The troubles that come with inflation can put a strain on your small business. In order to keep your loyal customers happy and your business running, you’ll have to adapt. To ensure that your business thrives even in times of economic hardship, follow our 5 tips to overcome inflation below.
1. Cut Back Unnecessary Processes
Is your business operating as efficiently as it could be? You may want to do an audit on your current spending practices to see where you can streamline processes or cut them altogether. For example, if you find that you’re holding a handful of unnecessary meetings that get in the way of the workflow of your employees, those could be work reevaluating.
When reorganizing your business processes, it’s a good idea to reference the 80/20 rule. This rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, asserts that 80% of your results are produced by 20% of the effort you put into something. This means that most businesses have plenty of room to grow when it comes to efficiency.
2. Adapt Your Prices
If everything around you is rising in cost, it’s a good idea to follow suit. While you don’t want to drive your prices so high that you scare customers away, you should be making the necessary adjustments to keep your business afloat.
Just be mindful to track the ripple effects that result from price increases. Listen to customer feedback and see how your profit margins are impacted by the change. Finding the right price for your product can take time and effort, but it’s well worth it in the long run.
3. Automate Where Possible
Sometimes you hire someone to do a job, but automation is a better answer. For example, if your marketing team is spending a lot of time crafting unique emails and sending them to each of your customers, while that has value in its own right, you could also take advantage of email campaign automation.
This might involve automatically sending batch emails out or using templates where your employees only have to fill out a couple of key areas to keep it custom-tailored to each customer. Overall, this will save your team time and money.
4. Stay On Top of Emerging Trends
You should always be monitoring the trends for your business and the economy overall by reading books, news articles and by observing your competitors and networking with other professionals.
The better you are at improving the value of your business and products, the more loyal your customer base will be and the more likely they are to continue using your services, even during an inflationary period where your prices might increase.
Closing
In times of inflation, most every business is impacted. To make sure that you stay financially afloat, it’s a good idea to adapt your prices, cut back on unnecessary expenses and stay on top of emerging trends. This will help you build a nest egg for when it’s time to retire. For more information on tips to beat inflation, check out the infographic below.
