Motivation
A motivated entrepreneur can reflect his or her positive energy to their customers, thereby convincing them to purchase their products and services.
An enthusiastic and highly motivated entrepreneur can usually convert a sale quite easily, even with the toughest and most demanding customer.
Business and Product Knowledge
As a small business owner, knowing not only how to run your business but also knowing your products inside and out can convince your customers that you know what you are talking about and that they can trust you. This can also enhance your reputation as an expert, boost your credibility and help you further your business.
You should never stop learning. Attend extra workshops and try to gain additional knowledge about your products. Try to solve your customers’ problems. This will slowly build up your reputation and help you increase your revenues.
Leadership Skills
A successful entrepreneur should lead from the front. Customers and employees alike should see you as an efficient, knowledgeable and fair leader. When you are dealing with customers, you should be courteous, efficient and honest. When addressing your employees’ problems, make every effort to arrive at a decision that is fair to everyone.
Reward your honest and hard-working employees. Conversely, you may have to tighten the screws on your inefficient employees in a tactful way. Allocate the work to your employees so as to exploit the best of their abilities.
Forward Thinking
An alert entrepreneur should be able to predict future results by researching the past and observing the present. If your business is seasonal, then prepare yourself before you get busy by having ample products and the right number of employees. Always keep an eye on the big picture and work towards it.
Think Big, Act Small
As a new business owner, no doubt you’ve got some big ideas! That’s okay – but remember that you should take small steps towards achieving your goal. Being a small business owner, you probably have financial and other constraints, so there is no point in taking on more than you can.
Split up your goals into small achievable segments, and execute them one after the other.
Good Planning – Setting Targets
As your business plan dictates, set up sales targets and review them regularly. If you have not been able to achieve them, then make every effort to find out the causes and rectify them. All planning should be done and executed with your employees on board.
On the back end, maintain a budget to manage your expenses. Maintaining a budget will help in proper planning of your expenses; and by comparing actual expenses with your budgeted expenses, you will be in a better position to maintain control over your finances.
Good Timing
A shrewd entrepreneur will strike when the iron is hot. In business, if you let an opportunity pass you by, it often will not present itself again. For instance, if you are offered a product that is in short supply in the market, and if you are confident that you can sell it for a profit, then go for it!
Start with small deals – and this experience will slowly take you towards bigger deals and higher profits.
Being a successful entrepreneur isn’t easy. But by paying attention to the above factors, you’ll be one step ahead of everyone else.
