Yes, it sure does and yes there are - but there are some constants I have noticed the very best organisations keep front, left & centre of their focus every day to make sure their businesses survive and thrive...
First and foremost - make sure you have a customer centric culture across your whole business - good news spreads fast, bad news even faster. Especially true in this digital age.
Don't rest on your laurels - engage with your customers to find out what they like about your business and what they think could be added to make for an even better experience. Customer contact strategies don't have to be expensive or complicated, just scaled to your business. Also take time to keep abreast of industry developments and trends - you will spend less time fire-fighting this way.
Make sure you and your staff have the relevant skills for today and tomorrow - empowering, coaching and training your staff will help build loyalty. There's a great quote from Richard Branson along the lines of -'train your staff well enough so they can leave but treat them well enough so they don't want to'!
Foster an environment that encourages feedback and open dialogue from everyone within your organisation - synergy can turbo charge a business to success. Make sure everyone is on the same page and knows the company's ambitions and goals.
Make sure your business is agile and proactive. It's tempting for all of us to seek reassurance in familiarity and stay within our comfort zone but your best competitors will be doing just the opposite. Don't allow silos or empire building!
Look for the differentiator in your business and then you can build value over cost.
Use relevant technology to help - you don't need to be the expert but just be able to recognise where it can assist and then seek help in using tech to your advantage - before your competitors.
Be able to measure & evaluate where you are in real time - 'totting up' revenues versus costs once a month or less very rarely works this day and age. Use technology and business intelligence to allow for agile decision making. It's absolutely crucial to spot trends, both good and bad, at the earliest opportunity.
Don't be frightened to seek assistance - the modern business world is just too complicated to be expert at everything.
Obviously there is a great deal more to keep an eye on in business every day and it's a lot easier said than done, but in our retailing experience focussing on the above will go a long way to staying on the right track.
We hope you found this useful and if you would like help with anything relating to it, then please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Comentários