It has been a crazy couple of years with COVID, Politics, Economy, Opportunities, and Challenges.

Your Chamber of Commerce has tried to keep traditions, community involvement, and business engagement going during this difficult time.

It is time to renew Chamber Memberships

Click Here to Join us for 2022

Great Times at the
Walters Christmas Parade

Guest Post Highlight:  Eva Benoit
3 Business Methods to Make Your Small Business Successful

Running a small business is no small task. As the owner, you are required to constantly be on top of sales and marketing performance, balance budgets, and manage your employees. Additionally, you are accountable to various stakeholders such as investors and suppliers. In order to remain competitive in the market and meet expectations, it's essential that your business consistently performs at its best potential.

The Walters Chamber of Commerce looks at three effective methods small business owners should adopt to improve operational efficiency and grow your business.

Create Accurate Forecasts

Forecasting involves a combination of tools and techniques to make future predictions about your business, this can include sales, revenue, expenses, profits, losses, etc. Forecasting allows you to make informed business decisions as predictions are based on analyzing current and future market trends, customer behavior, competitor analysis, and various other types of data. This further allows you to decide where and how to channel your resources towards various parts of your business such as hiring, marketing, product development, and more.

Commonly businesses create three types of forecasts, namely:

• General Business Forecast: This includes analyzing changes in the market and looking for any potential threats or opportunities affecting your business such as changes in fiscal policy, legislative changes, elections, technological advancements, etc.

• Sales Forecast: This involves estimating future sales predictions for your business depending on your current performance, product offerings, and future diversification plans. Sales forecasts can be incredibly complex to make, hence it’s advisable to make various sets of estimates covering the best and worst-case scenarios.

Your revenue projections can also be derived from this forecast which will have a direct effect on future needs for capital investment, staff, inventory, etc.

• Capital Forecast: This forecast predicts the future need for working and liquid capital required by the business. Capital is essential for the day-to-day running of your business, fuelling growth ventures, introducing new products, and more.

Reduce Your Overhead

Each quarter review your finances and identify areas where you are spending the most. This could include office rent, marketing activities, compensation, inventory, etc. Work towards reducing these expenses to free up cash for activities of higher importance. Here are a few ways to do it:

• Hire an Accountant: As reported by Sachetta Callahan, accountants can provide you with an objective analysis of your finances and provide viable solutions which you may not have knowledge of. Additionally, come tax season they can also help you find potential tax deductions your business is eligible for.

• Try Outsourcing: As reported by Ureed, hiring in-house staff is often costlier than outsourcing projects to freelancers. Additionally, you save on not having to pay full-time wages or provide benefits. With millions of freelancers on the market, you are sure to find one that suits your business needs.

• Shrink Variable Costs: If office rent is one of your biggest expenses consider moving your operations online. This will also help you save on other supplementary costs such as office supplies, travel, utility bills, insurance, and more.

• Convert an LLC: If you’re currently registered as a sole proprietorship, you could be missing out on some tax advantages. Consider converting your entity to an Oklahoma LLC for access to personal asset protection as well as additional tax perks.
   

• Clean Up Your Debt: To enhance cash flow and reduce costs, it’s critical to lower your debt. To get an idea of your balances, a platform like Plaid’s loan API can help you get a clear picture of your debts owed, remind you of upcoming transactions and help you track your payments.

Focus on Your Niche

As a small business with limited resources, it's best to focus on a limited set of customers and tailor your brand, products, and messaging toward resonating with their demands and ideals. Here are some reasons why:

• By sticking to a niche you cater to a select base of customers, making it easier to learn their behavior, problems, and demands. This allows you to focus on nurturing a strong relationship with them through exceptional customer service and personalized offerings; helping to establish brand loyalty and authenticity.

• With a smaller audience set, you can effectively target customers on social media. This helps save substantial amounts on marketing while increasing revenue and creating brand awareness.

• Serving a niche will help develop expertise in the field and potentially make your business a market leader

Implementing these methods to your business will allow you to gain greater control over operations, make informed decisions to grow your business, and ensure optimal utilization of resources.