The digital environment nowadays is flourishing more than ever. It gives plenty of opportunities to those seeking to create a successful service marketplace business.
However, a lot of opportunities means a lot of competition.
Stats show that online marketplaces deliver the best customer experience. But the rivalry is fierce. Consumers have high expectations and you have to make sure you meet them all.
Nothing is impossible, with the right plan and tools you can achieve both customer satisfaction and a profitable service marketplace.
In this article, we’ll go through some of the main strategies for growing and scaling a service marketplace business.
6 strategies to grow your service marketplace business
Although it might seem easy on paper, growing a business requires some deep thought and a lot of research.
First and foremost, we have to be able to understand the essence and the main features of service marketplaces and be aware of both the pros and cons they offer. Once we have gained this knowledge, we could focus on creating a good strategy.
The information on the web could be overwhelming, yes. So if you are feeling hesitant about which step to take next, keep reading.
Identify your service marketplace goals
Understandably enough, one of the main strategies is identifying which problems your service is about to solve. This would give you a clear picture of where you should invest your resources.
We would recommend that you indicate your goals clearly. This is how you eliminate any unnecessary distractions on the way. Deviations from the initial goal may be costly.
Another useful tip is to coordinate the objectives with everybody on the team and make sure you are all on the same page. Success and business growth depend on team alignment.
Use the right technology
Once you begin scaling your business, the staff number would grow. So would the maintenance needs and the number of tasks you have to perform.
You have certainly wondered how to boost your productivity and keep things on track. For example, establishing standard operating procedures is really helpful. A practical tip is to quickly find out what works best for you and focus on it.
Using the right technology would definitely alleviate a big part of the workload. Turning your ideas into a reality could take days instead of months.
How? Easy, by finding an efficient marketplace builder that offers end-to-end solutions.
Yes, tech is here to stay and you’d better make good use of it.
💡 Pro tip
3veta is a service marketplace builder that allows any entrepreneur to carry out their service marketplace idea with zero programming skills, a small budget, and without having to wait months.
Optimize your service and be up to date
Striving to perform better is the driving force for growing a service marketplace business. The only way to keep our target audience satisfied is by delivering a service of high quality.
A common mistake is to set up a business and prioritize lead generation only. That usually results in a temporary phase of growth, followed by a flat stage where growth plateaus.
Needless to say, that would affect your business negatively.
Knowing your competitors and what they are offering to the market is a must. Comparing your business to theirs could be used as a strong motivator for improvement. This is where testing and analytics step in.
Testing is a key method for ensuring that all the components in your business plan function well together.
Analytics on the other hand gives you some detailed information about the progress you have made so far and detects areas of improvement. With the proper user analytics dashboard, you can get full visibility over users’ engagement.
Select your team accordingly
Hiring the right people is key to delivering the best customer experience. Good qualifications, valuable experience and a solid set of skills do matter, but they are not everything.
A successful strategy implies the presence of good communication, exceptional organization, and excellent customer relations skills.
In an article published by Forbes, eight experts from the Young Entrepreneurial Council are asked to give some tips on how to scale a service marketplace business. One of them says:
“Let the quality of your staff shine through. From the very first moment, whether it be through social media, your website, online chat, or in-store, you want every second to be a positive experience.”
The people you are going to work with matter, and so does the work environment. Team culture is one of the biggest predictors of a team’s success.
Build a community
Winning clients is undoubtedly important, but keeping them is what matters most. Creating a good and long-lasting relationship with them is crucial, together with providing a high-quality service.
People like engaging with each other, discussing various topics, and sharing advice. An active community around your service offering is a good way to bring your customers together and give them a voice. Who knows, even some new ideas might pop up.
A service marketplace business should go an extra mile for its users and make sure they see the marketplace as a part of their identity. This builds retention – clients are more likely to stay loyal if they feel they belong. But first, we have to gain their trust.
Be patient
Last but not least, patience is a crucial strategic element of each and every business. Growth by itself is a long process that doesn’t happen overnight.
People quite often put effort and expect immediate results. The usual “You’ll get there one day” is not exactly motivating, we’d prefer seeing the fruits of our hard work right here, right now.
Sadly enough, this is not how it works.
If you want to grow your service marketplace business, you’d have to play the long game.
Attracting customers and establishing a long-term relationship with them takes time. Be patient.
Moreover, growing too fast may actually backfire, because it puts a lot of stress on the business model.
To sum it up
Growing your service marketplace business is a challenging endeavor and might be an expensive one. Having the right skills and expertise is crucial for meeting clients’ needs. This imposes a careful team selection.
One might say that research is never enough and they won’t be wrong.
The competition out there is wild. To grow, you’d have to be up to date with the change in customers’ needs, all the technological innovations, and whatnot.
Success and growth are never easy but giving it time and implementing the right strategies would certainly be of help.
Ready to dive into this adventure? 3veta is here for you!