How to Adapt Your Business to Market Changes in 5 Easy Ways
How to Adapt Your Business to Market Changes in 5 Easy Ways
There is so much ingenuity coming from business owners, it’s amazing to see how resilient and
crafty the small business community is.
Innovation is critical especially in industries who are hit hard with economic struggles.
We as small business owners have to adjust our services and products to stay in alignment with
our markets.
It does seem like we are going to be restricted for some time to come, at least in some ways.
Which is why being innovative is necessary to remain and thrive in your business. Luckily, there
are lots of ways to successfully adapt.
Here are a few ways that you can consider for your business and if one or more will work for
you.
Modify Your Business to Fit Customer Needs Now to Plan for the Future
We have spending more, or most, of our time at home. One way to remain relevant is to make
adjustments to the service and/or products you offer.
We don’t know how long the coronavirus pandemic will last or what its long-term impact will be,
but that hasn't stopped businesses from looking toward the future.
For example, restaurants have adapted to service clients through using 100% take out services,
joining online platforms like Uber Eats, Grubhub, etc. Rather than brick and mortar, retailers
are looking to the internet to open their stores.
Some are looking at innovative ways to add revenue streams they had not considered prior to
the virus. They are thinking outside the box.
For instance, a freight broker might only focus on running produce in one lane; West Coast from
WA to CA and back. What if the broker was to consider seeking freight from related customers
who service the growers of the produce; plastic wrappers used to wrap lettuce, potatoes,
cardboard cartons and boxes?
Networking
This is a great time to network. The Internet makes this so much easier!
You can reach more contacts and potential customers by using your Internet tools. Doing so
opens up opportunities to develop partnerships that can help your business expand or shift
gears, that innovative change.
This is a big reason why we are seeing more and more of technology being used to conduct
business.
Self Reflection & Business Improvement
If you’re really struggling to pick up new business, take this time to work on yourself.
Step up your education levels.
Improve your skills by taking a course, learning something new or simply improving upon what
you do by learning modern techniques.
Why not use this time to work on you.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Sure up your business processes, find ways to improve your profitability and financial
performance.
When was the last time you reviewed your margins and benchmarked your business against the
competition?
Business Advisors/Accountants can work wonders with your numbers. They are trained in
how to interpret your books. Your numbers tell a story. Accountants can decipher those
numbers and show you how to make lemonade.
Increase Your Online Presence
Social distancing, remote work, and virtual aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, if at all so why
not take a look at your online presence and see where you can make some alterations to increase
it?
Many ways exist for improving your website, using social media as a marketing tool for
advertising and attracting new business, use SEO, and utilize the online meetings options to take
the place of former business practices for service enhancement.
Offer Incentives
Believe it or not, not everyone is out of money and closing their doors. People are doing
business, just more cautiously.
They are looking to reduce expenses to stretch their operating cash just a bit further.
Consider offering customers incentives for purchasing what you sell, whether it is products or
yourself.
For example, many contractors have been put on hold and/or customers have run scared
cancelling jobs whether they are afraid of getting sick or running out of money.
Give them an incentive to reschedule and/or book for a time in the future.
Many ways exist to be crafty in developing enticing offers to your customers.
This could be anything from offering a discount, price reductions, buy one get one, payment
options, etc.
Is your Business Adapting?
While the COVID-19 pandemic has changed many industries, many of you are seeing it as an
opportunity to innovate, brush up on your skills, and keep moving forward.
And that's the spirit of small business we're inspired by every day.
We will beat the lemons dealt us.
We will prevail!
We will come back from this even stronger!
Share what you are doing to adapt?
What's working for you and what isn't?
What do you see for the future of your business?
Share them with me and others needing encouragement below in the comments.
