Is your business Struggling?
You are not alone, according to a recent report one-fifth of the UK’s Businesses are on the verge of insolvency, in recent times we have seen many formally successful brands and household names disappear.
The expectations of consumers and the experiences they receive are changing
dramatically. Now with Covid some of these expectations are continuously changing. Large chains may struggle to change quickly enough to adapt to the changing consumer climate, as their size makes it difficult to change without a large amount of planning and extensive restructuring. However, smaller businesses do not face the same issues, and are free to adapt to the changing consumer expectations and demands.
If your Business is struggling,
DON’T PANIC! – you can fix things.
SO:
· Be honest – Accepting that your business is not succeeding is a major step forward.
· Be prepared for change – it can be scary; it can also be a time of growth. Now is the time to experiment, create and innovate. Of course, that is easier said than done. It is tough to pivot your business during times of immense change.
First, stabilize your business to the best of your ability. It is important to evaluate your costs and products and ensure you take the necessary actions to weather the crisis.
There are likely changes you wanted to make in your business but haven't and now is a time to act.
Review your contracts – from energy suppliers, to insurance and loans. Check your suppliers and seek out new deals.
Decide what is vital to run your business. Make sure you spend your cash wisely, so you can move forward without the weight of unnecessary cost burden.
With changes come a new set of customers and expectations. Some businesses see a sudden influx of business and are unable to react fast enough to meet the increased demands. As a result, customers are left unhappy and the company suffers a blow to its reputation, which means working even harder to rebuild your reputation and consumers faith in you.
Ensure that you have a detailed plan for business growth: set out clear business goals and financial targets, and make sure you’re prepared to achieve these goals.
Monitor and if you miss them adjust your plans and strategies.
· Connect with your Customers – remember they have loved your product enough to spend their money on it, now embrace their feedback, reach out and entice them back with new offers, products, promotions.
Figure out the best way to engage with your current customers and do so in creative ways.
Ask yourself: How can I best engage and communicate with my customers now? What can I do to encourage my current customers to support my business? What are other companies doing to engage customers that I could also be doing or could help my business?
· Embrace the competition – Competition is fierce. The market is so heavily saturated at all levels that you now need more than just good food and service to attract and keep customers.
Consumers are now looking for an experience as much as quality products and excellent service.
What is your Unique Selling Point (USP)? Is your message and USP clear to the consumer? The extras and uniqueness of your offering, venue and service will help you stand out from the crowd.
· Be Instragam-able – Make sure you are social media ready not just with your design and presentation but also your marketing strategy and promotional plan.
· Poor accounting and financial analysis – As an owner, you should be managing your business and while it is very important to keep an close eye on your figures it is also wise to hire professional bookkeeping accountants in order to crunch the numbers, saving you both time and money. Freeing you up to monitor performance and develop new strategies.
· Location, location, location – When it comes to the high street, location is everything. If your business is out of sight (or even only online) or catering to a demographic that isn’t common where you are, then your marketing needs to be on point as you can’t rely on passing footfall.
In this era of the internet your location is less important than ever. Marketing your business successfully will negate any issues with location that you have.
· Correct staffing – Both with numbers and personalities. Over staffing and understaffing can have terrible impact on your business. Just the same with poorly motivated and badly managed staff.
Review your staff, review your staff manual and your training manual. Redesign and retrain your staff.
Retain your top performers, educate, train and reward the best members of your team not only will this show how much you appreciate them but it will motivate them to do better for you and will share their passion and enthusiasm with the other team members.
Don't be afraid to fire underperforming or toxic staff. They can damage your business in so many ways.
Listen to your staff and act on their suggestions and ideas this will benefit your business in ways that you would never think of!
Well trained, motivated, engaged and enthusiastic staff can often be the determining factor to a successful business.
Exploring your options
A Boston University study followed seven early-stage energy and cleantech hardware firms. It discovered these companies rarely carried out a dramatic and sudden pivot. Even when they found a change necessary, the firms slowly and steadily shifted through multiple decisions. And these gradually reoriented their overall strategic direction.
Recklessly committing to a sudden change can shock your business into failure.
Take baby steps:
Reach out to existing customers and a whole new audience.
If that isn’t enough, then try a new brand. Work this along side your existing brand.
And if that new brand isn’t well received, perhaps it’s time to develop different products.
In most cases, there’s no need to burn down all the work you’ve put into your company.
If you tackle these hard business issues early on, there may be a possibility to restructure your business and turn things around. If you can survive this rough patch, the possibilities are immense, as the once fierce competition will have dwindled significantly.
At PJM Hospitality Solutions our team of experienced consultants can help you understand what you are facing and can provide specific help.
The sooner you talk to us, the better. Once we have worked out a plan of action for your business, we can support you through the process of implementing it.
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