A new year brings with it the promise of a fresh start. As 2014 nears, why not take a moment to reflect on the lessons learned from the past year, and move forward with a new focus on success. With that in mind, here are a few tips to help keep small businesses focused on growth as we close out the year and move in to 2014:
Keep Customer Experience at the forefront of everything: Customer experience can be a key differentiator in your company’s brand promise. Keep in mind that your customer’s experience when interacting with your business is the memory left behind every time they use our products or interact with our sales and support staff. Therefore every customer touch point matters.
Pledge to finally put in place a process that ensures your customers have a positive experience during every interaction with your business. Ask for feedback from your customers about their experiences with your business and when you receive it, act upon it. This is another way of showing your customers that you listen to them and value their opinions.
Pledge to get the “bang for your technology buck:” Commit to fully using all of your technology solutions. So many busy small business owners do not fully utilize the technology investments they’ve made, despite the fact that doing so would likely save them a lot of time and drive efficiency. Make 2014 the year to become the master of your technology!
Start with keeping an organized inbox, continue with automating your accounting functions, and then clean up your contacts so they are complete and organized. From there, move on to mobile! A lot of the apps businesses use on laptops and desktops also have mobile applications (“apps”) that can make it easy for your salespeople in the field to complete a sale without having to call back to the office to check inventory or find out the last product ordered by a particular customer, saving time and money. Mobile payments allow in-the-field employees to complete sales on-the-spot. There are so many ways that technology can make your life easier once you take the time to fully embrace it and learn.
Commit to finding new customers: One of the most challenging tasks a business can have is developing new revenue streams and finding new customers. Indeed, a May 2013 survey conducted by Sage showed that demand is the number one driver behind hiring. Why not make 2014 the year you really grow your business?
A few common tools can help with this task. The first step is to develop new ways to market your business. Social media is a growing way for businesses to interact with current and prospective customers. Your customers and prospects are already on social media, which means you should be, too!
Collaborating and networking with peers is also a great way to share best practices and gain other perspectives about the way you are doing things. Find a professional group with which you have something in common and go from there.