Grow Your Business in 2021
There’s no doubt that 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us. As we move into a new decade, however, it’s the perfect opportunity to revisit your goals and prepare for success. While the COVID-19 outbreak may have hampered your plans for 2020, the arrival of a vaccine points to brighter times ahead.
Whether you’re launching a startup, growing an existing enterprise, or actively seeking out investors, there are exciting ways to develop your business in 2021. To ensure you don’t miss out, take a look at these simple ways to boost your commercial performance and increase profitability in 2021:
1. Set Clear Goals
You can only know if you’ve achieved your objectives if you set clear, identifiable goals. Instead of planning to ‘acquire more customers’, for example, set a benchmark figure of how many new customers you want to gain.
In addition to this, you’ll need to ensure you have an appropriate methodology in place to measure and monitor your activity. This will enable you to collate accurate data and determine how close you are to achieving your pre-defined goals.
2. Explore New Tech
Businesses can significantly improve their performance when they leverage new technology. If you work in the medical field, for example, a digital wellness platform can improve patient care and increase revenue. With innovative annual wellness visit software from ChartSpan you offer a wider variety of services, streamline in-house processes, and grow your enterprise. Alternatively, businesses operating in the manufacturing sector can improve efficiency by incorporating machinery with the Internet of Things (IoT) to increase automation.
There are many sector-specific tools and technologies that can streamline your processes and increase your outputs, so it’s well worth staying up to date with the latest innovations. By implementing them swiftly, you can outperform your competitors to secure a bigger share of the market.
3. Use the Gig Economy
When you’re running a business, hiring staff is usually a major pain point. As well as ensuring that you’ve got the right talent on board, your wages bill is likely to be one of your biggest expenses. However, you can eradicate these issues by making use of the gig economy.
Hiring specialists for short-term projects or one-off tasks allows you to access the expertise you need, without committing to a long-term contract. By doing so, you can pay for the specific assistance or advice you need, without having to hire and train full-time workers.
As remote working takes off and more people embrace the gig economy to generate a second income, it’s an ideal time for businesses to reduce their own operating costs by accessing labor in a new way.
4. Develop a Growth Strategy
As well as focusing on short and mid-term goals, it’s important to think about the bigger picture too. As a business owner or manager, your role involves developing your company over the next two, five, and 10 years. To do this, you’ll need to have a workable growth strategy in place.
Businesses can grow in a variety of ways, so be sure to consider all of your options. You may want to open more locations in your domestic market, for example, or enter new geographical markets. Alternatively, you may want to secure a larger market share by delivering a broader range of products or services. You may even decide to cross over from the B2B to B2C market, or vice versa, and identify product or service benefits for different demographics.
When business growth requires investment, it always carries some level of risk. By conducting thorough research and costing your plans carefully, you can limit the amount of risk you’re taking and increase the likelihood of success.
5. Create Contingency Plans
Few people could have predicted how 2020 would evolve but the businesses that have triumphed this year are those that had contingency plans in place. When you know how you’ll respond to various situations, you can ensure that an unexpected event doesn’t scupper your business.
All businesses should have a range of contingency plans, encompassing both smaller issues and major, global recessions. If your tech infrastructure fails, for example, do you have a contingency plan to continue operating and fix the issue swiftly? Similarly, can you continue trading if your cash flow is disrupted or if a major supplier goes out of business?
Imagining the worst-case scenario can be scary but being prepared for all eventualities will ensure your business has the best chance of success in 2021.
New Year, New Mindset
As you embrace the new year, it’s always a good time to take stock and implement changes. When it comes to business, the changes brought about by COVID-19 have opened up a whole range of possibilities for enterprises across all sectors. By seizing the opportunities that are now available to you, you can make 2021 your most successful year yet.