Is Your Business Behind? Here's What To Do

Do you feel like your business is behind? Maybe you feel like you’re lagging in terms of attracting customers. Maybe you feel like your business is simply outdated and behind the times and you’re not sure what to do. Whatever your issues are, there’s something you can do to bring your business back up to speed and get the results you want.
Know that your mindset can make a huge difference to what’s going on in your business. If you don’t have a growth mindset, and you’re rigidly stuck in your old plans and patterns, then it’s no surprise your business is stuck. Get your head in the right space and you can get your business there too.
All of that aside – once your mind is in the right place and you’re ready to make a change, read in for what to do.
Refer Back To Your Business Plan
Go and refer back to your business plan to see what you wrote down for times like this. A business plan should cover every eventuality, and it can give you a big clue as to what your plans were when you encountered a situation like this.
You may even need to make amendments to your plan. Your plan might not tell you anything of use at all. However, this is your opportunity to come up with more solutions and ideas to your problems.  
Find A Mentor Or Coach
If you’re still stuck and at a loss as to what to do, don’t waste anymore time. Find an experienced, qualified mentor or coach to help take a look at your business and talk you through some of the issues you’re having and how to deal with them. It may seem like an unnecessary expense to you, but some of the most successful people and businesses out there have a person like this behind them to keep them going.
They aren't as attached to your business as you are, so they can take an objective look at it and tell you where you could be going wrong. Make sure you choose a mentor or coach that has specialised knowledge in your business/industry. Any business mentor or coach can give you generalised advice, but you’re probably going to want somebody who can go a little deeper.
Get With The Times
Be honest: is your business up to date or is it a little outdated? Do you have flexible employees? If not, it could be time to start offering them more flexibility, like more freedom with the hours they work and the opportunity to work remotely occasionally. This will make them happier and more productive. Going paperless will clean up your clutter and help you to find things easier, as well as help the environment. Automating certain tasks is also a good idea, as you’ll save time and money paying employees to do them – you’ll also reduce human error!
Look at how you can bring your business into 2018 and get to work immediately. An outdated business isn’t going anywhere.
Hire The People You Need To Help
Perhaps you’re falling behind with orders or a job that you agreed to do. There’s usually only one way around this, and that’s to hire more people. However, hiring people comes with its own unique set of responsibilities, even if you’ve hired people before. You’ll have another mouth to feed! When you’re not sure if this is the right thing to do, you can look at contracting workers temporarily to get things done. DSC Personnel and similar companies can offer different types of workers for your needs. Don’t hold your business back any longer if you know you need workers to help you move forward.
Start Turning Down Work
Maybe you’re behind because you’re accepting every job in an attempt to make money and stay busy, when really, you’re getting overwhelmed and not getting things done. It could be time to start turning down work. This can be tough, as you want to make as much money as you possibly can, but sometimes it’s necessary. Start being realistic about what you can do and how long things are going to take you. Know the clients that you should work with and the type of client you can stand to turn down – some are time wasters and won’t pay you right away, for instance. If you have awkward people asking you to work for them, you might consider saying no to them. You can recommend other companies to them instead, and this way you’ll continue building a great, helpful reputation.
Change Your Pricing
Maybe you’re behind because your pricing is wrong. Too low pricing might get plenty of people working with you, but it could mean getting people who all want something for nothing. You need to know the value of your product/service and price it accordingly.
Pricing your business too high will mean you get people who are serious about the product/service, but it also means putting people off working with you. Do some more research on your pricing and figure out if this is something you should change. Once you’re sure on your pricing, be confident in it and stick with it.
Assess Your Brand
Maybe your brand needs modernizing. Maybe it’s just not a fully relatable, well rounded brand that people want to work with. Make sure you take a look and figure out what you could change so that you appeal to your audience. You can’t appeal to everybody, so don’t try to!
Remember Your ‘Why’
Remembering your why will help you to keep moving forward in a way that is true to your business. Defining your why is one of the best business moves you can make. Think about your values and your mission. What is your ‘why’?
Think About Your Audience And Always Go Back To Them
Always go back to your audience. With every move and decisions you make, think about your audience and how they will feel or react. They are the most important group of people to you!