Although the rewards of entrepreneurship are fulfilling, you need to be prepared for the ups and downs. Sometimes glitches resulting from flawed strategy, incompetent management, poor marketing, or unexpected events like the COVID-19 pandemic can slow down or kill your business. Well, no one wants to see their business die, at least not after all the hard work. Before you give up, below are measures that can help bring your dying business back from the brink.
Assess the situation
The first place to begin is to analyze your situation. Take a good look at your company to evaluate what is going wrong. Keep in mind that businesses don’t just fail in a snap. There must be a series of actions that must have driven your business down the drain. Do an internal audit, look into your finances, operations, customer service to establish the cause. It is only after assessing the situation that you can devise solutions.
Re-strategize
Now that you have accessed the situation, it is time to strategize, pivot, and change direction. The strategy you take will depend on how badly your business is affected. For some, the new strategy might mean changing their business model or selling an entirely different product. For instance, did you know LG started as a chemical industrial company before becoming the electronic guru it is today? Yes! Saving your company will require you to make drastic changes. However, keep in mind that you can only know what cause to take after doing a proper situation analysis.
Tip:
- When re-strategizing, lean on action plans that center on your customer. Remember, if you can save or please the customer, you can save the business.
Outsource services to cut costs
To save your business, you will need to cut costs as much as you can. One way to do that is to outsource services. Outsourcing costs are always much cheaper compared to when your company is doing the operation itself. Statistics show that companies can save up to 30% through outsourcing. It’s simple, instead of paying employees’ salaries and the operations costs, you can hire a managed service company to do the same tasks at a much lower cost. A good place to begin is to outsource your IT services rather than invest a lot in-house. If you work with a managed service with specialists in IT support, you will be amazed at how much you will achieve and save at the same time. Outsourcing allows you to use the extra money for other crucial costs. You will be working with top professionals and accessing top infrastructure whilst still cutting expenses.
Manage your cash flows
Cash is what keeps your business running. So, when your business is dying, it means what is coming in is less than what is going out. At this point, it is advisable that you find new ways of tracking your cash flow; for instance, you might need to do weekly tracking as opposed to monthly. Cut off all unnecessary costs and learn to spend less on necessities. In essence, you need to get acquainted with the basics of managing your cash flow to save your business. However, at the end of the day, ensure you are collecting receivables, tightening credit requirements, or offering discounts to bring in cash.
Change your marketing strategies
Changing how you reach your customers could be crucial for the survival of your business. Remember, customers are the heart of the business, and you must do everything to keep them happy. Since your old ways are not bearing any fruits, a fresh and diverse marketing plan is what you need to get your business out of the rut. Create a holistic plan that covers product marketing, online and digital marketing, content marketing, and service marketing
General marketing tips:
- Use social media to show your product
- Position your business as an expert in the industry- Use Quora, lead webcasts, Podcasts
- Create unique, educative and entertaining content. Content is king in today’s business world
- Use appropriate channels depending on audience niche- Find out where your customers are spending their time online.
- Ask for referrals
Don’t give up just yet!
If you have read stories about Bezos, the founder of Amazon, you will understand why you need to keep going. The business mogul made several mistakes with his company before and after it was launched, but still kept going. It is impossible to fail if you don’t give up; remember, an entrepreneurial spirit never gives up. We understand that those secret closed-door meetings held in groups about closing down can get to you. However, you will need to stay grounded and not be driven by fear. Learn from your mistake, change strategy, and keep your eyes focused on the goal.
Wrapping up
Businesses go through changing tides. Before you beat yourself up, you need to know that a failing business is just one of many. In fact, many successful entrepreneurs in the market today had many failures before making it. The tips discussed above should get you up and go. However, regardless of the outcome, remember every failure is a learning experience