ENTREPRENEURSHIP
4 Experts Reveal How to Stop Sabotaging Your Small Businesses Growth
If you are self-sabotaging, you’re not alone. It is more common than most business owners realize. If you were to ask 100 entrepreneurs if they have ever unknowingly self-sabotaged their business, there’s a good chance 99 would say yes. The thing is about this type of behavior is you probably won’t even realize it.
If you’re wondering what self-sabotaging behavior is, it is any type of behavior that interferes with your goals. The good news is you can learn ways to stop these types of behaviors from the experts. If you want your small business to grow, continue reading for expert tips from people who have overcome these behaviors.
Create a Unique Value Proposition
One of the most important things you need to get across to your customers is why they should buy from you instead of your competitors. The way to do this is by creating a solid value proposition. Many business owners fail to understand the importance of this step and create one that’s generic and doesn’t attract new customers.
Why is this aspect important? Because consumer buying behavior has changed over the years. Not only are customers more cautious when spending their money but they will research your products or services to see the value before even considering investing in your business. So you have to be prepared to give customers what they want at every turn.
What should the value proposition contain?
- The value proposition should be relevant to your product.
- Tell customers how buying your product solves their problem.
- List specific benefits that your product has.
- Tell your potential customers why your product is the best.
- What your competitor’s product lacks that yours has
Hire the Right Employees
Many business owners fail to hire the right employees for their company. This happens because businesses fail to create a recruitment marketing plan. This type of plan focuses on bringing the correct kind of employees to you instead of looking for employees.
Currently, employees are in high demand. To get their attention, you need a way to capture it. This is where recruitment management comes into play. First, a recruitment company will create a career site that shows the benefits of working for your company. It clearly states your goals and your company’s expectations. When branding your business, you need to notice the different trends in the industry and adjust your company’s story accordingly.
Admit your Weaknesses
Everyone has things they struggle with and things that come easy to them. Most people focus on their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. If you were ever asked about weaknesses in an interview, you learned to say generic inadequacies such as “I work too hard.” As a business owner, you need to find out your weaknesses and hire employees who excel in those areas.
The key to finding your weaknesses is, to be honest with yourself. This is a difficult skill to learn because, let’s face it, we want to be good at everything. The bottom line is if you’re going to succeed, you’re going to have to be willing to admit your weaknesses. The best part is you don’t have to be good at everything; you can hire people who have the skills your business needs.
Talk About Pricing
Setting prices can be difficult, especially when you have no clue how to set them. No one can tell you what price you should charge, and once you set your price, you have to stick with it. If you keep your prices too low people will wonder if your company is not good. If you overprice products or services, people will simply choose a competitor who has better prices.
So, how do you determine pricing?
- Add up your fixed costs; examples of fixed costs are
- Rent
- Insurance
- Employee wages
- The cost of the product
2. Determine costs that vary
- Supplies
- Packaging
- Shipping (if needed)
To determine how much you need to make to cover costs, plus make a profit, add your expenses together and decide what profit margin you want.
There are times when the profit margin you want does not agree with the value of the product. In this instance, you may need to lower your profit margin or find a different product. Another way some businesses determine their product prices is to set them the same or lower than your competitors. There are many more ways to decide what to charge for products. The sooner you start talking about it, the easier it will become.
There are hundreds of ways to sabotage your business. The ones above are just a few of them. The best thing you can do is to pay attention to the areas you struggle with. The good news is when you can’t stand dealing with your weak areas, you can hire someone else to do it for you.