How To Improve Business: 12 Tips To Follow Right Now

As a business owner, you wear many hats. Streamlining any aspect of your business will impact the rest of your operations. Likewise, coming up short in any area will also hamstring the remainder of your organization.

Knowing how to improve business means a constant commitment to learning more and staying updated on the latest trends within your niche. Let’s look at some of the ways to improve your business now.

12 Tips For How To Improve Business

Improving businesses begins with a period of self-reflection. Sometimes it’s challenging to take yourself out of the day-to-day grind of your lawn mowing or pest control business. If you’re wondering, “How to improve my business?” here are some actionable tips you can implement immediately.

1. Reach Customers with a Multi-Channel Strategy

With the rise of the Internet, business owners often rely solely on a single channel to bring in new customers, especially if they already see some success.

One of the best business improvement ideas is to expand beyond your usual hunting grounds. If you rely on word of mouth or handing out flyers in the local neighborhood, get your business online, and vice-versa.

Test out new marketing strategies to expand your reach.

2. Use The 60/20/20 Approach

Figuring out how to improve a small business often starts with how entrepreneurs manage their time. The classic method is to use the 100% whack-a-mole approach.

Unfortunately, simply tackling tasks as they come leads to burnout and a lack of forward planning. You should never feel like you are just managing to keep your head above water.

Instead, utilize the 60/20/20 approach. With this strategy, dedicate 60% of your time to core business tasks, 20% planning, and 20% strategizing. By implementing the 60/20/20 method, you always stay ahead of the curve.

3. Follow Your Competitors

Previously, a lawn care business only had to worry about those organizations in their neighborhoods. With the rise of SEO, you’re competing with everyone in the online arena. Without succeeding online, you cannot succeed offline.

Boost your business by following your competitors. Keep tabs on what they’re doing and where they may be coming up short. It will help you come up with fresh ideas and break new ground.

4. Invest In Professional Development

Are you investing in your future? The skillset you possess today will lose relevance in the decade ahead. It’s much simpler to take a proactive approach to improving your skills than playing catchup later.

Attend courses, collaborate with your fellow professionals, and think about vital skills to boost your business. Never be afraid to admit you don’t know something, or need some extra help from a more experienced business owner.

5. Use Software To Streamline Your Operations

Are you drowning in a mass of spreadsheets or, worse, still writing things down on paper?

The business that automates and streamlines with software wins the day in the digital age. Working out how to make a business better starts with the tools in your arsenal.

Platforms like FieldRoutes have single-handedly revolutionized how your friendly neighborhood landscaper manages their business. Enter the next generation of business with specialized software.

It’s an investment that will repay itself many times over.

6. Make A Strategic Acquisition

Businesses that have passed the embryonic stage and now have regular business may want to think about strategic acquisitions.

Is a competitor struggling for customers? Are you crushing the competition and on the brink of throwing them out of the game? Do you know a local business owner on the cusp of retirement?

Making a strategic acquisition now strengthens your grip on the local market, gives you access to new customers, and expands your capabilities.

7. Invest In Customer Care

Any business that relies on subscriptions to make money must invest in customer loyalty. Signing someone up for a lawn care or pest control contract means guaranteed income for the near future.

Too many guides on how to improve a business focus too much on bringing in new clients. Instead, they need to talk about how to stop clients from leaving.

Some examples of customer care investments you can make include:

• Newsletters

• Discounts for regulars

• Auto-renewals

• More face time

Here’s the reality. It costs less time and money to retain a customer than to attract a new one. Make concessions to your regulars and watch your bottom line increase.

8. Focus On Local SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential, but a highly localized business type doesn’t need to worry about what Joe is doing in California unless you happen to live in California.

Instead, focus more on local SEO. Claim your Google Business Profile (and keep it updated!), research localized keywords, and focus on creating regular content that hits your target audience.

Local SEO is a long-haul commitment, so don’t expect overnight miracles.

9. Concentrate On The Numbers

Make sure you are never ignorant of the numbers that matter. Nobody is asking you to be a financial genius, but you will run into trouble if you lose track of your revenue, cash flow, expenses, and profits.

Whether you hire someone to handle this for you or manage it yourself, the numbers must dictate every significant business decision. Improving businesses in any sector becomes impossible when they fail to have their finances in order.

10. Upgrade Your Equipment

Your equipment allows you to do a better job at a faster speed. Unfortunately, businesses that started with discounted gear tend to run it into the ground until they’re forced to buy something new.

Failing to upgrade your equipment early means poorer quality work, big repair bills, and unexpected downtime.

Upgrade your equipment proactively. Not only will you deliver a superior service, but you will also experience less downtime and lowered maintenance costs in the long run.

11. Invest In Efficiency

Efficiency is a broad concept. You can make a drive toward efficiency across every part of your organization. If you’re wondering how to improve business through efficiency, here are some initial areas to focus on:

• Optimal route management

• Hiring the ideal number of employees

• Digitizing as much of your business as possible

• Strategic outsourcing

The march toward perfect efficiency never ends. Whenever you have a spare moment, always ask, “How can I make my business more efficient?”

12. Don’t Try To Go It Alone

Whether you have nothing but a lawnmower and a truck, sooner or later, you will need to think about expansion.

Most people think about expansion through the lens of taking on more jobs and increasing capacity. While this remains essential, hiring new faces now gives you access to fresh perspectives.

As business owners, it’s easy to get into the habit of not seeing the forest for the trees. Speaking to someone else can provide additional ideas and inspiration, whether inside or outside your organization.

Plus, getting help can prevent catastrophic burnout when the going gets tough.

Conclusion

There are so many ways to improve your business. All of them require you to know where your shortcomings lie and the easiest way to resolve them. FieldRoutes is a platform that allows you to streamline multiple parts of your business.

Use this platform to revolutionize customer relationship management, payment processing, sales, and marketing. Join the thousands of small businesses that have maximized their revenues with FieldRoutes.

To learn more about what FieldRoutes offers, start your free demo now for a personalized one-on-one demonstration of our lawn care or pest control software today.