Starting and running any business means hard work and a daily fight against the daunting odds of failure. For businesses in small towns that lack the talent pool and resources of bigger cities, the obstacles can seem insurmountable.
Herjavec touched on some of most important lessons small businesses can glean from the series.
1. Know your numbers
"To a lot of small businesses, including me when I started, the numbers were like a jigsaw puzzle," Herjavec said. "I kind of knew what revenue was, expenses, cost of goods, but I couldn't put those pieces together into a picture that made sense." Similarly, many of the businesses on the show were closely monitoring their revenues but didn't know how to keep track of profits. Without a firm grasp of where your company stands financially, it is difficult to make changes when necessary, Herjavec said. Plus, if you don't know the language of accounting and finance, "someone is going to take advantage of you, or you're going to be left behind."
2. Engage in smart marketing
"We see a lot of small businesses that are jumping to Snapchat and Instagram and getting business that way, but email marketing is oftentimes overlooked," Herjavec said. Deluxe chief brand communication officer Amanda Brinkman, who mentors businesses in the series alongside Herjavec, said that 87 percent of consumers prefer to be engaged via email. It's far easier and less expensive to sell to existing customers than to acquire new ones, Harjevec added, so maintaining a robust customer mailing list is a good way to increase your revenue at a low cost.
SOURCE: INC
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