By their nature, micro, small, and medium-sized firms (MSMEs) lack the capacity to make huge investments in physical and financial resources, thereby creating the possibility for them to be calculated and conservative when competing amongst themselves and with big industry players. In this write-up, I explore a blend of classic, cost-effective, and contemporary approaches that MSMEs can adopt to power their businesses to greatness in the marketplace.
1 Great Customer Service
Without the customer, there is no business, right? But then, great customer service goes beyond just acknowledging this truth and serving them as one pleases. Great customer service involves striving to delight and wow your customers in the field (the marketplace). It must be something beyond their expectations. Customers who are treated exceptionally well tend to come back and do business repeatedly. A great customer service culture must pervade the company, from the proprietor to the sales executives to the front desk officer. This would require little or no resource outlay, just a conscious attitude to excite buyers every day, every time. Practical ways of exhibiting great customer service would include keeping your smile on, saying thank you on customers’ purchases, graciously handling returns and refunds, assisting buyers with their shopping carts, asking customers for their feedback, and addressing that feedback if need be.
2 Trust with Suppliers
Suppliers provide goods or services to other dealers, either for cash or credit. Small entities have an opportunity to scale up their operations if they keep good faith with their suppliers. Credit purchases allow a small business to postpone payment to suppliers, freeing up cash for other critical uses. Once credit terms have been agreed upon with suppliers, the business must ensure that they comply with them. This builds trust between the business and its suppliers. Accordingly, the business can always fall back on suppliers when cash is unavailable to pay immediately.
Positive customer relationship management
Relating to clients goes beyond providing them with services in the normal course of business. That is ordinary! Customer relationship management (CRM) helps businesses gain insight into the behavior of their customers and modify their business operations to ensure that customers are served in the best possible way. A positive customer relationship enables the small business not only to connect transactionally with their customers but also to be empathetic towards them. Simple acts such as calling clients on their birthdays or special anniversaries or attending their events would go a long way towards establishing a long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with customers. All other things being equal, customers will develop a wholehearted attachment to your brand or business. What is more? From their diverse interactions with customers, small businesses will be better placed to understand the needs of their customers. To establish a CRM structure, a small business should have good record-keeping abilities. With the customer’s permission, the small business can collect and keep data about a customer, such as their birthdates, anniversaries, etc. A simple smart phone or computer app such as Microsoft Excel can help in this regard.
4 Cross Selling
Cross-selling is the process of selling a different product or service to a customer to increase the value of the sale. For example, a fruit juice seller might add the sale of pastry to a buyer who had intended to buy only fruit juice. Cross-selling requires a bit of tact and skill in attempting to prove to the buyer that they will need the other product as a good complement to their original product. Cross-selling is one of the ways you can provide value to both yourself as a business and the customer. By educating clients on the need for a complement, the business provides value to the customer, who will not need to spend time and effort obtaining the complement elsewhere. On the other hand, by selling the complement in one sale activity, the business kills two or more birds with one stone.
5 Social Media
With a simple smart phone and basic knowledge of social media marketing, a small business owner can experience the full benefits of social media. Of course, they will need to be responsive when addressing client queries. Business owners have an advantage in marketing to a section of their prospective customers who like to surf the internet. It is the new thing now, and no one, including small businesses, would want to miss out!
6 Pricing
Customers, particularly in lower-end markets, are price-sensitive. Pricing is one of the important factors small enterprises can exploit to obtain and retain customers. The goal is to price items competitively (and profitably) so that customers are psychologically aligned with the product or service and want to buy from the company all the time. The enterprise would need to determine the prices for key products in their jurisdiction and, at the same time, establish the profit margins for the same. They can then set a price level that is slightly lower than that of the market but one that would not deeply hit their margins. In effect, the business sacrifices some of its profit margins in the short term to attract and retain more customers in the long term.
7 Innovation
Change is the only constant. Enterprises can innovate as to their product and service offerings, mode of delivery of products or services, business hours, and degree of flexibility, among others. In an extremely saturated business environment, standing out is much more of a necessity than an option. An enterprise’s ability to constantly change course depends on a comprehensive understanding of the core operations of the business, including its customers.
For any micro-to-medium business seeking to be profitable, efficient, and sustainable while keeping at bay any significant injection of resources, implementing these very economical and down-to-earth tips would go a long way towards achieving those.
The writer is a Chartered Accountant and a 360-degree Business and Management Consultant
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