As every small business owner knows, there are some skills that are fundamental to the success of their enterprise. Being proficient at the basics, such as negotiation, social media marketing, and managing the performance of staff, will not only improve business efficiency, but can also be the key to long-term growth and success.
Social media marketing
Social media has transformed the way that small businesses not only promote their brand, but also engage with customers, often attracting new ones in the process. There is more to it than just having an online presence. As many business owners have discovered, for effective social media management, timing is everything.
Facebook is the main social media platform for Best Paw Forward a home-based dog walking and boarding business, run by husband and wife team Dave and Anna France, who have worked out the most efficient and effective way of using it.
“We post lots of photos of the dogs we are looking after, out on walks and in our home. And the feedback we get from their owners, our customers, is that they love seeing their dogs having a good time,” says Anna.
In order to maximise social media response, timing is key. “We’ve learned that the best time for responses, in terms of ‘likes’, ‘comments’ and ‘shares’, is early evening, so that’s when we post a new set of pictures,” says Dave. “Friday and Sunday evenings generally get the best response, while Saturday posts gets the least, so we focus on those peak times.”
The couple have never used advertising, as they find having a carefully scheduled and engaging online presence extremely effective at drawing visitors to their page, including new customers.
“Facebook is a good marketing tool, people who might be thinking about leaving their dog with us can see exactly what they’ll be up to when they have left them,” adds Anna.
Negotiating
Negotiation is another key skill for small business owners, and like social media management, is something that can have a significant impact on business success. It is also a skill that many new business owners can find daunting.
“Negotiation is a skill that definitely gets better with practice and over time you will develop your own style,” says business coach Agnes Cserhati
“In fact, I would argue that negotiation is more of a mindset that entrepreneurs must adapt from day one, and must not be associated with haggling. It is not an action but a process that takes time and starts with your first meeting with the customer, supplier, or whoever you are negotiating with.”
As co-founder of Smith and Sinclair, a startup that produces alcoholic fruit pastilles, Melanie Goldsmith has had to get to grips with negotiating to get their products placed with leading retailers such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and Selfridges.
Launched 18 months ago, the company benefited from a Virgin Start-up loan of £25,000 and the business support that came with it, which included a Doing Business With Big Business workshop on the key skills needed for dealing with large organisations.
Goldsmith says: “It has been incredibly helpful to get to speak direct with buyers and potential procurers of products as you get to test some of your language and skills direct to the source.”
In practical terms, she says having an opportunity to work with a very large company like Benefit cosmetics, where they were hosting a Christmas pop up shop, required negotiation and compromise.
She says: “The aim for both companies was to work together so it made the negotiation a very positive experience. You need to have a very clear idea of what you want out of the negotiation before going in.”
Cserhati’s advice to novice negotiators is to focus not just on price, but also on value added, and to always be prepared to walk away.
“Some deals are just not to be made then simply move on to the next one, at this point resilience is key to success,” she says.
Management
As small businesses grow and need to take on staff, managing their performance becomes another vital skill to learn. Operating as a solo entrepreneur is very different from taking on and managing a team. To succeed, the business needs people who are productive and performing well consistently.
“Effective performance management is about much more than just encouraging employees to make sales and holding a one-off annual appraisal meeting,” says Stuart Hearn, founder of performance management software firm Clear Review. “Motivating employees and encouraging great performance relies on managers having the right skills for the job.”
Managers need a clear vision and some concrete goals for their business and they need to be able to communicate these to their employees to ensure everyone is reading from the same page.
“Good managers communicate regularly and are open to discussion. You want your employees to be a part of your business and buy into your core values. This will happen if they are able to contribute ideas, comment on strategies and be part of the decision-making process,” he says.
Many small business owners will use KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure how on track the company is. These can be used for the company as a whole and also to guide individual employees’ performance.
Hearn also advocates the uncoupling of performance appraisals and pay reviews.
“Research has shown that linking performance discussions with pay rewards has a negative impact on employee performance and motivation,” he says. “Pay reviews should be run separately and also take into account market rate, changes to job roles and responsibility, and so on.”
Finally, he adds, business owners need the ability to look forward, not backwards. Hearn says: “Dwelling on past mistakes won’t motivate employees to perform better in the future. Instead, learn from the mistakes, discuss how to replicate successes and agree specific actions to improve future performance.”
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