by Kevin Cook

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Last Updated on: 12th November 2024, 12:24 am

Small businesses are riddled with problems. A small-business owner’s days go by, struggling with its finances, marketing its brands, finding suppliers, communicating with customers, and more. Too big a challenge, the company crumbles; too little a challenge, the company doesn’t progress.

So, how do you keep your company prepared to face today’s modern challenges? Here we have come up with answers to the scary scenarios that your business is most likely to face someday or the other.

#Problem 1:
How to keep the company’s finances right during the bear and bull market scenarios?

Answer:

• Ask for advance deposits for bigger orders
• Branch out to new markets, add more services and decoration methods
• Set-up eCommerce stores to take orders 24/7

Any or all of these strategies will help your cash flow problems. For example, the owner of Screenprintz, Diane Robb, learned the need for steady cash flow the hard way when one of her client’s checks bounced. It put her shop in an unpleasant position for weeks and took the time to recover.

Now she asks her customers to provide a 50% deposit for any custom order. She said it’s uncomfortable to ask for deposits, but it’s more uncomfortable to go out of business.

Diversifying your business is another great way to get a steady cash flow. For example, screenprints make up for the downtime by giving graphic design services to customers. On the other hand, Jimmy Lamb, owner of an embroidery company, creates mobile embroidery services during dull months such as January and February. As a result, he says his company almost has a different business model for these three months.

However, if you want real financial freedom, there is no better option than going online. You will take orders even when your shop is closed. In addition, it enables you to make an upfront payment for products that you sell online.

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You will reach a much wider audience to get more sales for your business. But, on the other hand, it’s not easy to go online. So it would help if you planned and, most importantly, upfront investment to begin with.

#Problem 2 :
The niche market customer base is shrinking:

Answer:

• Following up with existing customers to mend gaps
• Implement some marketing strategies such as email marketing and social media.
• Install ad banners outside your store

First, you have to reach out to your existing customers either by phone or email. Find out what they didn’t like about your business in the past and make an offering to mend those gaps. For example, you can give them deals and offers for their next order or give them a free promotional item.

The next step is to implement some marketing strategies such as email marketing and social media. It doesn’t cost a penny, but the returns are high. Your social media presence can boost your sales as more and more people will be aware of your brand.

This strategy is pretty basic but often overlooked. Simply by installing an ad banner outside your store, you will get the attention of so many pedestrians and passersby.

With a good ad with offers and deals, you may even be able to convert a few into customers. Then it’s up to you to impress them and make them your regular customers.

#Problem 3 – 
Getting a high volume of orders; it’s getting tough to handle the business:

Answer

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• Delegate some of your work to trusted partners
• Purchase more equipment as well as hire more employees

There are no other ways out of these problems. When you get more orders than you can handle, it can be a pretty stressful situation. On the one hand, you can’t say no and at the same time if you have delivered.

In this case, you can only hook up with another partner to take care of your surplus orders. Also, you have to take care that their work is on par with your quality of work.

If you cannot find a partner, you have no choice but to expand your business. You have to get more equipment as well as hire more employees to operate this equipment.

Although understandably expanding your business at such short notice is very uncomfortable, there isn’t anyway unless you want to return your customers.

#Problem 4 –
I want to compete with industry leaders:

Answer

• Set up a professional online designer and eCommerce store
• Market your key selling points and business strengths that differentiate you from others

The reality is that you can’t compete with the big Bs. You don’t have what they have, such as funding, workforce, marketing, and brand value. Instead of competing with them, you should be focusing on what you make best, your key selling points, and things that you have but the big Bs don’t.

So, after setting up your online store, you don’t just start selling immediately. You have to take care of the design, designer studio, shipping, business tools, and a lot to go with.

You have to take care of the marketing as well. If you are going online, you need professional marketers for the job most of the time. So you have to go for paid campaigns.

#Problem 5 –
Attracting millennials to the business?

Answer

• Going online as they are comfortable buying online
• Connecting them via social media platforms.
• Create apparel designs that are in the trend

The only way to reach millennials is through online channels. They don’t like to shop in-store. Targeting millennials is a great opportunity as they are the ones who are most interested in fashion. You have to make sure that your website is designed with the latest website design trends.

They visit a lot of websites every day and will quickly recognize if a website is not contemporary. However, you have to keep in mind that they have a short attention span, so whatever you do, you have to impress them faster; it could be product deals, easy-to-use designer studio, high-definition images, etc.

They are heavy shoppers, so if you could offer them related products at a discount price, it will be a win-win scenario for both parties.

Today’s millennials are typically extroverts and are very social. So the best way to reach out to them is through social media channels. You can even have one of your staff chat with them; they wouldn’t mind.

If you want them in your physical store, you can impress them by implementing new technologies such as giving them a VR experience, installing touch screen tablets in the store, give them a store tour, etc.

Do you have printers? Are those printers sitting idle?

Become a Print-on-Demand dropshipping app like Printful or Printify. Dropship your merchants' orders.

Know more