The playground of opportunity for new companies to thrive has never been bigger. Unfortunately, the statistics show that the number of failed ventures significantly outweigh the success stories. In most cases, it’s because the businesses never truly take lift off.

It takes time for a business to unlock its full potential and grow its client base. So, how can you give your venture the best shot at navigating the difficult first phase to reach a status of profitability? Here’s all you need to know.

#1: Keep Overheads to a Minimum

If you want to reduce the pressure to generate lots of sales, cutting your financial waste is the best option at your disposal. Regardless of how much capital you have, utilizing it in the right manner provides the foundation for greater success. Even after you’ve reached a stage where revenue outweighs the overheads, getting this right will unlock greater profit margins.

There are many ways to keep expenses down. Working from home is a particularly good option for many new businesses, especially as a virtual office address helps you maintain a positive image. Of course, price comparisons and connecting with the right suppliers and services will significantly aid the cause too. Even a seemingly small change can make a world of difference.

Embrace it.

#2: Leverage Success From an Existing Brand

Building and establishing a brand is often the hardest challenge facing a new business. By the time you’ve invested time and money into promoting your products to a defined target market, there might not be anything left in the tan. However, you can bypass this tough challenge to focus solely on the products and services by using a franchising opportunity.

Franchising allows you to build upon the success of a known and reputable brand. In addition to familiarity, the reputation will impress new clients as well as search engine algorithms. This is especially useful when you want to start a moving business or provide another service. It offers instant success, especially with clients that have used another franchise under the umbrella brand.

Quick results are assured.

#3: Outsource

While it can certainly be linked to the idea of keeping costs down, outsourcing deserves its own section in this guide. It’s important to consider the cons as well as the pros before implementing this recruitment strategy. Nonetheless, the benefits for a new SMB are particularly impressive. It puts you in control and provides a level of flexibility you won’t find elsewhere.

Outsourcing can take many forms. From using managed IT services and software developers to hiring remote admin teams or branding experts, it can unlock big results. You can use temporary staff and add new services as you see fit. Better still, you can remove the need for staff training or bigger business locations. All of these features feed into the goal of creating a better bottom line.

It bring easier management too.

#4: Use Referral Marketing

Even if you take the franchising route, the need for successful branding and marketing cannot be overlooked. It costs money to run PPC campaigns, create content, or appear in media publications. Sadly, there is little point in generating $100,000 of sales if it costs $150,000 to do it. As a new business, you’ll never know how a new idea will resonate. So, why not remove the risk?

Referral marketing is a fantastic option that rewards affiliates for generating sales on your behalf. Whether it’s social media influencers or people talking to their friends, their recommendations often have a far better impact. It’s because they view your business like a consumer and can focus on the features that will convert sales. Besides, they seem impartial and trustworthy too.

They get a cut of the sale, and you waste zero time or money.

#5: Be Customer-Centric

Winning new customers is great, but loyal clients are the lifeblood of any successful brand. As a small business, even if it’s a franchise, you cannot match the global giants in some aspects. But you can provide a customer-centric business model that puts their needs first. In turn, it’ll keep them far happier, which will lead to repeat custom and greater Customer Lifetime Values.

Implementing Customer Relationship Management tools can provide telling insights. This can help you understand your target audience as a collective, which helps you predict individual behaviors. When supported by winning client interactions, in person and via digital communications, you will see big results. Automation can also be used to recover abandoned carts.

Winner winner, chicken dinner.