If there’s one mistake that far too many business owners tend to make it’s to assume that there’s a point where your business is “good enough.” The moment that you think that your business is good enough is the moment that it ends up falling behind the competition and you get into some serious trouble. The reality is that that you should always be looking for ways that you can push your business forward. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you have to try and reinvent the wheel every six months. Often it’s the simplest things that can have the biggest impact. With that in mind, here are some simple innovations that can radically change your business.
Mobile payment processing
The ways in which people pay for the things that they purchase are always changing and over the last decade, those changes have been coming faster and faster. People want to be able to pay for the things that they want more quickly and more conveniently. Something like a mobile card reader is fantastic because it means that your customers are able to pay for their purchases no matter where they are. This can be useful for selling things at trade shows or simply avoiding your customers having to queue for long periods of time in store. Either way, it makes things much easier for both you and your customers.
Remote working
While the concept of “the office” as the hub of any business has been around for a long time and can be incredibly valuable for any business, it might be time to stop thinking about it in quite such literal terms. Instead, why not consider embracing remote working so that you’re in a position where your employees can work from pretty much anywhere and still be just as productive. In fact, being able to be more flexible with your employees in this way can actually increase their motivation and productivity pretty significantly.
Social media
Social media might feel like a brand new addition to the business world, and in the grand scale of things it is, but we’re now more than a decade past the launch of sites like Facebook and Twitter, so there really is no excuse for your business not to embrace social media as a potential marketing tool. For instance, something like Twitter can allow you to respond to customers will problems or seek out those who might benefit from working with your business. Being able to connect with customers directly is something that’s pretty unique to social media, and it offers some fantastic opportunities to create a close and loyal relationship with your customers that wasn’t really possible before.
Updating Office Decorations
Another simple way to innovate and modernize the office is to add some new decorations. Whether it be star curtains, or new art work. Something new, fresh and modern can help to make the work place feel more innovative and full of new energy.
Remember that, as fantastic as innovation can be, innovating for the sake of it can be as damaging to your business as not innovating at all. Make sure that you think carefully about what it is that your business actually needs so that you don’t fall into a trap of trying to push innovation onto your business that it really doesn’t need just because you’re afraid of getting left behind by your competition.
Photo credit: Pexels
I like the idea that you can connect directly with customers through social media and I must say remote working is the best – so much flexibility there! Great post!