Handling Consumer Uncertainty with more Certainty

With entrepreneurship comes risk. All. The. Time.  Most decisions come with a hefty investment, whether it be financial or time, and therefore a huge dollop of risk:

Will this new service return on its investment?

What if this new employee doesn’t work out?

What if we lose business to our competitors?

Just a few of the questions that keep many business owners awake at night!

So how can the risks versus reward be mitigated?

Consumer uncertainty is an external factor. For many businesses it often feels out of our control. Therefore, it’s easy to come up with ‘excuses’ such as we don’t have enough time to invest into launching a new service as it’s too risky in the current climate. Or it’s not the right time to recruit in this climate. Instead, battening down the hatches and plodding on, hoping and waiting for change.

BE the Change.

Instead ask, what can we change to give our consumers more certainty when choosing us?

The answer can lie in your PROCESSES. A process that nurtures potential clients from marketing, through to enquiry, through to the ‘sales’ call, onboarding and beyond. Run through your process with your potential customers’ shoes on and start to identify the gaps in helping them to know they’re in safe hands right from the outset.

Recruitment Challenges Made Easier

The headlines around challenging recruitment times are no secret and have been for a number of years and is likely set to continue. But in-house challenges are just as real – “no time to develop people” being one of the key reasons small businesses put off recruiting.

New starters are more discerning in today’s market; the best people want to know what development opportunities will be available. Putting in time before you recruit will reap the best interviewees and therefore recruits. A robust job description, interview process and 3-month training plan is your starting point.

Competitors? What Competitors!

What would it mean to your business to not worry about your competitors? There will always be competitors.

So, differentiate your business so much that you don’t even wonder what they’re up to.

Identify your Superpower – what’s the thing in your business that is unique to you – that you do brilliantly, and could do all day, for free, if you chose to? One recent business I worked with sought business coaching because their competition had increased, and they were planning to diversify… Their superpower was identified as being able to balance creativity with commercial focus to drive footfall in the leisure industry.

Once they had this clarity – a clear and powerful message emerged, and their marketing became easy. Combined with an upleveled delivery; knocked their competitors out of the park.

There are so many factors that are in our control as small business owners.

Identify the gaps and start to plan and implement against the change that needs to take place. All this will put you back in the drivers seat of your business.

Book in for my complimentary Kickstart Session – a one hour call to give you clarity, focus and guidance on your best next steps in business.