Any successful business has at least one thing that sets them apart from their competitors and that makes customers choose them over anyone else—their core strengths. Determining what those strengths are may require some reflection on the leader’s part or even some feedback from the team. However, once you’ve determined your core strengths, you’ll likely want to make them even stronger, as doing so will put your company at an even greater advantage over others in your space.
But what steps can you take to get there? Below, 12 business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council offer their expertise and recommend just a few of the paths you can take toward improving your company’s core strengths and setting you, your team and your business apart from the competition.
1. Embrace Continuous Improvement
To bolster core strengths, embrace continuous improvement. Analyze strengths, gather feedback, train employees, foster innovation, optimize processes, collaborate strategically and amplify your strengths in marketing. Make this an integral part of a long-term strategy for sustained success. – Nic DeAngelo, Saint Investment – Real Estate Funds
2. Cut Out Wasted Time
Focus is essential. Put tactics into place that allow you to have a clear picture of what’s working versus what’s not working. Cut out the stuff that’s not working and put your energy toward your business’s strengths. This can be accomplished by tracking time or tracking specific ROI on products and services. It’s okay to let go. – Chase Williams, Market My Market
3. Thoroughly Document Your Processes
Document so well that you can give processes to entry-level positions. This frees up the time and energy for pushing the boundaries on your products or services. We have a review process that uncovers all issues in an accounting file. We have the process steps, reasons “why” and example outputs. It is now a task that can be completed by our junior consultants. – Marjorie Adams, Fourlane
4. Identify And Refine Your Unique Expertise
Identify key areas of expertise that give you an edge over others. This could be exceptional customer service, cutting-edge technology or unparalleled industry knowledge. Then you can analyze how you can further develop and refine them. Understanding your strengths provides you with a solid foundation, but it is through continuous growth and improvement that you can maximize their potential. – Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
5. Apply The 80/20 Rule
Apply the 80/20 rule and identify the 20% of the work or the clients that generate the most revenue. Think about discarding or lowering your efforts in the remaining 80% of your work that takes up your time but doesn’t yield results. Focus on your strengths and increase these types of tasks or put more resources into them. This will help you generate greater results faster. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
6. Build A PR Strategy Around Your Strengths
Implementing an effective public relations strategy around your business’s core strengths can further strengthen brand recognition and credibility, raise brand awareness in new markets and solidify industry equity. When properly executed, good PR can help mold the industry narrative, grow consumer trust, sustain brand buzz, attract further investment, drive business valuations and improve sales. – Brian David Crane, Spread Great Ideas
7. Seek Feedback Wherever You Can
It’s essential to continuously seek feedback if you want to amplify your core strengths. Engage with your customers, team and peers regularly. Understand how your strengths benefit them and where improvements can be made. This proactive approach ensures that what sets you apart remains not only relevant but also continually refined, always pushing the boundaries of excellence. – Michelle Aran, Velvet Caviar
8. Work With A Business Coach
You can take your strengths and make them even stronger by working with a business coach. Reputable business coaches know how to take the best parts of people and ideas and guide them in the right direction. If you work with someone you know and trust, they can help you identify your strengths and prepare for new challenges waiting right around the corner. – John Turner, SeedProd LLC
9. Outsource Everything But Your Main Focus
To make your business strengths even stronger, you should outsource everything but your silver bullet. Stay lean on nonessential functions. Pour resources into your niche superpower. For example, if billing is a distraction, hire a firm to run it. Cut the fat so you can amplify your strengths. – Idan Waller, BlueThrone
10. Partner With Complementary Businesses
One way to enhance your core strengths as a business is to actively seek out strategic partnerships with complementary companies. Identify businesses that excel in areas where you seek improvement or growth. Collaborate to share knowledge, resources and expertise. This synergy can lead to mutual benefits, expanding your capabilities and making your core strengths even more formidable. – Andrew Saladino, Kitchen Cabinet Kings
11. Clearly Communicate With Your Team
As CEO, your job is to set the tone for the whole company. If you can identify what the core strength of your business is, communicating this clearly to the rest of the team will help everybody be on the same page. Just by communicating clearly, over and over, you can take what you see as a core strength and help it emanate throughout the entire business. – Kaitlyn Witman, Rainfactory
12. Double Down On Training Tools
If you want to supercharge your core strengths, double down on them. When we strategically align our training efforts with our strengths, we’re basically giving ourselves a turbo boost. Combine that with quality tools and you’ll get the perfect cocktail for not just enhancing your individual expertise but multiplying your business impact as well. – Abhijeet Kaldate, Astra WordPress Theme
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