Written by The end of the year is the perfect time to reflect on the progress of your small business over the past year and to start planning your objectives for 2020. Do you want to attract more customers? Are you looking to target a new area? Perhaps you have some new services or products in the pipeline. Well, now is the ideal time to get planning and to tell the world about it.
In this article, we’ll take a look at 9 new year’s resolutions you can put to work right away so that 2020 becomes your best year yet!
1. Give Your Customer Service a Tune-Up
No matter how good your customer service, there is always room for improvement. Look back over 2019. Was there any feedback from customers that could help you to improve? Perhaps you need to call customers back faster or offer a way for them to book your services online? Maybe you can offer customers a loyalty program that provides a discount on your products or services.
2. Give Something Back to the Community
Making a positive difference within your community is a great way to boost your company image. The season of goodwill doesn’t start and end with Christmas. Choose a cause or organization that matters to you and give what you can throughout the year, whether through being a mentor or making regular donations.
3. Be Sure to Set Realistic Goals
Whatever your plans for the next year, setting yourself realistic and achievable goals will help to ensure you are successful in your efforts. Unrealistic plans may be too far out of your reach for now and could lead to frustration and failure.
4. Meet Your Customers in Person
In a world where customers can book services and buy products without leaving the comfort of their own home, it can mean businesses are becoming more and more faceless. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Where possible, aim to meet your customers in person. From delivering products personally now and again to inviting customers to visit your business for a tour, face-to-face communication is one of the best ways to build rapport and trust.
5. Don’t Just Make Do. Invest in the New.
Is there a piece of machinery or equipment that is slowing down your business or making life harder? Perhaps you have a truck that is costing you in regular repair bills or maybe you have office equipment or software that is old and inefficient. Don’t just make do. Investing in new assets will help you to offer the best possible service to your customers and ensure smooth operations across your business.
6. If it’s Broke, Fix it
Not all products are destined to be super-sellers and not all sales methods are going to work for all of your customers all of the time. Regular reviews of your operations, products, and services will help you to drop what isn’t working and repeat what is. Keep moving and evolving wherever you can.
7. Experiment with New Tools and Software
A new year is a great time to try out some new tools. For example, if you’ve had your eye on that chatbot software or a field service management system for a while, now is the perfect time to explore these ideas further. And if you are worried about upfront costs, don’t be. Many of these solutions are available with no upfront costs and come in the form of affordable monthly packages that reduce risk and allow better control of business capital.
8. Delegate More, Get More Done
When you are running a business, there are so many things to think about: marketing, accounting, managing staff, ensuring great customer service, designing new services and products. The list goes on and on. Somewhere in the mix, you also need to have some downtime. This year, think more about delegating more and getting more done. Whether you outsource your digital marketing, invest in scheduling software or hire a digital marketing company, delegation is the key to a healthy work-life balance. What’s more, you’ll have more time to focus on your core business and making sure everything runs like clockwork.
9. Get Feedback From Customers
The end of the year is a great time to reflect on your business and also a great time to ask customers to reflect on the service they have received throughout the year. You can do this by creating an online survey that can be sent out to your mailing lists. Give your customers an incentive for completing the survey such as being entered into a prize draw. The feedback you receive can help you to pinpoint areas of improvement that you may otherwise not have thought about.
10. Celebrate Your Successes
In addition to reflecting on areas you can improve, look back on the things you got right in 2019. Celebrate these successes so that your customers can read all about them and learn more about your business. From writing a “year in review” blog post to setting up a fun employee awards ceremony and publicizing it, there are many ways you can play on the positives and ensure you repeat them in the new year.
Here’s to a Great New Year in Business
Whatever your plans and goals for 2020, there are many small improvements you can make and steps you can take to turn your dreams into reality. If you apply some of these new year’s resolutions across your business throughout the year, you’ll experience the success you deserve and find ways to repeat that success year after year.
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Last modified: January 9, 2020
