5 Reasons Why Your Small Businesses May Be Struggling

These next five topics will help you gain some clarity into why your small business could be struggling at the moment. Take a quick read to help get yourself thinking in a positive direction!

#1. You are not selling correctly or enough.

It doesn't matter what size your business, how many people run it, or the amount of income it generates. If you want to make more you have to sell more. The person who started the company (you), has the most passion out of anyone. No one can sell like you. That passion radiates an aura that can be imitated. I heard someone say recently “when Amazon is about to close a business deal, you can guarantee that Jeff Bazos is in that room.”

Take a few minutes to learn the sales funnel process and tips on how to track each step of the funnel. Narrow down your approach so you don't waste time on bad leads. Spending some time clarifying your target audience will save you a lot of headache dealing with the wrong types of clients for you.

Ask yourself:

I. Who is my ideal client?

II. What value am I providing this business or individual?

III. What can I do to make my service or product irreplaceable/a necessity?

The moment you stop looking to fill contracts for dollars, and you shift focus to solving problems and engaging in meaningful conversations, your entire business will evolve.

#2. Carrying a mentality that one day you won't have to pedal the bike anymore.

Wouldn't it be awesome if anyone could launch a start-up and start generating profit overnight. The reality is, in most cases that this will almost never happen. The other misconception is that once the infrastructure is built, you won't have to work as hard as you had to get your company generating profit. Like a bike, if you were to pedal super hard, you would probably be able to cruise for quite a while, especially on flat land. What if then when you decided to stop pedaling, you reached a large hill? In order to make it up that hill you need to work harder in most situations to get up that incline. Think about it in terms of your business. Imagine how much easier would it be to conquer that challenge or difficult time if you kept pushing even when the load lightens.

#3. Many business owners have limited exposure or place little value in Social Media Marketing.

Wouldn't it be awesome if anyone could launch a start-up and start generating profit overnight. The reality is, in most cases that this will almost never happen. The other misconception is that once the infrastructure is built, you won't have to work as hard as you had to get your company generating profit. Like a bike, if you were to pedal super hard, you would probably be able to cruise for quite a while, especially on flat land. What if then when you decided to stop pedaling, you reached a large hill? In order to make it up that hill you need to work harder in most situations to get up that incline. Think about it in terms of your business. Imagine how much easier would it be to conquer that challenge or difficult time if you kept pushing even when the load lightens.

The oddest thing that I come across are business owners who know they need to establish a stronger online presence, and talk about it, but don’t execute. “I’m not ready yet” or “We just don’t have the money.” I want to scream (politely) at these people! In reality it is almost free. In fact if you do decide to spend money on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, you actually generate more engagement and if done right, drive more traffic to your website.

#4. Spend with the intent of high ROI.

An example that is easy to understand would be a photographer. The gear the photographer needs could cost thousands of dollars. Although if they are retaining consistent business over some time, not only will the gear be paid off and creating profit, once the gear is paid in full the return on that investment will continue to rise. In my own video production experience, one of my first cameras that may have costed me under $1000 dollars at the time, has now made me over $90,000.

#5. The desire to look more established is costing you money.

Fake it till you make it is an over-abused concept in terms of show material. I have wasted hundreds of dollars on materials I thought would generate business, when in reality they didn’t. When they didn’t, I thought maybe it’s the design. I proceeded to waste more money redesigning them to be perfect. Having a business card is essential no doubt, what is more essential is what you've said to whomever is about to receive that card. The best business card you can have is a lasting impression and adding their contact info into your phone.

A great example is your website.

Rather than building a fancy site (that won’t show up on a google search without proper SEO work) or investing in anything that won't get you an immediate return, draft a plan on these three necessities:

- How often am I selling?

- Why am I not selling enough?

- How can I push myself to sell more?

If you couldn't tell already the most important aspect to why your small business may be struggling is sales. Only a certain few love sales and I am just not one of them, but in order for you to grow, not selling is not an option. The biggest piece of advice ive learned is to focus your efforts into what you don't like doing first so you can use the rest of your energy in where your passion lies.

#sales #business #socialmedia #marketing #paralensmedia #acceleration #seo