1. Understand your customers’ needs

Today’s customer may be very different after all of this.. You may believe the best way to grow your revenue is to find more customers but that’s only one piece of the puzzle. In fact, it’s more about customer retention and the secret to retaining customers is to satisfy their needs, no matter how much they change. Happy customers spend more, buy more often, and refer friends and family.

Knowing your customers and understanding their needs, is key to giving them good service and building strong customer relationships to withstand the test of tough times.

2. Collect and use your data

Gathering data about your customers and their businesses is relatively easy, especially if you’re asking the right questions. Any business with a website or a social media presence (preferably both), needs to be collecting data about their customers, user habits, demographics, and interest.

The more you can learn about your customers, the higher the chances are you can find new ones. In this time of reflection, consider how you can diversify your offerings to suit changing needs and how to improve your customer experience and position your business for exponential growth.

3. Adapt to create new opportunities

All around the world industries and companies are adapting their products, services and capacity to meet consumer demand. In the last week alone, we’ve seen: Sharp the Japanese electronics manufacturer convert one of their factories to make face masks, Ford motor group go from making cars to ventilator pumps, Pick n Pay introduce drive through shopping and many restaurants switch to selling home cooked meals. Diversify or die, these are necessary steps businesses are taking to adapt and survive. 

Our own research indicates that one in three South African SMEs currently engage in cross-border trade. Thousands more are interested in exploring cross border trading opportunities however a volatile currency and a lack of knowledge and resources have prevented them from taking it further.

4. Be obsessed with your cash flow and have a plan

It’s essential to be aware of your company’s cash position and financial performance at all times and take proactive steps to eliminate unnecessary expenditure and reduce costs wherever possible.

By being in tune with the financial health of your company and understanding your cost structure you’re more agile in changing markets. One area that’s often overlooked is the cost of making foreign payments. When we talk about the overall cost of a forex payment, we’re referring to the transactional costs (the banks margin and fees) and the transactional risk (the difference in the exchange rate between when the goods are ordered and when they are eventually paid for). If either of these elements are poorly managed, it can have a detrimental impact on a company’s bottom line.

For growing SME’s, getting competitive forex rates & low transfer fees and developing a proper currency buying strategy can mean big savings.

A currency plan could include a number of currency tools; Forward Exchange Contracts; which allow you to secure and hold the rate in advance for up to 6 months, Market Orders; which allow you to target rate specific exchange rates and Spot Transfers; for immediate payments. This combination in conjunction with specialist guidance can have a huge impact on a small business’s payment costs.

5. Grow your connections

We are living in a time of unprecedented social, economic and political shifts. Fortunately, South Africans are resourceful and entrepreneurial by nature. We are a special country, with extraordinary people. It’s time for us to pull together and support each other.

Having a good network can be incredibly powerful. Networking is about establishing and nurturing long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with the people who are in similar business communities or who have common interests. The secret to building an effective network is to understand what you can do for other people, not what they can offer you.