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5 Simple Steps to Manage & Grow Your Business Seamlessly

Multitasking is a familiar topic for solopreneurs and small business owners; who typically wear multiple hats to run their business. One of the many lessons they all learn is that it’s extremely important to balance day-to-today activities with seeking new business. You must be able to do both competently to succeed.

We meet a lot of small business owners and solopreneurs, and we make it our business to know what makes them tick. We learn about how they succeeded, and listen to how they failed. We took those lessons and distilled them down to these simple 5 steps. We hope these steps will help you follow your passion while efficiently managing and growing your business.

1. Organize Your Business

Typically, business owners interact with prospects or customers via email, phone, or text and use tools such as post-its, notebooks, calendars, and spreadsheets to keep track of activities. These are simple, cost very little, and are easily available. So it's only logical for new business owners to start with these. It helps to keep the start-up cost at a minimum or zero and works on a small scale.

Over time, as you grow the business, these tools become less and less capable of tracking your whole business’s operations. This factor limits your growth significantly! It’s very common for business owners to spend 10-12hrs/week on manual, administrative tasks! This is a waste of your valuable time and energy

There are a lot of business management tools out there. Most are time consuming to figure out, and offer little return on investment! It’s important to invest your time and money in the right business management tool if you’re going to use it to enable scalable, seamless growth! In other words: It’s time to work on the business, not in the business!

MyBizzHive provides an all-in-one online business management solution for professional service providers! It’s easy to learn and personalized for your unique needs. You can run it anywhere and from any device.

2. Generate & Manage Leads

There are many ways to generate leads and get more business, but referrals are the most common method for professional service providers. In some cases, referrals make up 50-70% of your business! However, even in those cases, it’s still important to focus on other ways to generate business. Such as:

  • A professional website which lists your business and contact information, services & packages you offer, and testimonials from previous customers.
  • A ‘contact form’ on your website that provides a quick way for customers to get in touch with you and allows you to respond at your convenience.
  • A social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest
  • A professional business listing on Yelp, YellowPages, or LinkedIn.

Whenever you get new leads, it’s critical to respond and prioritize which leads to focus on next. It’s too easy to get lost in leads that are at different ‘stages’ when a business owner has to perform different activities depending upon where each lead stands. Success in this skill is key to maximizing your ability to win new business!

MyBizzHive provides an easy way to manage all your leads and keep track of customer info, notes, tasks, and appointments. You can customize views and labels to match your unique process.

3. Look Professional & Stand Out

GeMng a referral or reaching out to prospects is just the first step in the process. It's very common for customers to interact with multiple service providers, evaluate their options, and then make a decision. In addition to great services and prices, customers also expect a prompt response and your undivided attention. So it‘s extremely crucial to look professional and to stand out among your competition. Here are a few hintsL

  • Understand your customers’ needs. Collect details, conduct research, find out what makes your customers tick. What services they’re interested in, their budget, their expectations: all these things are good to know
  • Keep notes about all your contacts. Your contacts might come to you via email, phone, or in person. Take notes about what they say whenever they contact you
  • Be transparent about pricing. Agree upon the pricing and terms before you begin work. Request payments when they’re due and keep your clients informed about what they owe you and when
  • Deliver. Make good on your contracts on the promised date & time. Build a reputation for excellence and everyone will sing your praises to everyone they meet.

    • When it comes to paperwork, there are a few ways to do it. Some people try to get away with having no formal invoices or receipts. They use email, text or even just verbal communication as the only proof of agreement between the provider and the customer. This saves you time, but it isn’t very professional and it can leave you vulnerable. Some providers use MS Word to create quotes or contracts and send them as email attachments to their customers. This is an extremely time-consuming practice and you have no visibility over if your customer actually received or viewed the attachment.

    WIth MyBizzHive, you can create customizable quote and invoice templates. Your customers can electronically sign and accept quotes, and make payments online. You also get notified every time a customer accepts a quote or makes a payment, or if a payment is overdue.

    4. Track Income & Expenses

    Understanding and keeping track of both income and expenses is critical for all businesses. Typically, service providers collect an advance or deposit to confirm a booking and then collect the remaining balance after they’ve performed the services. Many service providers send invoices and expect customers to make payments within a certain timeframe.

    It’s time consuming to track all the payments and expenses, identify late payments, and follow up with customers or providers, but it’s important. Don’t skip it. Take the time to track your expenses.

    The MyBizzHive dashboard gives you a quick overview of leads you’re currently working on, potential revenue, pendings tasks, upcoming appointments, and notifications. With MyBizzHive, you know exactly where your business stands at any given point.

    5. Build Brand & Network

    For any business, whether it’s offering services or making products, building and managing great customer relationships is a fundamental requirement to success. It’s easy to forget about past customers as you’re dealing with new clients and running your business. But a thank you letter, a birthday or Christmas wish, or simple check-in to say ‘hello’ could go a long way toward helping you build a strong brand and wide network! Don’t forget the little things!

    MyBizzHive provides an all-in-one online business management solution that helps you keep track of your business needs. You can focus on growing your business and doing what you love, let MyBizzHive do the rest.

    Want to know more about how we can help you or do you have questions? Set up a demo email us at contact@mybizzhive.com