Seven commandments of business growth for SME's

Many Small and Medium Enterprises have approached us and asked about top tips given by successful entrepreneurs who have led small and medium enterprises towards success! Well, there is no magic pill, this we can ensure of.

IndiaMART Knowledge Services' Team spoke to many successful entrepreneurs
Our team of experts went ahead and spoke to many entrepreneurs who have created powerful success stories and have set examples for many others. Emerging entrepreneurs who are still in the starting-up or scaling-up phases of their business can surely learn from these examples.

Our experience of interacting with successful entrepreneurs has led us to create a set of experiences. These have been compiled after interacting which many entrepreneurs, who have raised successful businesses.

Source: http://tibcoblogs.com/cep/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/Succeed_5612.gif

The commandments of raising a Successful Enterprise (focus: business development)
Before we share our suggestions: this list might have missed some points or your experiences as an entrepreneur may not fit into these pointers. You might also want to add more suggestions to this.

We are open to hearing and will be glad to share your experiences:

1. Don’t waste your time going after business which does not aligns with your business vision                                                                              Many growing enterprises fall into the catch of quickly creating cash flow by serving everything that comes their way. Well, this is not a smart move as it generally takes you off your path.
2. The boss usually decides! Do you know the boss?                                      Business development efforts keep going on and on and the sales cycle keeps getting longer if you are not focusing on the right person who has the power of decision making. This ensures lesser cost of sales for SMEs. Hence go network with the right people.
3. Listen, Listen and Listen!                                                                             While your prospective customer is speaking, let him. Listening will do a world of good to you and your business than speaking and trying to justify and explain who you are. SMEs do have to talk about themselves initially as they may not be world class brands, but then you must have a well defined 20 second sharp and precise pitch which clearly states what you want to deliver, what is your USP and what do you bring onto the table and why should your prospect buy you than from your competition.
4. The client’s objective is more important than yours                                                                                                              From the point of listening emerges this fact. Your services are not meant to be 'sold'. They are meant to suffice your client's business objectives. This stands particularly true for companies which are into marketing services. Not everyone needs an apple and you must know that 'An Apple a day keeps the Doctor away' is only another sentence which someone once said.
5. A powerful, genuine recommendation is more effective than 500 people on your friends list                                                                                                                      In the times today of facebook, LinkedIn, well, everything has been reduced to how many you have?? But well, lets be honest about one thing. In Business one powerful recommendation about you and your work is far more stronger than those 500 odd friends you have on Linkedin, which may or may not serve much purpose.
6. There’s nothing worse than an unhappy client                                       Do we need say more on this?
7. If you get the business, it’s up to you to see that it’s well-handled                                                                                                                                          Execution is the key. Its the ultimate key. There's nothing more candid we can get on this. If your delivery fails, even if you are the best salesman out there, you will still lose the business, client and the trust and may be your brand in the market tomorrow.

To know more about how you can really learn the tricks and ensure that your business scales upto the next level, drop in a comment to this post and our experts at IndiaMART Knowledge Services will get back to you!