughs, and even introducing performance-based pay. You may also look at delegating some of your tasks to other employees, which will help them keep their hours and make you more productive.

Bottom line, if you focus on a main offering that you can scale, focus your marketing efforts and sales efforts on optimizing sales for that offering, improve the customer experience, encourage existing customers to buy from you again, and find other ways to reduce spending, you should be able to find yourself in a position of growth, making considering laying off staff unnecessary.

You Can Still Achieve Business Growth This Year

Businesses that don’t slow down their efforts but pivot how they market their business and adjust their goals will create a scalable business and can even see growth. Understanding and leveraging all of the tools available to them helps businesses do more with less. One powerful tool that is underutilized by local small businesses is Google’s Business Profile. I have written a comprehensive article on the benefits of leveraging Google Business Profile for marketing on my blog. You can read the full article here.?

If you want to know about how you can achieve growth by implementing essential marketing systems or have questions about how marketing can help your business you can message me here on LinkedIn.