Running a business can prove to be both time-consuming and expensive, especially if you’re just getting started. But the right investments can help ensure your business runs as smoothly as possible. From investing in SEO and CRM software to buying the right equipment your employees need, you can give your business the best chance to succeed by taking steps in the right direction. If you’re starting a business or looking to improve business operations, here are five of the best investments for your business in 2020.
1. SEO
With more and more people shopping online, search engine optimization (SEO) is becoming increasingly important due to increased online competition. If you want to be effective with SEO, it’s important that you spend time researching what tactics can get your website to the top of Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). You can either learn SEO yourself (which might take a while, considering the learning curve) or outsource to someone who knows exactly what they’re doing, which might be more expensive, but still worth it in the long run.
2. CRM Products
The right customer relationship management (CRM) system can help you easily adapt to the changing demands of your business by streamlining sales and marketing data. A cloud-based program like Creatio (formerly bpm’online CRM) can help small and medium-sized businesses grow by providing interactive dashboards, a modern user interface, and intelligent business processes that improve both the customer experience and the agent experience. These tools can make it easier for agents to interact with customers and access information quickly and easily. The app provides access to calendars, analytics, and a mobile feed that helps improve customer service.
3. Medical Benefits
With the coronavirus pandemic getting seemingly worse every day, investing in medical benefits for your employees would make a lot of sense, especially if you want to avoid guaranteed paid leave that might affect business operations. You want to make sure that your employees can get the healthcare they need in these uncertain times. Providing medical benefits can be an attractive perk that gets you tons of applicants when you have open positions. This type of incentive can give people the peace of mind they need to work either on-site or from home comfortably and productively.
4. Business Equipment
If your employees are going to be working on-site, make sure they have the right business equipment and furniture to ensure they can do so productively. Depending on what kind of business you have, you might consider standing desks, ergonomic or task chairs, smart desks, balance mats, and other workplace furniture and accessories to make working in-office or on-site more comfortable. With this new working environment during COVID-19, businesses also need to supply COVID safe accessories like disinfectants and hand sanitiser, allowing your employees to get more work done, which can only be good for your bottom line.
5. The Right People
Investing in the right people is one of the most important investments you can make in your business because the right people—when treated right—will take care of your customers. And happy customers mean more revenue, which will help your business grow faster than ever. Find people that truly care about the work they do and the customers they serve and you’ll be much more successful. Once you get the right people in the door, focus on training them to provide exceptional customer service that lets your customers know that they’re valued. Leverage the power of social media to connect with your customers and answer their concerns via direct message or chat.
Your Next Moves
If you truly want to see your business thrive, finding ways to increase sales and revenue and creating a better work environment for your employees are two ways to ensure that happens. You can also check out SMERGERS if you’d like read some guidance as a business investor.
Happy employees make for happy customers and happy customers lead to increased sales and revenue, which leads to business growth. Moving forward, you can feel excited about investing in your business in 2020 and reaping the rewards that come along with it.