SEC-S20W6 | My Business Ideas | Expansion and Customer Support.

Hello, Steemian Friends!

_{Myself Samia Jannate from #Bangladesh.}

I’m really happy to participate in this contest. This week our topic is Expansion and customer support.

Expansion and better customer support helped to capture a new market, increase the business profit, and also introduce the brand.

Let’s break down the section that was mentioned in this contest.

1st Section: Are you planning any expansion of your business?

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Definitely, as a business owner, it’s a crucial part to think about the expansion of the business. I think expanding my business may give me some benefits and opportunities. Also, several factors helped me to make this decision. These are:

• Economic of scale: A large amount of production helps me to cut the production cost. Suppose you’re aware of the fixed cost and variable cost. Suppose I produce 50 units of organic juice; the fixed cost is 1100 taka (in Bangladeshi currency). So I produce 85 units of organic juice at the same fixed cost amount. And also reduce the cost of supply chain management and operation.

• Increase Bargaining Power: It allows me to negotiate with the supplier, also consult for credit terms and pre-stock capacity, and maybe discuss other favorable terms. When the supplier thought that I was buying a huge amount of metal, they targeted me to sell their products to me. At that moment, I have bargaining power to purchase the raw- material.

• Increased profit margin: If I'm able to capture existing and new market share, I’m not only capturing new customers but also increasing profit margin and reducing expenses. My expansion plan focuses on modifying my marketing strategies to enter new geographic regions, utilizing digital platforms (it should be e-commerce), and social media marketing to help me reach more customers.

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2nd Section: What are your business expansion strategies?

Concerned to the sustainability of business growth I developed a set of strategies that align with my marketing objectives and goals.

• Refine the business plan and vision: It's not easy to expand the business. Without refinement, the business plan does not give me good results, however, I expand my business. So I should keep in mind that again I need to remodify my business plan based on the expansion strategy. I should reconsider setting the visions, missions, and goals of my business.

For example, with my mission: to expand my business, I want to increase 20% of my market share within the next 2 years, and I’ll be the market leader. Also, I set my goals: this year I want to double my sales volume.

• Competitor Analysis: Before expanding my business, I should analyze my competitors, products, price, promotional strategies, and which areas they capture, and I should also analyze competitor SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat). It helped me to target an area and set my product price. Also, I’ll be able to introduce the British term in my business.

• Enhanced marketing strategy: Based on the expansion of my business, I’ll be more concerned about my marketing strategy. So I'll hire the most skilled employee for targeted social media campaigns, email marketing, and customer retention.

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• Financial Planning and Resources: To expand my business, I need more financial support for my daily operations and other activities. Liquid money is most needed for daily activities. I plan to take a loan from the bank, collect internal funding, and if possible, convene stakeholders to invest their share in my business.

I also make sure I have good financial resources, physical resources, and human resources to smoothly run my business.

• Consult with experts: When I expand my business, I also want to deliver better customer service. At that moment, I consulted with experts who gave me better advice on how I utilized my resources and which areas I needed to improve more. They also give other advice for achieving my goals.

3rd Section: Are you paying attention to your customer service or planning to provide better service?

I already provide better customer service and am planning to provide the best customer service.
I utilized :

• Omnichannel Customer Support: I'm exiting a different platform, so it's necessary to provide omnichannel customer support. So that customer is eligible to access anywhere in my business.

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• Personalized Customer Service: My target is to build a strong relationship with customers. So I utilized CRM tools that allow me to understand customers' preferences and order patterns, and based on this, I offer my products to them.

• Proactive Engagement: Instead of waiting for customers to reach out, we are implementing proactive engagement strategies like post-purchase follow-ups, feedback surveys, and loyalty rewards programs to build lasting relationships.

• Customer Service Training:The customer support team deals with different customers. And it's difficult to understand the customer behavior of the new employees. That’s why I arrange customer support training so that employees learn how to behave with customers, solve customer problems, and get additional responsibility to collaborate with other departments.

In addition, we are collaborating with customer service experts to fine-tune our strategies, ensuring we are ahead of the curve in customer support innovations.

4th Section: Do you and your crew understand how to work with customers?

Yes, I know how to work with customers, and I arrange training for my employees; they are just not learning how to solve customer complaints but also learning how to build strong relationships with customers.
I and my team believe great customer service is provided by:

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• Active Listening and Empathy:
  When you are not listing your customer queries, you don't understand the problem that she or he faced. And employees must be patient when they list the customer's inquiries. I ensure my team is trained to listen actively and fully understand a customer's issue before offering solutions.

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• Building Long-Term Relationships:
  My team works to build long-term relationships with customers. My team offers value-added service and personalized support that makes customers feel valued.

• Measuring Customer Satisfaction:
  I ensure that I and my team fulfill the customer's expectations. So my squad conducts customer surveys and monitors them by the KPI method. This helps me to understand which area I need to improve more. And what products customers prefer more.

All of these approaches help me to ensure that my business grows and achieves the targeted vision and success.

I would like to invite @junaidahmed @kalidsyfulla @shadow04 to participate in this contest.