Managing a business can provide heaps of rewards and benefits but can also have its challenges. An uncertain global economy, mainly triggered by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, has increased the challenges businesses face, meaning they need to be more competitive than ever before. So, we’ve put together our top tips for managing your business in an uncertain economy to help you navigate through the more testing periods.

Focus on your customers

During difficult times, a strong customer relationship is key. But how do you achieve this?

Start by prioritising your existing customers' needs. Make sure you are delivering them high-quality products and services, seek their feedback on how you can further improve and most importantly, analyse and act on their feedback. Don’t just make gathering feedback a once-a-year process either, in a fast-changing market, you should be gathering feedback at multiple touchpoints with your customers. Whether that’s online or during a catch-up.

Foster a customer-centric culture throughout the organisation. Bring your customer into all business decision processes, ensuring that they are the centre of any decision-making. This will ensure that whilst you are growing or changing, your key stakeholder which is your customers will always be prioritised. 

Personalise your customer experience. Personalisation is a great way to make your customers feel valued and to also get creative. This could be through ensuring that your employees are trained to prioritise customer experience and you have customer support that is easy to access and responsive. Or, through managing your CRM and any automation to be personalised through tailored customer journeys, communication and so on.

Attract and retain top talent

One of the keys to driving innovation and growth in a business is to attract and retain top talent. So, let’s start with the basics…

The basis for a candidate to accept any role is to have a competitive salary and benefits package. We recently asked our followers on LinkedIn “Which of the following factors is most important to you while looking for a new job?” and the results showed 50% of 141 people voted Remote/ Hybrid working, followed by better pay (27%) and company culture (21%), (2% voted other). So, when considering your benefits package, remote and hybrid working should be at the top of this list in order to be competitive in today's job market.

Company culture is also becoming a key priority for candidates when looking for jobs. To have a good salary on offer is just not enough anymore. People want to feel a sense of purpose and for their core values to align with the companies. Therefore, ensuring you have a strong and defined company culture and values will help you to attract the right people for your organisation. Candidates also want an opportunity to grow and develop (especially within tech), so ensure that you offer a clear career path and clear communication about the company's future and make an effort to regularly gather and act on employee feedback to drive continuous improvement.

If you’re struggling to find the right people for your organisation it is always worth reaching out to a recruitment agency that will be able to use its experience and vast network to find you the right match for your organisation - saving you vital time.

Foster a culture of innovation

Fostering a culture of innovation and encouraging employees to come up with new and creative solutions to challenges not only helps attract the right people by providing the opportunity to grow and develop but often leads to a better product and process and therefore, increased customer satisfaction. It makes you more competitive and usually more cost-effective too. 

So, how can you foster a culture of innovation? Start by encouraging and rewarding learning and experimentation and ensure that employees have the resources they need to do so. 

Always celebrate the small wins and don’t berate the failures. Instead, analyse them and take the learnings forward.

Make innovation a priority in the company's strategy and also ensure it is communicated effectively, even as early as in your recruitment process so people are aware you actively promote this from the get-go. Encouraging collaboration, cross-functional teamwork and open communication can also bring a diverse set of perspectives which can help with innovation.

Stay positive and agile

Finally, be flexible and adapt to changes quickly. Stay up-to-date with industry trends, be prepared to pivot your business strategy as needed and stay positive and maintain a proactive attitude, even in difficult times. It can be hard to stay positive when times get hard, but putting your focus on finding solutions and making the most of the opportunities available to you, can provide heaps of benefits to your business.

Finding you experienced technology professionals globally

Oliver Parks is a valued partner to hundreds of corporations and technology consulting firms worldwide, specialising in technology appointments. 

Our multilingual consultants have a thorough awareness of this specialised area, allowing us to offer our customers highly qualified candidates. We aim to bring genuine value to both candidates and customers via the long-term connections we develop.

Connect with us today to find out how we can help you find the perfect candidate or new role.