"What Successful Small Businesses Have in Common Are you ready to make your business more successful? Take these tips and tricks from other successful companies to learn what makes a business successful and implement it into your own plan. They Have a Singular Vision Excellent companies know how to focus their vision, an especially important trait when creating a business plan. As you create your startup, you probably have big dreams of future expansion but save those dreams for after your initial launch. The first thing you should focus on is your core service or product. You can do several things to help you create your focus:

• Assess other companies and determine where they succeed and where they fail
• Make a list of your own successes and failures
• Assess your plan regularly and change it accordingly
• Implement plans for future success

They Hire the Best Employees You can pull an employee off just about any street corner and get them to do a mediocre job, but what will that say about your business ethic? When you ask how to become successful in business, nearly any company CEO you talk to will say it comes down to the employees. Instead of focusing on hiring someone fast, focus on hiring someone who is right for the job. An excellent employee must be competent and capable of doing the job, of course, but truly good employees go above and beyond the mechanics of the job. Look for people who understand the company culture, are committed to their jobs and have friendly and open-minded personalities. Employees should be able to work alone or in a team, depending on what you need on a daily basis. Taking two weeks to hire the right person will be much more beneficial to customers — and therefore, your bottom line — than hiring the wrong person today. They Are Customer-Oriented Every excellent business you see has one major thing in common: customers come first. While putting customers first means you need a high-quality, professional product or service, your customer service is just as important as the items you sell. According to one survey, nearly 80 percent of consumers have failed to complete an intended purchase simply because they felt they received poor service. After all, if you were going to purchase a pair of jeans but felt the cashier was being rude during the transaction, would you want to hand your money over to that person? The same can be said for any customer regardless of which product or service you provide. They Have a Positive Corporate Culture Your corporate culture not only plays into how your customers view your business but how your employees feel when working there. The more positive the culture, the happier your employees will be and the more they will go above and beyond to accommodate customers. Although many startups won't be able to offer a large compensation package, do what you can to provide an excellent work environment for your employees. Consider insurance, vacation time, sick days, maternity and paternity leave, personal days and other types of compensation. Keep an open-door policy as well. When employees feel they can come to you without fear of losing their job, they are more likely to tell you how you can create a better work environment. They Focus on Marketing Finally, excellent companies focus on their marketing tactics. Starting a successful business is not as easy as creating a product and waiting. After all, how can anyone purchase it if they don't know it's there? The solution is to create a focused marketing plan that takes advantage of today's technology. Mailbox flyers and radio commercials are no longer as effective as they once were. Today's advertisements are all about the internet. More than 60 percent of consumers research products online. Make your presence known with a high-quality website, profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other relevant social media sites and via Google Ads. If you can afford to, it is worth it to hire a social media marketing professional to help you create the best online presence and to respond to people who comment on your pages."