Business Resolutions for 2013
Posted by Amy Clickner on December 12, 2012
As the year comes to an end, we often reflect on our accomplishments and challenges in the past twelve months and start thinking of resolutions for the upcoming year. While a lot of times people do this in their personal lives, this is a great time to do so for your business. Below is a list of some inexpensive business practices that are important to keep in mind in the New Year and I hope will help you improve overall productivity.
Social media still stressing you out? Well, one thing we know, it is not going anywhere anytime soon. Now is the time to embrace it! There are many sites offering webinars, groups, articles and more on the subject, start studying up. Mashable.com is a great site to help you keep up with trends in social media. If you are involved in social media, find out how you can get better and connect with more customers and peers. If you aren’t, start with Facebook and work your way to Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Four Square, Instagram, etc. (the list can go on). Social media really is one of the most inexpensive ways to reach your customers. If you’re not active, you’re missing out.
In a day with easy access to all products and services, customer service is more important than ever. Make sure you and your staff are constantly practicing excellent customer service. You may not have the most inexpensive product out there, but going above and beyond to assist a customer goes a long way. Just like social media being inexpensive, so is providing good customer service. Positive recommendations and referrals are the best advertising you can get; and even better, they are free. A couple good ways to encourage your staff to practice above and beyond customer service is starting an employee of the month program or frequent customer satisfaction surveying…reward those who excel!
We all know training new staff is time consuming, expensive and disruptive to your daily operations, so why not do all you can to retain the staff you have? Make sure you are hiring staff members that are excited about what you do and willing to learn and grow. From there, they can be coached to be their best. If they are not excited or engaged in the first place, chances are they won’t stay long. Once they’ve been hired, make sure they have the appropriate support and tools to do their job. And listen to their suggestions and ideas. You hired them for their expertise, use it. Finally, have fun! Participate in staff parties, fitness challenges, etc. Everyone can use a break from time to time and having some fun around the office can boost the morale of everyone.
Lastly, don’t let the internet kill your productively. It is easy to do, you get an email, click a link and next thing you know you’ve been browsing websites for an hour. Set a time to catch up on reading articles and checking social media each day. And do the same thing with your email. Check it a few times a day and disable the pop-ups that alert you when you receive an email. I think you’ll find you’re getting projects done more quickly and efficiently; those emails and websites will still be there when you’re done.
These are just a few small tips, but something to consider as you enter the New Year. Remember, just as we typically have an annual health physical, we should be doing the same with our business. Pull out those goals, strategic plans and budgets and review. Let the economic development staff at the LSCP do a quick “business checkup” with you to make sure your business is firing on all cylinders.
