If your business has built great relationships with customers, expanded its market share, and fine-tuned a system to gather business insights, then you’re already doing all the right things. Now here are some other ways to continue to flourish.
Redesign Your Office to Boost Employee Productivity
You can redesign your office without making any structural changes. Just tweak a few things. Your space should reflect the mindset of your workforce.
Introduce small changes that will enhance productivity. Consider the psychology of color, the mood-lifting effects of natural light, and the benefits of larger aisles between office furniture to enhance freedom of movement.
Another tweak to boost productivity is to use desk dividers. These will give your team privacy and security. Everyone will have their own space, and some people may even pin family pictures or motivational posters on their side. If you get acoustic dividers, they will reduce distracting noises and allow people to focus.
Refresh Your Sales Strategies
A digital workflow may be pushing the art of personal selling to the brink of extinction. There is a noticeable distinction between talking to people through a video and talking to them in person.
While virtual professional interactions provide enormous advantages, such as collapsing the limitations of time and space, your B2B business sales strategy should still include plenty of personal interactions with business partners and customers.
Just as direct mail still gets opened because snail mail still has its charm, so, too, does talking to people in person. Speaking indirectly on the telephone or directly in meetings will enhance your power of persuasion. So make room in your sales strategy for live business negotiations and customer interactions. Also, include b2b loyalty programs into your strategies as it is an excellent way to engage your customers and encourage them to return. This will also help you increase sales.
Revisit the Japanese Management Philosophy of Kaizen
Despite its over-the-top success, many businesses have forgotten the Japanese management philosophy of Kaizen. This Japanese word is composed of two kanji symbols. The first is “kai,” which means “change.” The second is “zen,” which means “good.” So putting them together, we get “change is good.” In other words, a business should continuously strive for constant and never-ending improvement.
You may recall that Dr. W. Edwards Deming, an American business executive who was sent to Japan after the Second World War to rebuild the economy, introduced this philosophy of continuous improvement. Kaizen was so influential in Japan’s reconstruction that it transformed Hiroshima and Nagasaki into global economic contenders.
Here are five core premises of this philosophy worth adopting:
- There’s always room for improvement — even when everything is on track.
- Identify what works and improve it.
- Remove bottlenecks to improve workflow.
- Steady improvement comes from regular self-reflection.
- Small changes today usher in big breakthroughs tomorrow.
Encourage Customers to Become Brand Advocates
When you talk about all the benefits of your business, it’s called “marketing.” When customers talk about the benefits of doing business with you, it’s called “proof.” Social proof moves the needle.
Social media is a great way to get your customers to post reviews. But, to get the most likes and shares, be innovative. Get your customers to post reviews online without it appearing obvious that you encouraged them to share their experiences.
More often than you might realize, despite FTC guidelines in place, some prospects might be suspicious of glowing testimonials. They might accuse you of either making up reviews or embellishing customers’ comments. One way to avoid unwarranted suspicion is to ask clients to submit video testimonials. These could then be used as part of a marketing campaign or as a way of encouraging valuable feedback from new customers.
Success Breeds Success
If your B2B enterprise is doing remarkably well, there’s no reason you can’t be doing even better. Try these suggestions to double or even triple your business success.
Founder Dinis Guarda
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