Any business that is still trading in SA today has had to evolve to survive. Over the past few years, a pandemic, load-shedding and a challenging economic environment have rendered tough operating conditions for businesses of all sizes.
Mark Broude, Divisional Director of Kemtek Imaging Systems’ Commercial Division, has some advice for business owners on how to optimise their SMEs so they can not only survive, but thrive.
Broude has been with Kemtek for 20 years and in that time his business unit has attracted numerous awards and accolades, testimony to the division’s ability to be agile in the face of change.
1. Move on
He says: “First and foremost, businesses need to move away from the mindset that they had post-COVID. Component shortages and freight issues are fast becoming a thing of the past. It’s essential to get your team into a positive frame of mind and be continually looking for opportunities that present themselves in the market.”
2. CX is everything
If you look at the local market, customer service is sadly lacking. Businesses need to change their thinking and the way they look at a potential business partner. They shouldn’t differentiate between a large or small business partner – a business partner is a business partner. The focus should be on how you can best serve those business partners and offer them services that make their lives easier. “You need to create a pool of customers that want to deal with you and the service you provide, instead of shopping around purely on price. In every type or size of business, improving the customer experience offers you the opportunity to grow.”
3. Consider the economy
“As SME business owners, you must consider how your business can contribute to the current economy and help it grow. Growing the business means more employment opportunities. Creating this type of growth in SMEs and creating opportunities for entrepreneurs to start their own businesses is one way to get more people into the economy and working.”
He points out that it’s easy to look at the government and see all the barriers to business growth, but there comes a time when business owners need to look inward, stop blaming the government and see what they can do to assist in growing the economy and contribute to job creation.
“Everyone employed by a small business has money to spend in our economy; the greater that spend, the stronger the economy. The high prices that prevailed during and after the pandemic have since started to come down and we need to share those savings with our business partners. We need to be more competitive in the market, helping customers to grow, which will enable their customers in turn to grow.”
4. Back to basics
Businesses need to get back to basics, focusing on becoming passionate about what they do once more. “People are your business: businesses succeed through their people. You don’t need a huge business and a large team, you can be extremely successful with a small team – Kemtek has proven that by attracting constant recognition from its principles in the form of numerous awards. We compete with identical products against far larger competitors, but by becoming unique, have set ourselves apart.”
He advises businesses to focus on the service they provide, having a motivated team and a positive culture, almost reverting to how the business was when it started out. “With the pandemic, people have become inward-focused and somewhat negatively affected. You need to concentrate on what business opportunities are out there, and the positives. By making these changes in your business, you’ll stand apart from the competition, which will in turn create greater opportunity.
“Businesses have learned so much about their strengths and new business opportunities over the past number of years. The key is to always be considering what else you can add to your business to create more value for your existing customer base, which will help with organic growth.
Businesses need to find a way to co-exist with online companies that offer the same or similar solutions. “Nobody envisions a world without physical brick-and-mortar stores. The key is to work with your customers, help them to adapt to the current environment so that they can become even more successful.”
5. Embrace technology
This brings us to the importance of technology to business. “Having a positive culture is important to delivering service to your customers, but so is having the right tools. Businesses have to be open to adopting technology and stop being scared of the unknown. Technologies such as AI are all going to become key elements that will contribute towards making businesses more service-oriented. We also need to come to the realisation that it’s not about adopting technology to replace humans, but about using it to help staff improve their service levels, grow the customer base and offer new solutions to customers. SMEs need to consider where they can adopt technology to make the business more efficient and more cost-efficient.”
Broude concludes: “Organic growth is key for small businesses. You can’t rely on being bought by a bigger organisation, but you can expand your own operation by changing how you do business.”
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