4 Tips for Getting Ahead as an SME (and Avoiding Costly Mishaps or Errors)

When running an SME,
it’s crucial to grow reasonably quickly. One of the risks with SMEs is that they’re
staying forever small. Indeed, companies with fewer than 20 employers comprise
98 percent of total small
businesses – millions are solopreneurs either by choice or because they never
successfully expanded beyond toiling alone.

To put your best foot
forward and avoid mishaps or errors, here are four tips for your small
business.

1.
Get
Professional Liability Insurance

While not every state
requires a small business to take out professional liability insurance, it’s
always a good idea that you do.

The idea with this
type of insurance is to protect against so-called errors or omissions. This provides
protection when offering a service or selling goods where the customer feels
like they were caused financial harm and wishes to seek compensation for that.

Taking out professional liability insurance from The Hartford protects against these types
of lawsuits (and the pursuit of them). This insurer has been in business since
1810, with Yale University being one of their first policyholders. Getting
enough insurance can make the difference between a business mistake being a
game-ender or just an inconvenience until the matter is resolved.

2.
Embrace
Multi-Skilling

As a small business,
there’s almost always a shortage of staff. When someone is off sick, it becomes
challenging to manage, and usually, their work sits idle while they’re off.

Instead of having to
accept this situation, it’s always better to ensure staff is trained well enough to
cover at least one other role. Doing so allows a manager to move them across to the most important one,
ensuring essential tasks are completed. While some less important tasks will
inevitably not get completed during the absence period, it does mean fewer
balls are dropped.

For this to work, all
staff must have an available list of outstanding tasks and routines that they
follow. This allows other workers to step into their role immediately, assess
what’s critical to complete that day, and get moving.

3.
Encourage
Growth

Small companies often
grow in fits and starts. Their growth path usually isn’t smooth, flat, and
comfortable. Instead, after some early capital investment, they lurch forward
with each new product release or service offering, delivering a new stream of
income.

It’s necessary to plan
for expansion one step at a time in a determined fashion. At the same time,
putting the company on the line by using debt for a costly expansion is risky.
Any funding must be handled judiciously to avoid the business running into
difficulties before new cash flow is realized.

4.
Use Small
to Your Advantage

Smaller businesses get
noticed by offering better customer service and faster response times. Also,
they look at what’s available in the marketplace and deliver something unique
to stand out from their peers.

Huge businesses find
it harder to innovate, change direction, and push forward. Use the advantage of
being smaller and nimbler to be more creative with the product mix or services
offered.

Getting ahead as an
SME requires a continual drive to succeed that not everyone has. However, for
business owners that are passionate about getting improving results, the hard
work pays off.