No doubt you’ve faced some challenging situations that have required you to make some tough decisions in your business. You have, at some point, faced dilemmas like, “what if I make this choice? What impact will it have on the ?”
Sometimes, those decisions directly impact your reputation, branding, and customer/employee relations.
What you’ll constantly face when implementing your turnaround strategy, will be tough decisions. They may seem easy and pretty obvious at times, but you should carefully consider the choices you make so that you ensure the growth and survival of your business.
What you need to understand is that some tough choices will eventually positively impact you in the long run. Consider the following tough decisions for your business growth and survival:
Should you focus on competition or the customers?
It’s a no-brainer that you should know your competition, strategies, pricing, marketing channels, customer relations, and quality of their products/services. However, your strategy should not solely be to meet your competition head-to-head.
It would be best to channel your energy to stabilizing your client base since you’ll have no profit without customers. Ergo, your top goal should be customer satisfaction. Expending most of your energy on streamlining your business operations to improve customer satisfaction, will put you ahead of the competition.
Should you have a Company Culture or not?
Establishing a great company culture can be a grey area at times. It’s not a guarantee that the employees will positively internalize and maintain the values you need your business to communicate. However, this should not be a do-or-die situation.
Employees are malleable, and you can establish a culture that will positively impact the business’s success. Communicate your vision, goals, and values to your employees. You will see that they will adapt.
You will also notice a change in how they interact with themselves and clients, in and out of business. Having a set of values and goals, will ensure business success in the long run.
Stifle or Empower your Employees?
In some instances, running your business operations with an iron fist can translate to positive outcomes. In this case, however, the employees may feel stymied and even lose their morale. It can create a lacklustre business environment in the long run.
Don’t be too uptight; find a balance. You can empower your employees by giving them the agency to implement their ideas. A motivated employee is excited, confident, and committed to their work and will turn their fantastic ideas into reality, thereby generating efficiencies that will work to impact your business positively.
Should you Sacrifice Quality to Cut Costs?
The current global pandemic has significantly impeded business operations, and most small businesses have had to go back to the drawing board. These difficult economic times have had us thinking, what if we cut back on production costs?
This may translate to low-quality products, since most manufacturers/ vendors are also aggressive and may not want to adjust their prices. This decision can be detrimental to your business; your customers are already used to the quality of your products.
You may consider downscaling, meaning you have to let go of some of your employees, but this will then mean that your other employees will have to pick up double duties, leading to disputes and a less-than-desirable work environment.
These situations can certainly be like a rock and a hard place. Review your business’ operations and make cuts where necessary, but do not sacrifice quality.
Running any business in these tough economic times can be challenging; there are always tough choices to make at some point or another. Every business decision has some consequence; ensure you create a positive one.
At Oracle Tree, we will help you streamline some of your business operations for your success. Our holistic approach will have you looking at things from the ground up. Head to our website to book your FREE strategy session with us.
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