PREPARING FOR THE SEASONS OF A BUSINESS: Spring

Spring

Composer Gustav Mahler said –

Spring won’t let me stay in this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply again.

Ah Spring, the season when blossoms bloom and little birds start to fly out of their nests. Animals shed their heavier fur and people – likewise – begin to prep for the warmer weather.

There’s a definitive sense of newness in the air – hair gets coloured and quaffed, nails buffed and shined, colourful attire is once again taken out of the closet in preparation for the Spring that’s (almost) upon us.  

And this got us thinking. As human beings we’re affected by the world around us. Our days are brightened by the singsong of birds at our windows and fresh cut roses in vases. The air seems to be laden with hope and newness.

Does this extend to our businesses too? How does the promise of Spring affect business operations?

What’s the situation?

Business operations during Spring

With the first signs of warmer weather on the horizon, we get almost giddy with excitement.  It’s (almost) time for outdoor activities, for family gatherings and for venturing out into the world. Socialising is once again on the cards.

We tend to feel a little more optimistic about our year and look forward with hope and excitement. What shall we do first?

Perhaps it’s time to spruce things up a little….

And businesses – for the most part – tend to mimic the same behaviour.

As we prepare for Spring, these suggestions may be just what you need –

Boost Your Business

Spring as a season, is all about renewal. About shedding old skin and looking spiffy and new. It’s all about spreading our proverbial wings. And that includes both multi-million-dollar businesses to work-from-home one man shows (and everything else in-between).

Spring brings with it hope, opportunity and the promise of brighter tomorrows.

Part of this brighter tomorrow will include how you see your business and how you take advantage of this season of opportunity. So, it’s time to start thinking about boosting or “scaling” your business.

According to Score –

“Scaling a business means setting the stage to enable and support growth in your company. It means having the ability to grow without being hampered. It requires planning, some funding, and the right systems, staff, processes, technology, and partners”.

Scaling your business is comprised of 3 crucial steps, as follows –

1. It takes money to make money – we all know the saying. And as much as we hate to admit it, it’s true. Boosting your business won’t come for free. Your growth plan needs the hiring of additional staff, deploying new technology, adding equipment and facilities, and creating reporting systems to measure and manage results. In other words, expansion and growth requires funds. It may be helpful to identify potential bank funds or bridging finance firms that can support the acceleration of your intended growth. Perhaps it’s just about building the correct budget for your growth expectations. But getting yourself into debt is not the way to go. If you need financial assistance, or at least a direction of which way to go to meet your initiatives, speak to a specialist team who can guide you in the right direction. Because sometimes, you simply need an expert, especially when it’s an area that isn’t, perhaps, your forte.

2. Critically evaluate and plan accordingly – take a good hard look at your business, be honest when answering whether you’re ready to expand, whether you’re ready to grow. You see, it’s impossible to know what to change or what to improve on, or how to expand without knowing where your business currently stands. So, evaluate where you are as of this moment. Look into the pitfalls that may have crocked up. Take stock. And then plan, strategise, and see where and how you can or rather, must improve. Does your business have the required personnel and the correct tech and systems to handle your current workload? What if you expand and your client base doubles? Do you have the necessary tools to support this? You’ll need to do some hard thinking and research to come up with a proper plan to support any growth opportunity. Be critical, be harsh. Truth brings absolution.

3. Invest in Technology – tech makes it easier and less expensive to boost your business. This is a proven concept. The right tech can help you gain huge economies of scale through increased output, with a reduction in labour cost. The important thing here? Investing wisely in the tech you decide to use. Automation, as an example, can help you run your business at a lower cost and more efficiently by minimizing labour intensive work. The key for all businesses should be to save time and money, whilst being able to accommodate much higher volumes in every aspect of your business. AJS is perfectly poised to assist you here – offering bespoke products to suit your business and your budget.

To boost (or scale) your business, it takes critical analysis and effective planning. Don’t cut corners here.

Revamp Your Marketing

Spring is the time to make some valuable changes. Change is – as they say – as good as a holiday. Or in a business’s life cycle, a revamp, a change-up or a switcheroo can mean bright new opportunities. And no more so than with your marketing. Try some new ways of getting your name out there. By simply trying out a new thing or two, you can have an extremely positive impact on employee morale and in return on how consumers or clients view your company. Because if everyone is so positive about your business, perhaps there’s a reason for it? Right?

This positivity should radiate into your marketing.

Look at your newsletters, websites, social media images. Perhaps they need a little makeover. Perhaps bright colours, seasonal giveaways and promotions are the name of the game here. By implementing visceral and cognitive changes to how you represent yourself during this season of bright colours and opportunity, you will recognise the difference it makes to your customers.

If you do decide to take advantage of this time of seasonal growth, by offering seasonal giveaways or promotions, let your community know about it.

According to Answernet, you should –

“Take advantage of the bright, hopeful vibes of the season by creating campaigns that inspire. When planning your spring marketing campaigns, consider the amount of content you can create (blog posts, social media posts, photos, graphics, videos, etc.), how often you’ll want to publish them, and where. You should think critically about how much you’ll invest in printed materials, local publications, social media, and search marketing”.

Expand your reach

Spring is often the perfect time to expand your businesses reach. An increase in awareness about your business requires positive public relations with your target market. This will take active communication both with your current clients as well as potential clients. Send updates on your business or share positive imagery of happy employees on social media. Get your name out there by not only showing what you are good at but how positive and happy your work environment is.

Often the best way to expand your reach is by offering promotions on your products or services. Promotions or the offer of a free one-hour consultation can entice clients onto your websites and increase traffic to your call centre.

Positive exposure means the expansion of your reach and the expansion of your reach can lead to the potential expansion of your business.

Again, communication is key.

Therefore, understanding and improving on the customer experience is vital. This is especially true when a client starts interacting with your business. Is it easy for clients and potential clients to find what they need, see your offerings, and get in touch? If not, consider upscaling this functionality on your website. Perhaps this makeover is required in the call centre – how do your employees interact with clients? Can this be improved upon? 

Expansion of a business and a business’s reach can come down to the smallest detail. It’s all important.  

Understanding if and where you can improve is key. If you’re not sure how to grow your business, you can start with actively working on improving your website’s ranking on Google or Bing. Remember to focus your efforts on creating content for your website and increasing social media followers.  

Stay relevant by having a voice that’s worth listening to.

Have long term and short term goals

Knowing the difference is crucial.

Whatever you do in order to embrace the positivity of the season, be sure you have a goal linked to it. Is it simply gaining more exposure or increasing your number of clients? What’s the immediate outcome sought or here?

It must be stressed that whilst knowing what your immediate initiatives are, it’s important you classify them as short-term goals – whether that includes revamping marketing or expanding your business. None of these initiatives should deviate from the long term goals you set at the beginning of each year (read more about this in our article How to start 2023 on the right footing) .

Don’t let your plans take you off course from your overall annual goals. For each marketing campaign, or other activity, set a short-term goal that’s ambitious but achievable. By doing so, you will think more critically about how each activity can be more effective for your business, and how it can be improved upon as you continue to fine-tune the details of each initiative throughout the season.

Spring is a good time to take stock of where you are and where you want to be. This means keeping clean records of your progress toward your goals and regularly checking in on your website’s analytics to see where you can improve.

With the above preparations in place, your business will be set for a successful Spring.

(Sources used and to whom we give thanks: Score, Answernet, Startblox)

Don’t forget to take a step back every now and again to smell the roses.  

While we wait for the blooms to kiss the trees and the cold mornings warming into pleasant starts to our days, let’s remember that with every season there is a lesson to be learnt. With each season there’s a plan that needs to be made.

If you have any questions regarding the information we have set out above or if you have any queries relating to legal tech and how you can incorporate it into your practice, get-in-touch and let’s see how we can take your software solution from good to phenomenal.

If you don’t have any software supporting your legal practice yet, it’s not a problem. We are here to help you from scratch too.

AJS – as always – has your back!

– Written by Alicia Koch on behalf of AJS