Have you been running a business for a few years only to realize that you have reached a stalemate? Do you find yourself in a situation where you wished you have done things differently?
Always time for change
The bad news is that you cannot turn back time but the good news is, you still can change now. It’s never too late to acknowledge that you have made a mistake and make changes to your business. Over the years, you would have discovered areas that you could have done better and when you do, you might want to make adjustments. But instead of wholesale changes that can disrupt or affect your business as a whole, perhaps you can look at the following.
Cash flow is king
A lot of Malaysian businesses survive on day-to-day cash flow. About 60% of the Malaysian market is made up of small and medium businesses and more than half of them have a weak cash flow. When you earn enough in a day to buy your stocks for the next day, it is very dangerous. Take time to learn about profit-and-loss and balance sheets. It does not take an accountant to learn this. There is no wrong in buying things that your business needs but planning it into the future will ensure you have:
- Extra cash in your bank account
- Room to move around when revenue is low
- Lesser stress on maintaining your operations
What you need to do here is to keep a few accounts for specific reasons like salaries, daily overheads, sales tax, operational expenditure, marketing, etc. Then, make your spending from there.
Get your leads
A lot of Malaysian businesses tend to rely on word of mouth and direct requests when it comes to sales. This is a good time to change that. With lockdowns being common and consumers shopping online more, you need to give them a little push. Throw out an irresistible offer and do this through the leads you generated. There are many platforms that you can use to attract leads. Develop a sales funnel and put a priority on this. Set a KPI for this and you will find your business grow very quickly.
Use geo-location services
It is very important that you start a targeted approach by covering the areas of your location. If you are operating in Ampang, you should start looking at the surrounding areas like Kampung Pandan and Cheras. Google Business is very powerful in this area and if you get your listing right, you will have customers searching for you when they are in the vicinity. This is a system that works wonders and you must get on it as soon as you can.
