What makes a business successful? According to Google, over 110,000 people search for an answer to this question every month. Savvy small business owners recognise that while our own learning experiences are invaluable, so are those of others. If we can learn from others mistakes and successes, we can advance the success of our own businesses.
So we have gone to some of the Australians who are experiencing success in their small businesses and have asked them to share their advice and experiences with you.
In this blog series, we bring excellent lessons from successful businesses straight to you. First, we asked them: What is the biggest business lesson that you have learned so far?
Don’t try to do everything yourself
[blockquote text=”“You need to have strong administrative systems and supportive people working alongside you!;
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– Charles Bishop, Co-Convenor of Toy & Game Expo
Charles Bishop is the co-convenor of Toy & Game Expo, an annual family event that promotes the fun of the ‘hands-on’ experience tactile toys and board games create http://www.toyandgameexpo.com.au
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[blockquote text=” “It’s virtually impossible to run a small business on your own.
Even shoestring start-ups on a very tight budget need to reach out for something, be it mentoring, financial support, external funding, expert advice etc. And you’re a fool if you try! (In the early days, I was that fool!);
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– Rebecca Derrington, Founder of SourceBottle
Bec Derrington founded free media leads site SourceBottle in 2009 so that everyone could have a better chance to share their story with the media and generate publicity for themselves. She has also recently started The Media Bag www.sourcebottle.com and www.themediabag.com
Take care of your customers
[blockquote text=” “Follow up with your customers and maintain the relationship in a way that is meaningful to them. If you don’t, you may as well throw their contact details in the bin after your first sale. They will forget who you are and might even go elsewhere next time.
Identify the information they want that you can access and give it to them. Be as helpful as you can and they will welcome every contact you make with them.
Automate this process where possible with email marketing software.;
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– Laney Clancy, Pipe Perfection Plumbers
Laney Clancy is the co-founder and Marketing and Finance Manager at Pipe Perfection Plumbers. They are one of Sydney’s best-known plumbing experts and can be found at http://pipeperfection.com.au/
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[blockquote text=” “Customer expectations are directly related to customer satisfaction. Setting realistic expectations of what you can do is a short cut to satisfied customers.
Help your customers to feel confident that their project is a priority for you by keeping them up-to-date with your progress.;
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– Belinda Weaver, Copywrite Matters
Belinda is a professional marketing copywriter who specialises in website, SEO and marketing copywriting. Her business, Copywrite Matters, helps businesses inject more personality and action into their marketing so they can get more clicks, calls and sales from the words they use. www.copywritematters.com.au
While running a successful small business is hard work, often the key to business growth or greater success is to work smarter, rather than harder. By learning from those who have achieved success in their businesses, we can see that taking care of your customers and not trying to do everything on your own, will help you achieve better results for your hard work.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series where more of our resident experts share their best small business advice.
In the meantime, what are your business success tips? Share them with us, and our readers below!
“Don’t try to do everything yourself.”
I absolutely agree with the above statement. You don’t need a lot of people but you should definitely make sure that those who belong to your team are experienced professionals. I work in the area of online marketing and there’s one story that has recently caught my attention about a guy called Lorne Marr whose business became successful thanks to a perfect job done by a little company he hired. I think it’s always useful to find time to choose the right people because they’re often the main factor influencing your future success.