13 Big business practices all businesses can adopt. Looking for ways to improve your business and take it to the next level? Look no further, as you will learn the most important features every business should focus on. From setting up and building your brand to going global. Get ready to take notes and give your business the boost that needs!
It’s an achievement to reach any level of success when you’re in the business world. But if you reach the top of the game, then that’s something truly special. If you’re a small or medium-sized business, you might view those large businesses as something entirely unlike what you’re doing. But this isn’t really true — they’re just doing things at a different scale to you.
While you can’t expect to match them for revenue, you can incorporate some of their practices into your own organization. In doing so, you’ll be helping to push your business forward, in ways that you may not reach if you were only using small business tips.
Find a Speciality
Regardless of the industry in which you work, you’re going to have a lot of competition. It’s just the name of the game you sign up for when you start a business. All big businesses have a lot of competition, too. In fact, big businesses have more competition than small businesses because if there’s a large audience, then other people will want a piece of the pie.
Large businesses differentiate themselves from their many competitors by finding a specialty. You can call it a USP, specialty, or whatever you want — the main point is that they offer something that others don’t. A good way to do this with your own business is to break down your target demographic into small segments and then focus on meeting the needs of one of those segments in a specialist way. You’ll lose some customers, but you’ll create greater value for the ones that you retain — and you’ll gain new customers, too.
Prioritise The Customer Experience
It’s normal for small businesses to act in a self-serving way. After all, they’re just trying to survive out there. However, the risk of taking this approach is that you can lose sight of what should be the main priority — the customer.
All large businesses pay special attention to the customer’s experience because they know that’s what fuels long-term success. As a small business, you’re actually in a better position than large companies to please your customers and form closer relationships with them. Spend a little time making your customers happy, and it’ll positively impact your operations.
Working With Other Businesses
Take a look at some of the biggest companies in your city, and you’ll invariably notice that they rarely, if ever, work entirely alone. They form partnerships with other businesses, which is a mutually beneficial practice that raises standards and extends customer reach. Is there an opportunity for you to develop a relationship with other businesses? Ideally, they’d be ones related to your business (not direct competitors) that are slightly larger than yours. It’s a smart and effective way to level up your business.
Consistent Work Procedures
A freewheeling approach to business will get you somewhere, but it’s unlikely to be at the top of successful businesses. Take a look at the inner workings of successful companies, and you’ll see the same thing repeatedly: they’re consistent. That could be related to their working practices, the products and services they offer, and so forth. They’re not working one way on Monday and a different way on Tuesday. It’s the same every day.
Adopt the same approach at your own business, and you’ll enjoy increased productivity and more happy customers (since everyone will get the same experience).
Acquiring Other Businesses
Acquiring other related businesses won’t be a realistic goal when you’re in the early stages of running your operation. However, when you have some success, it might be a more realistic possibility than you might imagine.
Of course, there’s risk involved in taking this approach, and it certainly won’t be easy. But if you can pull it off, then you will have significantly improved and enhanced your business. It could take you from a “small” business to a “medium” business. It’s best to do this after you’ve already had some successful partnerships with other businesses, so you can see what’s out there.
Finding Great Employees
All businesses know (or should know) the value of having great employees. After all, having the best talent will make future success much more likely.
Big businesses take the time to bring in talented staff members rather than just selecting from the pile of CVs they receive. This is especially true when hiring for the most influential and impactful positions, such as executive positions; in this case, they’ll be more likely to use an executive search firm to handle the job for them rather than relying on advertisements or other traditional candidate search methods.
You can incorporate this approach into your hiring by elevating your hiring process and ensuring you bring the best candidates on board. If that means working with a firm or improving your job descriptions, so be it.
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A Healthy Environment
We’ll talk about general corporate branding later on, but first, let’s focus on the staff branding experience. Take a look at big firms, and you’ll notice that they all work on creating a cohesive working environment that allows team members to really buy into the overall message of the company.
You can mimic this approach by creating a working environment that is inclusive, that offers just as many rewards as demands, and which takes employee feedback on board. If you can do this, then you’ll have a happier workforce — which will improve your retention rate — and benefit from greater productivity. Everyone wins, basically.
Strong Branding
And now, onto your branding. Large companies execute this aspect of their operations extremely well; they leave no stone unturned. The cohesiveness of solid branding is basically essential if you have ambitions to elevate your business; it’s just impossible to step up without it.
Once you have the vision for your branding, it’s all about ensuring that all external and internal communications meet that vision. There’s the software you can use to keep a check on all your branded documents so your team doesn’t accidentally use an outdated document.
Global Growth
There’s only so much you can grow when you’re only offering your goods and services to your local area. At some point, it’ll be time to enter new markets. This can start by expanding your business nationally, but after that, what about the rest of the world? The first hurdle, of course, is to other parts of the country. But if you can do that, then the sky’s the limit.
Financial Investment
Companies that are heading to the big leagues don’t generate a profit for at least the first year. They usually don’t do so for the first five years. So what are they doing with all that money that they’re making? They’re pumping it back into their business.
It’s tempting to draw the money you’re making from your business or even put it to one side “just in case,” but don’t shy away from investing it back into your business. If you can invest in the right areas, you will likely find that it brings a handsome return on your investment.
Continued Innovation
You’ll have a product or service that you can offer the world — and hopefully, the world likes it. But if you’re going to push forward, then you can’t rest on that forever. You should be in a state of continuous innovation and evolution. After all, while whatever it is that you offer might be in demand right now, there’s no guarantee that things will be the same in five years. A new competitor might pop up that does what you do, just better. If you’re continually improving your business, then you’ll always be one step ahead.
Trade Show Participation
There’s a lot of value in exhibiting at a trade show. They’re hard work and require careful planning, yes, but the benefits are undeniable; not only will you be able to present your offerings to a large number of interested parties, but you’ll get to do so next to your industry’s big players. If nothing else — and there will be other things — it’ll give you confidence that you belong on that stage. So take a look at what trade shows related to your industry is taking place this year, and start your preparations.
Big Mindset
Finally, let’s talk about mindset. While it’s true that many of the world’s biggest companies started with significant financial investment, many did not. They began as small businesses. And they likely would have stayed as small businesses if they didn’t have a big and ambitious mindset, one that said, “we’re here now, but in the future, we’re going to be in the big leagues.” So perhaps the best tip we have to offer small businesses is to act in ways that show you’re a big business.
This might mean having the courage to step up when opportunities are presented and take the odd leap of faith. You never know where it might take you.
