What’s your business value in the year 2016? Are you relevant in your field? Were you able to meet up with your business goals?

If you weren’t satisfied with how your business went in 2016, then it’s time to set your direction right for the year 2017. One of the biggest ambiguity in the world today is why some businesses are stagnant/ fail and others grow!

The number of businesses in the world increases daily but do you know that only about 50 percent of them are likely to grow to survival? Growing a business is more difficult than creating one. As a matter of fact, report has it that in 2016, out of the total 5.5 million businesses in the world, 76 percent of businesses could not employ anyone aside from the owner? What a discomfiture!

Below are 7 simple tweaks to grow your business massively in 2017.

1. Understand your customers

Cristian Worthington the founder of 5 different startups and the CEO of MondoTag Inc. Shared that there’s always being a question that has helped in promoting all of his businesses –  “What are the customers thinking?”

One of the most essential tweaks to grow your business is understanding your customers. No matter how good or effective your product/services may be the fact still remains that nobody would patronize you if there is no need to.

Knowing your customers well would help you to serve them the rightful service they need at a point in time as well as meeting up to their expectations.

To understand your customers, you can ask them to share their thoughts through your customer’s satisfaction survey, encourage them to give productive feedback through your contact form as well as give sincere comments on your posts. Be sure to make your customers know that you care about them and you would love to give them the ultimate satisfaction required.

2. Mobile App

Mobile app is a very effective business tool which can support sharing and integration with other social media platforms. Your company’s mobile app would grant your customers the opportunity to access your product and services with ease anytime and anywhere.

Report by Clutch predicts that almost 50 percent of small businesses expect to have a mobile app by 2017. Your company shouldn’t be left out!

The mobile is growing in it’s importance and it has been stated that people spend more time checking emails and perpetrate most marketing processes on their mobile phone. As a matter of fact, study has revealed that Americans collectively check their smartphones upwards of 8 billion times per day. They check their phones while talking, walking, in the dining, in the cinemas and everywhere. If possible some would want to make use of their phones while sleeping 🙂 . Having a mobile app would promote your customer’s presence and accessibility.

Little wonder why the Apple Inc. is extraordinarily growing after they lost PC battle to microsoft. The company knew people are falling in love with the mobile so they decided to take a non-PC direction and started creating well graded mobile products/applications which made it successful.

If you want your business to grow fast in 2017 then the mobile app is just right for you.

3. Have a Fast Website

Your website is the home of your company, it builds credibility, increases your customers’ trust and makes it easy for audience/clients to get important information and news about you. As a matter of fact, businesses owners who already own a website have a competitive advantage over those without one.

But what is the use of a company website if it frustrates your customers?

Do you know that google, Bing and many search engines uses site speed as a ranking factor? Your  slow website practically reduces your customers’ conversion rate, it reduces your SEO and grants low pageviews.

In fact, study reveals that 4o percent of customers abandon websites that takes more that 3 seconds to load!

Your website loading time is basically part of your customer’s experience. So be sure to have a well befitting website with a standard loading speed.

A good start to ensure a fast website is by going with a good web host; good quality web hosting is cheap these days, and you can even go with tailored options for CMSs like WordPress.

4. Effectively manage your cash flow

According to a U.S bank report, 82 percent of businesses that fail do so because of cash flow problems. As a matter of fact companies who encounters cash flow issues are quick to run out of scale.

Cash is the fuel that keeps the engine of any business rolling. It is a major factor that determines whether a business grows or not. Show me a successful business and I will show you a business that effectively manages her capital! You must optimize your capital, audit your expenses and reduce cost where you ought to. But you should avoid over reducing cost as that will also have negative effect on your business.

5. Be a market strategist or employ an effective one.

“Market Strategist – A financial professional whose job is to make predictions about what will happen in the financial markets.”  

Since profit is important to your firm, having an effective market strategist who would help to project the future market and give valuable recommendations for marketing  success is a very productive tool for business growth. Without a  strategist in your business, your marketing would be mere and routeless.

The market is a wide field, charged with so many brands competing for the same customers, and making sales even more challenging for all businesses today. So one sure fire way to stand out and grow your business is to have an effective market strategy.

Furthermore, your market strategy speaks well about your product and company. If clients see that your strategies are outdated/weak then they would basically assume that your product is outdated/inefficient.

6. Always fuel your employees’ morale

How often do you show appreciation to your employees? How often do you celebrate your employees when they mark new achievements?

Your employees are just one vital component of your business which must be thoughtfully managed. Growing your business isn’t just a thing of yourself. It’s a process between you and your employees.

This is one thing most businesses lack which has held them down to the same level. Some bosses have made the work overly official that they don’t give room to cheer employees up.

Want a to grow your business? Work on your employee’s ‘ moral first. Study has revealed that happy employees are 12 percent more productive than the others.

When you make your employees happy, you practically induce them with a positive spirit to carry out your business goal.

7. Keep track of your business progress

This is the last and most emphasized tweak for business growth! How can you think of growing when you don’t know your present level? How can you grow your business if you don’t know where you’ve got more strength and where your weakness lies?
Reviewing and revising is paramount if you want a successful business. Where have you being stuck? Where did you get better results? What’s the say on your customer’s’ satisfaction? These and many more are what you should review while tracking your business progress.