6 Steps Small Businesses Need To Take To Grow With a Virtual Assistant

Starting a small business is a great achievement but growing it is a great challenge. A virtual assistant can certainly help you. There are many ways to effectively grow your business. From business planning to leveraging technology – there are tools that can help you increase your revenue and strengthen your brand. Here are six easy steps that your virtual assistant can help you start doing:

Come up with a business plan.

Having a business plan will help you focus on the goals of your growing company. Make sure that your targets are clear—both short term and long term. This should be done annually. A quarterly business review is also good to check if you’re still right on track with the goals you’ve set for the year. Your business plan should be both feasible and flexible. Be open to possible changes in business direction which can happen especially if you’re in a volatile industry.

Start building a customer database.

Your customers sustain your business and you should know who they are. Build a customer database that contains their basic information along with their preferences. From there you can tailor fit your promos and events for a certain customer demographic. Personalized service is getting big in the customer relations arena. You can offer products that suit your customer profile and as an offshoot, directly target their needs as well.

Decrease your overhead cost.

Overhead expense is a killer for small businesses. Find ways to reduce your overhead by looking at business areas that can be downscaled. For example, your office space is too big and the rent is too high. A smaller space might be more beneficial for you. You may have employees who do the redundant administrative tasks and you’re paying them heftily for that. You can hire an offshore virtual assistant who can do that and more for a fraction of the price.

Create a reliable and talented team.

You don’t need to have a lot of people in your management pool.  All you need are a handful of credible, reliable, and talented professionals who can oversee key business areas. These people will report directly to you and help you in your business planning. Hire the best people and do not settle for the simply “good” employees because true skill and talent are hard to come by. Their experience and expertise will contribute a lot to your small business.  

Be active in social media.

Social media is the game changer in businesses today. Create your Facebook page, Twitter official account, and Google+ profile. There’s also Pinterest and YouTube if you are leaning heavily on the visual aspect of your business. Social media is one of the most effective platforms to promote your brand, products/service, and marketing efforts. It’s also one of the best ways to connect with your customers. You can instantly get feedback from your customers and respond to them quickly.

Leverage technology channels.

By this we mean creating your website, come up with quality content that can be indexed by Google easily, and optimize the mobile revolution. No matter how small or new your business is you need to create a website where customers can get more information about you. Your site should also be mobile-optimized so that it loads easily when accessed via mobile device. You can also use QR codes which are two-dimensional barcodes that can contain anything you want.

Applying these steps will help your growing business get the jump start it needs. Any form of growth takes time and you need to allot a period of adjustment before your small business is maximized to its full potential. The important thing is that you remain committed to your goals and consistent in your quality of products and service. Everything else is icing on the cake.