Long Term Value (LTV) creation is vital if you want your business to keep going strong – long after the worst of the Covid-19 crisis has faded away. When you run a small business, developing the right strategies will make it resilient in the long term.
Business resilience depends on the ability to adapt and thrive throughout periods of change. In 2021 and beyond, a successful small business model should be flexible enough to keep your business moving forward during unexpectedly difficult phases, plus keep adjusting effectively over a longer course of time. For this to happen, your business model should focus on long term value creation.
Australia’s major companies have paid a lot of attention to LTV creation. Small businesses can also focus on having a sustainable strategy for the long term. Businesses that recognise change is now the ‘default’ position can improve their chances of adapting and thriving into the future.
The good news is that small businesses are accustomed to being agile and thinking ‘on their feet’, so creating LTV can be an extension of what you already do.
Strategies to create LTV in your business
To be successful in the long term, consider your stakeholders. For many small business owners this will include your customers and your employees, plus regular suppliers, and the public. The following strategies can boost your long-term resilience.
· Focus on servicing your regular customers as they already know and trust your business – they are also more likely to support your business over the long term. Consider ways to acknowledge your customers and develop a loyalty program that recognises their needs and makes them feel special. Increasing sales from your regular customers in a respectful way is a great way to boost your income and ongoing success.
· Keep innovating and adjusting your services to fit in with how your customers are buying from you. Review current health and safety advice and then consider how you can continue to meet customer needs – this may involve providing new home delivery services, mobile app offerings, updating your website or social media pages or adding remote options such as telehealth and other online communications.
· Boost your digital presence with attractive online specials and low-cost shipping as a way of increasing your customer base now to reap the benefit in the future.
· Keep an eye on competitors in your industry and identify who is doing well. This is a great way to discover gaps in the marketplace that your product or service can fill.
· Even when face-to-face transactions increase once more, maintain your online ordering and delivery services for greater business resilience.
· When you hire new employees, consider how that person will add value to your company and your plans. Being on the same page from the start will ensure they become your greatest
advocates.
· Meet and communicate with team members to collect ideas and create solutions that will help your company maintain its vitality and flexibility.
· In this changing environment it is a great idea to keep adjusting your business plan and be open to new ideas.
· Take the time to engage with your stakeholders, including trusted suppliers, to discuss their ideas for making the business more flexible.
· Keep up regular quality communications, for example, via an email newsletter and social media posts, to show the public that you are a switched on, caring business with a sustainable outlook.
Long term value creation should result in more consistent revenue, and a more substantial business. Ultimately, the more effective business owners are at creating long term value, the better the outcomes will be for themselves, their employees, their customers, and the community.
Realise Business Advisors can help you to develop strategies to create long term value in your business.
