TECH EDUCATION

How To Enhance A Small Business Through Technology

By Philip Yiga | January 16, 2017

In order for small businesses to grow and get into competition with the bigger ones that are already established, it is inevitable for them to search for all possible ways in which they can enhance their small scale businesses. Yes there are several factors that help a business to improve but it has been proven the best way for any small business to enhance is through technology as it creates cheap but effective ways of controlling that little capital. This brings us to the main reason for writing this post which is about how to enhance a small business through technology. By using technology, a small business has thousands and thousands of possibilities through which it can advertise whatever it has to offer to consumers and at the same time access lot of information they can use to get better and better every other season. Technology also offers lots of communication systems such as emails, websites and lots of social media platforms like Facebook, twitter etc that small businesses can take advantage of to increase their consumer base and make information sharing within the business not just timely but effective. Considering all these benefits of technology there is no doubt that it is very essential in your small business however our main aim here and now is to elaborate on how you can enhance or your small business with the use of technology………

Blogging about your business

Blogging is a very easy way in which small business owners can make their businesses grow and develop reason being it offers a really cheap platform through which they can advertise and grab the biggest market of consumers. It is therefore very essential for you as a small business owner to open up a blog and always make effort to update it as often as possible. And you shouldn’t use you business blog for just anything you like but rather use it for communicating to people about how your business works, what products you are dealing in and which new things you have to offer. When you a have blog it is very easy for you to persuade consumers into trying your products as you tell them what makes your products different from others and what makes you unique which you wouldn’t be able to do in other marketing strategies. To make your blog more attractive, it is important to write relevant and interesting articles and you also need to provide images of all your products.

Take advantage of social media

Many people focus on the fun side of social media and ignore the most important things that social media can do in their small businesses. Instead of wasting time on the less important stories on social media you can use this kind of technology for marketing and advertising your products. Some of the most effective are twitter and Face book so you can create a page for your small business on each of these social media platforms and tap a part of the market from there. These pages make it very easy for you to keep in closely in touch with your consumers and best clients therefore you can try this out and watch how fast your business will grow.

Store all your business information in database

There is a lot of important information that you need to keep very safely for the good of the business and there is no better way to store your information other than in data bases. In a data base your information will always be well organized and even more importantly easier to access. Therefore you will need to create various files in which you store information such as contact details of customers, contact details of your suppliers, history of your sales, records of all your purchases, payment rolls, records of production, the various sales figures, expense ledgers and inventory lists. When you have all of this information it will be super easy for you to make various important comparisons so that you know how much you spend versus how much you gain or what you supply versus what customers need or what they buy. This is all very essential information for the growth of your business and you must always have it perfectly stored.

Keep in touch with customers through CRM

In any business whether big or small, your customers are your biggest asset because they determine how fast your business grows, the more customers you get, the faster the business grows. This therefore means that you have to keep in close contact with your customers to gain their trust and make them have them have that outstanding confidence in your business. A CRM system in full is customer relationship management, such system helps you to carefully plan for all interactions with customers and in time. It also helps you to have your customer’s details such as the products they usually purchase from you plus , their feedback about your business and their contacts perfectly stored in one place. When you have such an organized system it becomes super easy for you to deliver according to what your customers need and thus provide exceptional customer service which is number one goal for any business that needs to develop.

Use online questionnaires and surveys

To gather all the necessary feedback from your customers, the best way to do it is buy using online questionnaires and surveys. Through these questionnaires you will be able to know much about what your customers need and expect from you. Questionnaires will make your customers feel their importance to you which makes them commit to your business while surveys help you to learn which kind of market to target and there is no way better to help your small business grow other than targeting the perfect market.

Try telecommuting and mobile working

Telecommuting is the process in which company workers are allowed to do their work from home while using equipment availed to them by the company. Create a system whereby you can do your work from absolutely anywhere, this will help you offer customer satisfaction without any limitations so that you remain productive season after season. Mobile working also involves making use of remote controlled applications in order to make it very easy for you to reach any files that you want to access at anytime. With mobile working you can also use your smart phone to stay in constant connection with your customers and suppliers so that you avoid being unavailable whenever you are needed for issues concerning your small business.

Teleconference calls and instant messaging

This is a technological form of learning and ensuring that there is collaboration among all member of your business, for the business to be more productive you will definitely need to a team that collaborates perfectly to increase productivity. Even when you are not in the same location as the rest of your business members, teleconference calling will help you ensure that all members of your team understand each other. Additionally you can have a web conference or webinar where you can all see each other’s faces as you talk for more serious talks about business without having to meet physically. Instant messaging is another way of real time communication, it can be used to transfer important messages quickly to either customers or business members.

Manage financial matter with accounting software

Start by finding the right accounting software because the financial sector is such a sensitive sector in your small business to the extent that if any mistakes are made it could result into failure of the entire business. When you have the perfect soft ware it will help you in keeping track about the flow of cash into your small business. In order for any small business to be successful, you as an owner must be able to not only manage its finances but also keep very close watch of how income you gain and how much you spend from time to time and it will become very quick and simple if you use online budget tracking. You can as well make use of online invoicing services so as to reduce the risks and expenses of picking money personally from customers.

Manage your time better with time tracking software

Each and every minute you spend out of business puts other small businesses in competition with you ahead while the larger businesses continue to leave your small business behind which means you need to manage your time very carefully. Time tracking soft ware will remind of where you spent most of your time so that are sure of whether you are using your time productively or not. If you were using your time poorly, the time tracking software will remind you that you are wrongly using your business time and so you will adjust accordingly to enhance your small business.

Attract a larger crowd of customers through online project management

There is no reason as to why you depend more on the local market just because you own a small business when you have ways of hitting on the whole globe via the internet. Using online project management tools you will end up finding customers all over the world. This tool is most effective on those jobs where you have limited time to meet a specific goal without compromising the quality of your production. For example if you use any of the good online project management tools you can get any product that you are dealing in exposed to multiple locations and thousands of people in a very short period of time.

Use UP by jawbone to calculate non-work related behavior

Small as your business may be you, you as the owner you will always have to be in excellent shape in order to run the business smoothly and help it enhance. By this I simply mean that much as you pay attention to measuring work related behaviors also measure the non-work related behaviors take for example exercises, sleep and eating habits among others. Once you are in excellent shape and health you will obviously think smarter and keep finding new ways of making your business better and better.

Use cloud based CRM for sales prioritization

You need to choose your priorities wisely as a small business owner which is not such an easy task however using a cloud based CRM tool will help you to make your priorities better. It helps you know what should come first and what should be left for later so that you don’t end leaving the most profitable jobs behind for those that will not be able to bring as much income. Sales prioritization is one of the things that have made small businesses lag behind but when you have a tool to use you will definitely stand out.

Keep up to date with your team through virtual meetings

To hold an important business meeting you don’t have to necessarily be in the same location with all other team members and this is all thanks to technology. Teams can now have virtual business meetings (meetings that actually feel real) using online trackers like Asana. It is through these meeting that members get together to share ideas and keep each other updated on what they do without wasting too much time and facing expenses of organizing work meetings.

Take advantage of appointment scheduling soft ware

This is software that keeps you and your clients updated about all of your appointments therefore you will not be able to miss out on any of them. Soft ware like Fullslate.com has been found to be extremely efficient reason being it doesn’t only remind you about the appointment but also goes ahead to send emails to people that you made your appointment with so that no one misses out. These programs are overly convenient because they are over the internet and can be used at any time of the day without any kind of limit. Appointments are another great way of enhancing your small business.

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