Your business relies on a lot of small “moving parts” to make it function.  But, for most companies, there are 6 major areas that push growth.  Whether you’re just starting out, or you’re a Fortune 500 giant, here are the 6 small steps that lead to big profits.

Get a Better Value Proposition

Even big brands sometimes struggle with this one.  A value proposition is what you have to offer to the marketplace.  It’s literally your values.  Think about your products and services, but also think beyond them to the company culture growing from within.  What is it about your company that makes it better than someone else’s?

Good value could be something like “authority” or “best price”, but these things are a little played out.  For example, Whole Foods markets is the authority in health foods.  Nobody beats them.  Walmart is on the other end of that continuum.

You can’t play in that space.  If you’re in the retail food industry, you have to find something else to compete on.  You have to specialize.  So, you might establish yourself as the grocery store with the best artisan cheeses or the grocery store that stocks local produce.

Find your niche where you can really dig your heels in and no one will be able to touch you.

Small Business Grows in Guilford by CT Senate Democrats, on Flickr.  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.

Identify Your Best Customers

Your best customers aren’t the ones that simply “fog a mirror”.  Qualify them.  Do you want to attract a crowd of senior citizens or teenagers?  Is your ideal customer rich or struggling?  Do you prefer doing business with business owners or employees?

In almost every case, your best customer will be one with money but, beyond that, what makes them your best customer?  Figure that out, make the appropriate tweaks to better target them in your advertising, and you’ll improve sales and revenues almost immediately.

Get the Financing You Need

If you’re a small business owner, one of the things you’ll struggle with is financing.  These bad credit small business loans are the perfect thing to get you off the ground, allow you to hire additional staff, make payroll, or buy equipment.

Big banks tend not to like lending to startups or small businesses.  They’re way too conservative for that.  But, that doesn’t mean a niche lender or angel investor will turn you away.

Study Your Competition

In many ways, your competition will be a map that shows you where you need to go in the industry.  And, it’s not always about following the leader.  Sometimes, the competition will show you what not to do.

Invest in Good Employees

Your employees are your most important asset.  Hire the best you can afford.  They should be enthusiastic about your industry, your business in particular, and what they can do to help you grow.  Good employees are most definitely not a dime a dozen.

And, this is where a lot of employers make mistakes — especially smaller companies.  When you’re growing, it’s easy to settle for staff that aren’t exactly what you’re looking for.  Resist the urge to get someone working for you because you’re desperate for help.  Focus on quality, and you’ll get better quality work out of the employee and more loyalty.