Running or starting a small business in today’s climate certainly presents its challenges.
So, we’ve outlined the four most prevalent challenges in the conveyancing industry that small businesses face every day, and how to overcome them.
1. Reluctant Business Progression
One of the biggest challenges in the growth stage of business owners is getting stuck in their comfort zone.
Perhaps your practice has used the same searching tools since its inception and you aren’t open or willing to book demonstrations with new and innovative products. Maybe your software is too heavily reliant on manual labour and you’re storing printed files in bulky space-sucking boxes.
Taking the lead to business automation and completing a paperless workplace is easier than you think. It may only take 20 minutes of your time to search the market for leading low-cost products that exist today.
Or consider a few easy steps for turning the office paperless using online invoicing to handle client payments; taking digital notes; using a paperless filing system; embracing electronic signatures; and getting your team onboard with becoming a paperless office.
2. Growing Competition
What exactly is business competition? It’s the rivalry among organisations offering similar products or services to the same consumer base. The goal? To attract and keep customers, boost earnings, and expand market presence.
While the obvious solution to retaining business may be to satisfy the client, there are many small decisions you and your team can make throughout the conveyancing process to ensure the end result leads to return customers and additional referrals.
Communication and transparency is an easy strategy that businesses can take to ensure the customer is being kept informed at each stage of the matter and is being sent clear billing information.
3. Poor Web Presence
Web browsing is one of the most popular search tools available and is likely one of the most used avenues for visiting your website. However, poor Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can seriously impact where your business appears in a web browser.
SEO is the process of making your web content easier to find for help search engines like Google or Bing when it is ranked against similar websites.
This is an ongoing challenge that small business owners will need to overcome if their practice is to compete against larger businesses. Fortunately, there are five easy steps you can follow to improve your SEO.
These include understanding your online customers, using keywords on your website, refreshing your web page content often, gaining links from other websites and including a meta description tag.
4. Time Constraints
Is there ever enough hours in the day to get your work done?
Having time constraints is another small business owner’s nightmare. Especially where satisfying each client promptly is crucial to improving the bottom line.
Fortunately, there are simple strategies to combat time constraints placed on your business that go beyond preaching the idiom ‘work smarter, not harder’.
One effective element to improving your time management is using a platform like triSearch which has developed relationships with external stakeholders to ensure you receive fast turn-around times on documents, especially if they consistently beat industry standard return times.
Another strategy is to ensure your business is using the latest in e-conveyancing tools like SettleIT, to ensure every minute is spent productively and not wasted in filling out tedious amounts of text.
Small business owners no doubt face an increasing list of challenges on a day-to-day basis. However, taking simple steps like the ones discussed can help you and your business on the road to success.
For more strategies to overcome your business challenges, property-market updates, and more, subscribe to the Australian Conveyancer Newsletter today.
