Making a go of a small business can be difficult due to how many hurdles you can encounter along the way. Studies have even suggested that most small businesses will fail within the first two years of trading.
There are various reasons for this, one of which is how difficult it can be to become a success in a heavily saturated market. If you are going head-to-head with other businesses in the same field, it can be even harder to achieve.
Here are 4 ways to help your small business stand out against the competition.
Provide outstanding customer service
If you offer a mediocre service, customers won’t feel any loyalty to your brand. If, on the other hand, the service you provide is second to none, they will be far more likely to purchase from you again.
Acknowledge orders, communicate clearly and in detail, and focus on keeping your customer happy. If they are pleased with your products and service, such as using electronic message centers, they will be less inclined to shop around.
Fulfill orders within expected timescales
When a customer places an order, provide them with a realistic timescale for when they should expect to receive their order. If you over-promise, they are likely to be disappointed if you can’t deliver, so be honest and don’t put extra pressure on yourself to speed the process up.
If you experience delays and feel that you may not be able to deliver an order in time, you have a few options. You can communicate this to your customer to gauge their reaction, however, if you are aware that the order is needed urgently, you could use a courier company like www.couriersatlanta.com that offers a guaranteed same-day delivery service.
You may need to take a hit in terms of the additional cost, but keeping a customer happy should be the main focus. If they know you have gone above and beyond, it will help set you apart from the competition.
Offer a wide range of products
If you offer the same products time after time without adding anything new, customers can become bored and may be tempted to look at what your competition is doing.
Advertising new products from time to time is a great way to keep customers engaged with your website and related social media pages. It also makes sense to interact with your existing customers and followers and find out what they would like to see. The more unique your items, the better, so be diverse, mix things up a bit, and you shouldn’t go wrong.
What is your competition doing?
One of the best ways to stay ahead of the competition is to monitor their activity. This, of course, does not mean you should copy their ideas, but knowing the approaches they are taking to generate new business will help you to stay ahead of the game.
Look at the type of marketing they are doing, the audience they are targeting, and formulate a strategy to be bigger and better than they are.
