Learn the Top resolutions for Small Businesses with ConvergeHub. If you own a small business, now is the time to reflect on the year gone by, and plan how you want the next year to be for your business. In this blog, we take the viewpoints of John Laforet (Principal at Broadview Strategy Group, a communications firm) on New Year Resolutions for small businesses.
Paraphrased from his latest write-up on Huffington Post – let’s read what he points out as four meaningful New Year resolutions for the small businesses:
Reflecting on the performance of the business is important but along with that reflecting upon the contributions of the employees holds equal significance. By doing this, you get a clear picture of how your employees have helped shape your company’s success in the present year. You exactly come to terms with your team’s strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and opportunities that allow you to hone their skills and give greater value to you.
For instance, when you understand the exact capability of your employees, you can easily pose them with more suitable responsibilities and shift aspects of their roles to more appropriate areas. Steps of this nature improve workflow and address areas of the business that are ‘owner dependent’. Most importantly, it strengthens the capabilities of your team members and supports their growth within the company.
In view of the fact that B2B businesses have client relationships that are deeper and long term – it’s important to focus on client acquisition strategy. However majority of the B2B businesses do not focus on it and resultant of which they do not have a clear power balance in their customers. Either they have:
Both the cases are bad and it’s imperative for businesses to gain balance in the customer-ROI ratio.
Overall, John emphasizes upon four key questions in relation to client acquisition:
Further, he suggests that clients should not be selected solely on the monetary value but also in consideration of their characteristics, i.e. whether their traits suit the business profile or not.
Determining the business goal for the upcoming year puts the owners on a better position. They precisely know what initiatives and actions need to get implemented in accomplishing them.
John comments – some businesses can be keen on growing, while others focused on maintaining current levels of business activity – irrespective of what the goals might be what’s important is that entrepreneurs make decisions about their business direction during this time.
Planning the business direction is not an uphill task it as it seems to be. Businesses just need to diligently answer a few key queries. For instance,
Lastly John mentions about the noble thought of giving back. Achieving profits throughout the year, it seems prudent to give a share back to the society. And what better way than indulging in some charitable work that benefits the people at large. So whether it is setting up a charitable foundation or donating at local food banks – the focus should be one which is to help the public.
