Here at SiGNAL we have a number of small wellness businesses in our community. Massage therapists, reflexologists, fitness class providers and wellness product sellers. They use our Wellness Suite and Studio to see customers and run classes and workshops, as well as accessing our business  training and support.

It can be tough running a health and wellbeing business when it's just you. But as a local business you do have some advantages over the larger brands. You're YOU not a faceless brand!

Here are a few tips for growing your health and wellbeing business in the Whitehill & Bordon area.

7 tips to grow your health and wellbeing in Whitehill & Bordon

1. Brand you

Be true to yourself and differentiate your business with your personality. People are attracted to likeminded people and will seek out classes or therapy sessions with a business or therapist that they like. Your unique selling points are your personality, passion and energy.

• Understand your customers

If you're starting up a new business or expanding into a new area it's really important to understand your customers. Location and demographics will play a key part in how you grow your business in a particular area. Factor in things like how customers will travel to you, or you to them; their expectations for the therapy room or studio you use; the price they pay and the results they expect. All these elements need to be aligned with your target customers and your services or products.

• Start at the finish

What are your goals for your business and where do you want to be? If you can visualise what success looks like, your end goal for the business, it's then possible to map out the steps you need to take to get there.

• Be flexible

One of the biggest challenges for small health and wellbeing businesses is that the sector is very susceptible to trends and passing fashions. Your Zumba class got lots of interest from local residents last year, but now someone's set up a Clubbercise class in a different venue and your customers want to try that out instead. What can you do?

Being flexible is really your only option. If your business model is too static, and you're set in your ways, it's very difficult to react to external threats. Be prepared to innovate in your business to retain customers and compete in the market.

• Be innovative

Keep exploring ways to innovate in your business. That could include the actual services or products you sell, the customer experience, the way you market your business, your pricing structure, how you upsell, how you deal with enquires or provide aftersales support, in fact everything!

Innovation doesn't necessarily mean making big changes, although it can. It can also include minor tweaks that collectively over time improves your customer experience and grows your business too.

• Network

Attend industry events to keep-up-to-date and meet other businesses in the health and wellbeing sector. Finding out about other people's experiences running a wellness business can help you unlock growth potential in your business. Also network at local events, such as our BBX and Bordon Small Biz networking sessions. Business owners from other sectors also have relevant experience and advice to share, and could potential become customers or refer you to others.

• Use your customers to reach new customers

Word of mouth recommendations are so important for local wellness businesses. Whether that's a customer recommending your services to a friend, or a customer dragging their other half along to your fitness class, this is a tried and tested way to grow a business.

To boost your business, take control over word of mouth recommendations, customer testimonials, reviews etc. Incentivise customers to refer a friend and ask for testimonials and use them proactively in your marketing. More advice on getting and using customer testimonials can be found here.

If you run a health and wellbeing business in Whitehill & Bordon or surrounding areas, please come along to SiGNAL to see how we can support your business. Call or email to book a tour, or just turn up between 9am £" 5pm, Monday to Friday!