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WorldExecutivesDigest.com | What Your Startup Needs to Grow in 2020 | Heading your own startup is an exciting venture that’s an excellent opportunity to take your personal and financial success to the next level. That said, it is also a huge risk in more ways than one. While some of your success is up to factors out of your control, there are tactics and tools you can use to help your startup grow in 2020.
Renewed Focus
At every phase of your business’s growth it’s important to revisit your business plan and goals. While you likely have the same overall vision and mission, certain aspects have likely shifted based on how your company has developed. Since your original business plan was just that, it will need to evolve.
Review your business plan and make adjustments based on the progress you have made and the new information you have to work with such as your customer expectations, which products and services are performing best, and the current state of the market.
While some changes will be exciting and due to performance that far exceeded your projections, others may be because of missteps or factors out of your control. Either way, approaching this next phase of your startup with a renewed focus and enthusiasm is essential to continue growing.
A Solid Team
Your employees can have a major impact on your success—from establishing a reputation for exceptional service to helping you push forward to take your business to the next level. So, how can you make sure you have the best team behind you? You will need to take several steps to build a qualified team with the least risk. Here are a few things to keep in mind when bringing on employees:
- Hire in phases. Hiring is one of the biggest expenses your startup will take on, so it’s important to do so strategically. Specifically, you want to hire for vital positions first, then build out from there as your revenue allows.
- Carefully vet all new hires. While it can be tempting to just get someone in the door to help you ASAP, that is not the safest strategy. Instead, it’s highly recommended that you take your time to find someone who is qualified. One way to do that is by conducting a pre employment screening before you make it official.
- Train all your employees. Depending on the role, employees may require different guidance but providing them with the right training is essential. Whether it’s on the specific systems you use, your customer service philosophy, or job-related duties, training can help you ensure that your team is operating at the highest level.
It also doesn’t hurt to focus on incentivizing and encouraging your team in whatever way you can to keep everyone enthusiastically working toward the same goal.
Streamlined Solutions
In the earliest stages of your startup, you likely did not have the capital to invest in making your processes efficient. However, as your business grows, it becomes increasingly important to use your resources as strategically as possible. This means doing what you can to cut down on wasted time and money.
Luckily, there are more and more solutions being designed to help startups achieve optimal efficiency, without breaking the budget. To help streamline your workflow, you may want to consider investing in some of the following solutions:
- Project management software: Much of your business’s valuable time is likely lost in repetitive tasks, unnecessary conflicts, and poor time management. All of that can be significantly reduced with a project management software that helps your teamwork through projects more efficiently.
- Customer relationship management software: Input, save, and utilize customer data in a smarter way. CRM software helps you optimize how you manage customer relationships to reduce your team’s time spent but increase the opportunities.
- Marketing Automation: Marketing is essential to growing your startup company, but it can also be time-consuming. From post scheduling to email automation, these tools can help you stay engaged with prospective and current customers, while minimizing the amount of time you need to invest.
By optimizing your processes, you can redirect resources to where they’re most needed: helping your business grow.
With these tips in mind, you can take the steps necessary to make your startup bigger and better in 2020.
