12 Tips to help your business thrive and survive

A fundamental part of overcoming business failure is rooted in the mindset you have. It begins with a flexible and positive attitude and a willingness to change. 

1. Listen to your customers. Your customers hold a wealth of information that you as a small business need to grow and develop.  Ask them what they like and don’t like about your business and listen to their answers
2. Be proactive and stay in contact with your customers after a sales enquiry or a purchase. Add them to your email list and actively market to them. Just remember to follow data protection laws.
3. Ask for recommendations from your customers rather than hoping that this will happen naturally. People respond to recommendations from people that they know well and trust.
4. Know what your competitors are doing. This can help you to make your own products or services stand out by taking advantage of their weaknesses and improving your own product or service.
5. Fall in love with your business all over again. If you love your business, your business loves you back! 
6. Remember that ‘You don’t know what you don’t know’. Ask for help from your peers, local enterprise agency, business library and local council. It’s also a great way to network!
7. Improve your cash flow by ensuring you’re getting paid on time. Help your customers to do this by making sure that your invoices clearly show your payment terms and provide bank details.
8. Love your community and its other local businesses. Support and promote local events and fellow business owners to raise your profile as well as finding new business opportunities. Not to mention the warm and fuzzy feeling that you’ll get inside!
9. Protect your intellectual property. Your business name, designs, copy and patents are all things that give you a competitive edge and are valuable assets. 
10. Don’t spread yourself too thin. If you are new to social media platforms there is no need to be on them all! Find out which ones your customer group engage with the most and focus on these ones, to begin with. 
11. Learn to delegate. Your most valuable commodity is time so don’t waste it, so think about where your time will be best spent. Perhaps you are spending too much of your time on bookkeeping and accounting or data entry and admin. (If you can delegate, you should.)
12. Create a marketing plan to help you focus your time, efforts and money on activities that are in line with your overall business objectives.