Let’s face it: ensuring the survival of a new business is tough enough; and getting ahead can sometimes feel out of reach or unfathomable. But when you think about it, there’s very little middle ground because you’re either ahead of the pack, or you’re struggling to keep up. After all, it seems like just about everyone has a viable product or service, and they all profess to offer and provide the best, of course. So, what’s it going to take for your startup business to get ahead of the competition? Let’s take a look at a few tips on what your startup can do to get ahead of the pack.
Know your competition
To achieve real field separation from the rest of market, you have to do much more than just keep your head down and push forward. Instead, look around and get to know your competition. Know what they’re all about, how their product (or service) is similar to yours (and how it differs). Doing this alone, won’t guarantee success. But remaining ignorant of the other guy is a surefire guarantee that you’ll be left behind.
Knowing your competition is also about knowing what is and isn’t working for them. No covert ops necessary here. Just hop online and check them out. Maybe they’ve implemented a seasonal special that’s really taking off; or perhaps they’re in Week 3 of a clearance on an item that just won’t move.
One thing’s for sure, they’re also looking at you, so get a leg up and check out the other guy(s).
Challenge assumptions
Don’t assume your customers are always happy. Instead, take yourself through a purchasing journey, as if you’re a customer contemplating an order. Yes, you could hire a mystery shopper to do this, but, why not find out for yourself what a customer sees and feels? From browsing your own site, and drilling down to a particular product and placing an order, to tracking a package all the way to delivery and reviewing its quality, you’ll gain valuable insight by seeing things through a customer’s eyes. This is a great opportunity to check for errors in everything from outdated pricing to product misspelling. Sure, everything might be just fine; or, you might discover a major glitch in the system. Better for you to find out before a customer does. Crisis averted.
Evaluate your business infrastructure
How would you describe your operation? A well-oiled machine? Or, slow and rusty? Are the procedures in place helping to optimize efficiency? Or, are they unnecessary? If things aren’t moving and flowing as fast and as well as they could (and should), it might be time for a change. You’ve evaluated your staff, and the team is working hard. So, you’re not about to increase your workforce with additional staff or a bunch of temps.
Perhaps the bottleneck lies in your accounting software. Yes, the one that’s been with you since day 1. At first, it worked like a charm and your operation was humming along just fine. Then 50 customers gave way to 250, and your staff of 2 turned into 20. Nice, you’re growing! But along with your growing business came growing pains, like…
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getting reliable and timely reports are now a thing of the past. If a weekly report takes two, and month end spills into the next, you’re taking way too long to produce.
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inventory is more of a guessing game and you’ve become increasingly reliant on last-minute manual counts, that unsurprisingly, are less than reliable.
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you’re finding yourself apologizing to staff and customers alike, because your system is down (because your server is down), and you’re waiting for your on-call IT guru to come and fix the problem, again.
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Data accessibility is more like running an informational gauntlet. You and your team are logging in and out from one siloed database to another, trying to piece together a customer’s purchase and payment history. Meanwhile, that same customer is on the phone complaining because you shipped her order to her old address, even though she emailed her new address months ago.
So how do you find a real solution to these growing problems? Shut down for a day and implement the next batch of updates? Employ that IT guru full time and hope for the best? Not quite.
Instead, consider a cloud-based accounting solution like Gravity Software® (Gravity). Built on the Microsoft Power Platform (aka Dynamics 365 CRM), Gravity is structured to help manage and efficiently operate your business. By implementing Gravity, you’ll eliminate that operational rust, while increasing operational efficiencies across the board. Gravity fills the gap between entry level accounting applications like QuickBooks and expensive enterprise solutions like Sage Intacct. So, if you feel the aches and pains with your existing financial application, take a look a Gravity Software and schedule an online demo today. My business is connected. Is yours?
Gravity Software
Better. Smarter. Accounting.
