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Investing in new technology can be daunting for the average small business. The expense is a concern, of course. Additionally, it takes time to bring the business itself, as well as all staff members, up to speed with any new program.
However, if you don’t keep up with the world as it changes, your business could suffer. But how, exactly, do you know when you need new technology? Here are a few signs that can tip you off.
1. You Don’t Take Orders Online
One of the biggest mistakes any business owner can make in today’s world is not to have a website. That’s because when you launch a website, you instantly increase your customer base from local and regional to global.
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2. You Are Unaware of Social Media
Your business needs to be active on social media. If it’s not, you’re missing out on engaging with customers on a personal level. Like it or not, this can can translate to sales figures.
3. You Don’t Have a Computer
Are you still doing things the old-fashioned way—with pen and paper? Sure, this might provide you with an effective way for you to do what you need to do with your business. However, a computer would make all of those menial tasks much easier. From tracking inventory, to ordering, and even keeping your customer lists in order, you need to move your business activities onto a computer.
4. Your Staff Has No Idea When They Are Supposed to Be Working
Scheduling can turn into a huge problem. Moreover, you can even lose revenue if you’re not handling staffing efficiently. These days, you can easily obtain remarkable computer software tools to assist with scheduling. Moreover, these tools can easily adapt for holidays and swapped shifts. In short, they can track all the hours your employees spend on the job. What’s more, you’ll enjoy more ease at pay time.
5. Your Customers Can’t Reach You
Most businesses these days have an answering machine and email. However, would your customers also appreciate it if you had an answering service for responding to their after-hours emergencies? Depending on the type of business you have, you might need to be accessible to your customers at all times.
Whatever formats you choose to use for contact, be sure to promote them on your business cards, your website, and your social media channels as well as in all of your advertising.
6. Your Customers Don’t Know About Your Deals
The days of expecting to make sales just because you happen to own a business are over. The competition is high. Moreover, in order to catch the attention of your client base, you have to use different forms of marketing.
“Old school” tools such as billboards, posters, and print media are still effective. However, you might get a better bang for your advertising buck if you also incorporate digital marketing as part of your promotional efforts. That’s because your customers spend their time online, and your business had better be there, too.
7. You Think New Technology Is a Fad
If you own a smartphone, watch television on a flat screen, play online video games, or even have access to a fax machine or email, you have already been touched by new technology. None of these things are going to go away anytime soon.
Moreover, if you own a business, doesn’t it make sense that your business should get on board and ride the new technology wave? Yes, fads do come and go. However, when you see how many ways new technology can improve the ways in which your business functions, you’ll also see that you can’t afford not to take part.
In Conclusion
New technologies have made our world smaller. They have connected all of us. They have contributed to changes in the ways in which we communicate, shop, and seek information. What’s more, they can greatly enhance the way in which your business functions.
So don’t ignore the signs. Instead, jump into the spinning world of new technology. In so doing, you will enable your business to match its competitors, reach more customers, and engage with those customers faster and more frequently.
