by Brian McKay
When you are in charge of your own business, you have to juggle multiple departments all at once until you scale enough to hire staff for each one. At first, you work alone, and you deal with your own accounts and your own IT and marketing. Of course, you can outsource these things, but it’s not the first thing you do when you are gaining ground.
There are a lot of skills that you need to have to run your own business, and though there are many skills that an entrepreneur will have to have, it’s building on these skills that will ensure that you are a better business leader. There are many things that you need to learn, from revenue accounting to upping your skills in marketing. Let’s take a closer look at five more skills you could be working on to make your business successful.
Sales Skills
You need to be able to sell what you do. It’s not just the service or the products, but the ability to sell yourself to those who want to buy into you as a business leader or as an employer. Sales are going to keep your customers coming back again and again, which means that your sales skills will keep your profits in your pocket!
Finance Skills
You do not have to know how to run the finances for your entire business. However, you do need to understand what your profit and your deductions look like. You could take a course in revenue accounting as we mentioned before, but you could also pass your whole accounting side of things to an outsourced team who are specialists and know how to do it all for you.
Communication Skills
You need to be able to network with other business leaders and with those who want to work with you. Clients and customers alike are going to need you to be communicative, and this means that you need to work on your communication skills. Excellent communication skills will also extend to your customers and your staff, and makes you a better leader. Figure out how people like to be talked to, and you’re golden.
Customer Service
This is a skill, unlike sales. You need to be able to focus on your customers, and a good business leader will always have their customers in their mind. The best customer service skills will mean that you have time for your customers and you care about what they think of you. Up your customer service skills with courses that ensure that you are able to liaise with customers much better.
Social Media
You need to be able to have a good understanding of what you need to run a successful social media strategy. You may well outsource to another agency for your marketing, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't understand how to use social media for your business. Take the time to learn how to do it and spin your customers around while you do!