Despite the various challenges over the years, from covid to economic recession, small businesses still account for 99.9% of businesses within the UK. Small and local businesses are essential for the community and provide career opportunities in towns and villages, which helps to boost the local economy.

Here is our guide for small business owners on how to improve the productivity and profitability of their business, to maximise their potential.

Assess finances

Businesses cannot grow if they don’t have the funds to put into innovation and continuous improvement, whether this be to develop new products or improve existing ones. To help reduce financial stress and provide cash flow to invest, consider taking out a business loan – this can be a great way to begin developing your company and make the process of reaching targets more realistic.

Online presence

Social media is a great way to build brand loyalty and quickly get your message across to consumers. This can also increase engagement with the brand, which will ultimately affect profit. An online page can help customers and clients to find your key information without difficulty and be a great way for customers to use your services outside of trading hours, whether this be to leave a message or place an order online.

Motivate employees

After all, employees are the front line for your customers and are essentially helping you to run your business. It is important that they feel motivated at work, and there are various ways that you can do this, such as paying a reasonable living wage, offering incentives, or further training opportunities. Encourage them to use their holiday entitlements and to take time off to avoid burnout, which will ultimately improve the culture of the business. Try to go the extra mile and reward good work and offer opportunities for progression, to retain talented staff.

Outsource What You Can

Outsourcing certain tasks allows you to save time and money, while also getting expert assistance in areas that may not be your expertise. From finding the right IT Services to ensure your website and data is secure, to hiring a virtual assistant for administrative tasks, outsourcing can help streamline your business and free up more time for you to focus on growth strategies. Plus, outsourcing can also bring fresh perspectives and ideas to the table, helping your business stay competitive in the market.

Feasible goals

Creating realistic goals and targets is a great way to motivate yourself and your employees, and allows you to track progress over time. These should match your business objectives and should be set with a time limit in mind; doing so allows you to see progression being made and whether your targets are feasible for the future. The targets could be anything from having 10 sales a week – to turning over 1 million this next financial year. Write these targets down, and make sure you can see them every day. It can be a good idea to create individual targets for employees so they know what is expected of them, but to also increase their motivation, as rewards could be given for targets being met. This can help you to appreciate even the smallest achievements being made – running a business is hard and it is great to celebrate all the milestones, whatever the size.