Tips for being a successful small business owner.

[The motor guy]

The last three small business owners I've used to do things for me have left me with a disgusting taste in my mouth so here are a few simple but key elements to running a successful small business.


1. Do what the customer wants even if you don't necessarily agree with the way they want it done just as long as it isn't unsafe.

2. Do what you say you're going to do. If you tell the customer you're going to work on something for them then actually work on it and make good progress on the job. Don't tell them 5 days in a row and still have nothing to show for it.

3. Have the job completed on time if not earlier.

4. If the customer comes back later on with a problem or isn't happy then fix it in some way shape or form. Don't say well let me finish this up then i'll get to your thing, then basically kick them to the curb and never actually fix the issue.

5. The only good customer is a happy customer.

6. Word of mouth is EVERYTHING. So often you have people who are so talented and do great work, but unfortunately they do what they want, so how is a person supposed to recommend you when they don't do the above things I mentioned? Yes he does great work, but their is no telling when he will actually get done with it. If you can wait two months then hey go ahead and use the guy. Are you really to recommend this guy or will they just use someone else?

7. DO NOT rely on the next job to fund the previous job. If you don't have enough money in the bank to pay for at least the next three jobs then you're done. Why? Because you can't be competitive by running to the hardware store 3 times a day to buy an overpriced can of paint that you could have bought in bulk somewhere else with a commercial account. You're already at a disadvantage because you don't have the buying power of the big boys, so why make it even more difficult by not having any money in the bank? Keep a minimum amount in the bank, say 15k and pretend that you're broke when your balance hits 15k.

 

[jeepman3071]

8. Have good documentation/records.

 

[Mr Nice]

Patience

 

[PR1955]

Unless you are running a "one man show", number one should be to take good care of you employees. Keep them happy. If you take good care of your employees, they will in turn take good care of your customers. Unhappy employees will lead to unhappy customers.

 

[Donald]

Running a business, especially a small one requires at least 3 things 1) business skills, did you write up a business plan 2) skill & knowledge of the business 3) being a "people" person.

Most business fail because people did not write up a valid business plan. You can be a great chief or mechanic but if the plan for your business is faulty chances are you will not succeed. Cannot just open a business and hope customers will come.

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted by Donald
Running a business, especially a small one requires at least 3 things 1) business skills, did you write up a business plan 2) skill & knowledge of the business 3) being a "people" person.

Most business fail because people did not write up a valid business plan. You can be a great chief or mechanic but if the plan for your business is faulty chances are you will not succeed. Cannot just open a business and hope customers will come.

I kind of intended this to be for people who were already in business wondering why they aren't successful. Yeah their are 15,000 more tips that could be added to my list, but I think if you do the things above you'll have a hard time going wrong.

 

[Leo99]

Communication and management of expectations. Under promise and over deliver.

 

[Rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Donald
Running a business, especially a small one requires

Cannot just open a business and hope customers will come.


It depends on what your "business " is

Any business especially small ones are hard to run successfully and a good professionally made business plan will be of no help on a one man show. (Usually worse than useless)
You do have to be rather pessimistic and realistic about whether there is any demand or money in whatever you are trying to hock, you need to be extremely flexible and controlled in your actions, you need to sacrifice most hours of your life
and you need to understand if the thing you want to do is already contracted out and a closed market, vending for example is a closed market.
Fully understanding the market and your proposed business is a need in most cases, an independent diesel mechanic who has never looked at a truck will fail and if you've never worked extensively with your proposed business you will likely fail as well.

if what your selling doesn't have appeal as an online gimmick it's unlikely to be able to "enter" most businesses as a small operator with minimal experience


I ran a 3 person show on and off since I was 12 years old to 35 years old.

We had success if you define it as making more in a day than you normally made in a week.
Many of the rules listed above had no meaning as we moved show to show and had no employees and no real interest in mail order or even repeat sales. (Though we had many of the same customers for over 20 years)

It was part time mainly weekend work excluding summer fairs.


The concepts you state fall under common sense but remember that if you are resource constrained making something people actually want
you can choose to be pickier in REFUSING SERVICE.
Treating customers correctly in the current "me too" environment is not always purely "the customer is always right".
If you are building garages for a living and they change their mind and refuse payment that is different than if your selling flee market junk or doing chiropractic.

Not all customers are worth having unless you have unlimited product and time.

Be courteous, flexible, eager, reasonably but don't be a door mat if it's going to damage your ability to serve other customers.

Coming from someone who was successful many years in business, your reputation in business is important but in some fields you need more consideration or you can't stay in business in the current environment, your sales model has to support the ideals and if that is impossible trade offs need to be made on a case by case basis.

Oh and you better love what your doing or you won't be able to put up with the endless BS dished out from all directions.

 

[Lyman]

I owned a bar for ten years. !, 3, 4 and 5 would have ruined me

 

[Chris142]

If I repaired cars,especially ac systems the way the customers think it should be done I would have tons of comebacks and a terrible reputation. Sometimes you just have to stick to your guns and either explain it to them and hope they understand or refuse to do the job to protect your name.

 

[StevieC]

Know your market and offer something to customers that they can't get anywhere else so choosing to do business with you is obvious to them.
Whether it's service experience, a better product, a better price, the feeling like they you are friends or a combination of these things.

Try to look at your competition regularly and see what they do better, what don't they do well.

Stay ahead of market trends for the product and services you are offering. Be an expert in what you offer and take the time to educate folks in an advisory way not a threatening way.

The power of having an online presence from google reviews, facebook, Youtube etc. Offer a discount for a review whether good or bad. It offers you insight into your business and it helps build a name/brand for yourself for others that are doing their research before taking a chance on your business. Always respond to all the feedback you get so that you can show those reading the negative reviews that you care.

As an example:
I've seen mechanical shops that are friends of my dad's fail huge in the best spot they could be in because they fail at this. I've seen others in industrial units buried in the backs of industrial parks and far off the beaten path that have a line-up of customers so deep they have waiting lists over a week long for service because they are good at the above. These shops are can't keep up with the work.

My dad still has customers that call him up from time to time begging to pay him whatever he wants to diagnose a problem for them that no one else can seem to fix and he sold his last shop over 12 years ago.

If you take one thing from this: Word of mouth is everything, and always ask yourself. Is it worth loosing a little bit on this today to make the customer happy for repeat future gains tomorrow and a customer that is an advocate of your business instead of a negative marketer.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted by Chris142
If I repaired cars,especially ac systems the way the customers think it should be done I would have tons of comebacks and a terrible reputation. Sometimes you just have to stick to your guns and either explain it to them and hope they understand or refuse to do the job to protect your name.


Part of being a professional is knowing the proper way to do whatever your profession is and not doing it the wrong way. I have learned over the years that sometimes you have to fire a customer.

 

[oilpsi2high]

If you can afford it, don't drive good talent away by denying them raises. It costs 40-60% of an employee's current salary just to replace them. Trust me, it's not worth it.

At the minimum, you should be doing COL adjustments annually based on the CPI.

 

[billt460]

Don
Originally Posted by motor_oil_madman
.....Word of mouth is EVERYTHING.......

Especially true with the Internet. It is very easy today for an unsatisfied customer to voice his or her opinion in a bad review. Places like Yelp, and a thousand others like them can kill you if you send someone away unhappy. Nothing travels faster than bad news.

 

[Andrew1972]

Offer something no else does in type of service, product or method of delivering it. Get out of business(sell) when competition comes around too much. Budget on trying new things and see how they take.

 

[eljefino]

8. Don't let your business model be undercutting your competition by 10% and being cheap about absolutely everything on the back-end. Your employees will see this and the good ones will leave-- you'll have set up a very effective filter to retain only dirtbags.

A good business should be almost all customer-facing people or legitimate support staff, not middle management.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by motor_oil_madman
1. Do what the customer wants even if you don't necessarily agree with the way they want it done just as long as it isn't unsafe.
High end jobs with rich customers can usually smell a yes man pretty quick. My dad was a successful contractor, and customers like that he tells it like it is. Sometimes this involves telling people what they want: sales 101. Sometimes they don't know what they really want, or want something that will leave them dissapointed. In the past, people would hire a contractor for their expertise and defer to them, sometimes that is still true. Others want to hire you to do a job they cannot do.

Originally Posted by motor_oil_madman
6. Word of mouth is EVERYTHING. So often you have people who are so talented and do great work, but unfortunately they do what they want, so how is a person supposed to recommend you when they don't do the above things I mentioned? Yes he does great work, but their is no telling when he will actually get done with it. If you can wait two months then hey go ahead and use the guy. Are you really to recommend this guy or will they just use someone else?
x1000 People will say internet marketing is important, but I watched a former employer sink thousands into yelp and yellow pages and all it got him was calls from other marketing companies. Most of his jobs, especially towards the end were word of mouth. My dad had his number in the phone book for the 2000s but relied exclusively on word of mouth, no marketing at all (not even a van sign). If you are elite, the customers come to you.

Originally Posted by motor_oil_madman
7. DO NOT rely on the next job to fund the previous job. If you don't have enough money in the bank to pay for at least the next three jobs then you're done. Why? Because you can't be competitive by running to the hardware store 3 times a day to buy an overpriced can of paint that you could have bought in bulk somewhere else with a commercial account. You're already at a disadvantage because you don't have the buying power of the big boys, so why make it even more difficult by not having any money in the bank? Keep a minimum amount in the bank, say 15k and pretend that you're broke when your balance hits 15k.
When you cannot bank roll your own jobs, you know you are successful. Only an idiot would not utilize a line of credit and keep liquid funds in a bank account to fund their business.

Originally Posted by StevieC
The power of having an online presence from google reviews, facebook, Youtube etc. Offer a discount for a review whether good or bad. It offers you insight into your business and it helps build a name/brand for yourself for others that are doing their research before taking a chance on your business. Always respond to all the feedback you get so that you can show those reading the negative reviews that you care.
Vastly overrated, and people will weaponize reviews against you. My old boss obsessed over a phony bad review for weeks once. You also have to consider competitors brigading your reviews.

Originally Posted by Leo99
Under promise and over deliver.
You won't get any jobs or make any money doing that, bad advice.

All customers want is an honest man. You don't have to be amazing or flashy.

I watched my Dad succeed for years by being good at his job, tough and not greedy. One of my former employers was mediocre at his job, tried everything and then eventually ran out of money which effected him personally and the quality of his work. He told me recently he was shutting down his electrical contracting business after three or so years to take a sales position with a electrical supplier. I honestly think his girlfriend bankrupted him and that's what killed his business, but if he would have stuck it out and met the right people he could have succeeded. That's why you see contractors who can't wrench renovating or building one million dollar+ houses: they move in circles where people have money and they can sell themselves.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

If you can't do the job or don't want to, tell the customer. I hate when people over schedule are are out of their element. Just say so

 

[Martula]

Know your audience, know what kind of product people will buy, analyse your rivals in market. Also after you did all things above don't forget about marketing. Marketing is one of the most useful things that you will need. Ask yourself where you will be making advertisment: online or direct. Well I advice you to use mostly online marketing. I was using online marketing, it's helpful and also easy to signup. Well good luck