Building any business from the ground up is tough. While it does take various strategies to stay ahead of the game, one key focus should be on relationship building. Focusing on people should be one of your main goals. Your employees, clients, suppliers, and anyone else associated with your business should never be far from your mind. After all, your employees and clients are what keep the doors open. In addition, keeping your suppliers happy will get you better deals and help you to build value.
Knowing Your Audience
In order to really know your audience, you have to get creative. You can interview people and do market research to come up with an idea of who your audience is. Knowing exactly who you’re speaking to when you post on social media or create an ad is crucial. Not only will it attract the right people to your business, you’ll immediately get people warming to you and wanting to work with you. You need to show that you know who these people are, what they want, what problems they are having, and how you can solve them.
Your Message
What message are you trying to send to people about your business? Knowing what your message is will help you to create better marketing materials and use the right language. You want to make sure you’re actually communicating the right thing to your audience, and that you’re building up a good picture of your business/brand in their minds.
Your Company Culture
Creating a fantastic company culture isn’t just so you build a great business reputation that gets back to your audience. It’s about building a culture that your staff can work happily in. Building the right culture can take time. Make sure you’re doing the following things:
- Culture aligns with your core values
- Have fun
- Hire people who fit in perfectly with your culture (don’t expect them to change)
- Work as a team
- Make sure your culture evolves when necessary
- Take steps to maintain your culture
Understanding Emotional Choices
Understanding emotional choices is one of the most powerful and important things you’ll do if you want to build a business. Understanding the emotional needs of your customers will make them want to come to you and work with you. If you can do that, you should find that you have to spend a lot less time selling your product/service! Solving problems is key! All you have to do is show that you know how to do that while appealing to the emotions of your audience. An exceptional service is great, but it’s nothing without showing that you get the emotional side of things too.
Make Keeping People Safe A Priority
Make sure that keeping people safe is a priority for you. Be sure to purchase insurance, and read the fine print. Make sure your policy is suited to what you are doing. Furthermore, hazard awareness is also a must. What could cause problems or injury in the workplace that people should be aware of? Regular training can help staff stay informed, identify issues themselves and ensure they’re not going to get hurt. Having a BLS certification and similar precautions will give you, even more, peace of mind. You can never protect your business or the people in it/working with it too much.
Stop Trying To Sell
Clients hate it when they feel like something is being pushed onto them. Instead, work on establishing a connection with a person. Ask questions and figure out if you’re a good fit for one another or not. This is far more likely to help you to sell than actually going for the ‘hard sell’ or pitching your idea. People want to feel like you’re being honest and that you want to solve their problem, not that you’ll do anything to get their money.
Support Your Team
You aren’t just focusing on your customers. You are focusing on the people that work for you, too. Building a culture of employees who have a purpose and feel it every day is a must. The only way you can do this is if your team feels supported. You can’t expect them to feel this way just by paying them on time every week.
If you know an individual employee cares about a cause, why not get involved? Is there a way you can sponsor or support that cause? Maybe you could host an evening to raise money for the cause, or spread awareness some other way. You have plenty of options, so be prepared to think outside of the box and be prepared to invest in your employees. You may also need to be prepared to allow staff paid time off to support these causes, especially if you know they are going through a rough time.
Remain Authentic
Remaining authentic is essential to building a successful business. This goes for not only you but the people who are the faces of your company. This is why you must hire people who embody what your business stands for. With every interaction, ask yourself, is this authentic? Does this represent our business?
Active Listening
Your teams should be built on quality communication. Make sure your team members are encouraged to speak their truth. Your company should check in with individuals every so often, say every 6 weeks, and have a discussion to ensure that things are going as they should be.
Ask what they are expecting, what the company expects from them, and if anything is holding them back. Consistent, open communication will ensure that the team can focus on successful outcomes. It also ensures that each employee has what they need to succeed professionally and personally.
Building a business from the ground up is all about knowing your audience, and the people who work for you. It’s about genuinely caring, asking the right questions, and getting people to connect with your brand. It’s about wanting to help people and solve problems. Learn as much as you can and building a business should come naturally to you.
Be sure to hop into the Savvy Entrepreneur Private Facebook Community to collaborate, learn and grow with your fellow entrepreneurs and business owners.
Similar Posts by Savvy Entrepreneur:
10 Income Reports by Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs
https://savvyentrepreneur.co/10-income-reports-by-entrepreneurs-for-entrepreneurs/
Get More Customers Using Your Website, Email Marketing, and Social Media
https://savvyentrepreneur.co/get-more-customers-using-website-email-marketing-social-media/
Mastermind Groups for Entrepreneurs Foster Accountability
https://savvyentrepreneur.co/mastermind-groups-for-entrepreneurs-foster-accountability/
This is a Collaborative Post
