New Year’s Resolutions for Small Business

0
94

Share on LinkedIn

The curtains have fallen on 2015; and a new and bright 2016 has showed up its face
But are you still stuck up in the last year, thinking what all you could have changed?

New Year brings the perfect opportunity to re-commit ourselves to be better. But while every individual limits its New Year’s resolutions to just diet and gym, the real wise ones go one step further and do the same for their business too.

In experts’ opinion, small business owners are the ones who should be right on their toes during this phase of the year. Exhaustive thinking at this time can help them create a plan of attack and stay on track.

Now while small business new year’s resolutions can be limitless – here are 6 best ones to help you get started.

1. Make goal setting a team affair

”I am the owner of the business, my hard-earned money is invested in it and I am the one who will have to take all the risk. So goal setting should be entirely my call” – This is exactly how every small business owner thinks. (Unfortunately).

Because even though you are the owner with maximum stake involved, your employees hold a significant right over your business too. They spend their time, effort, and energy on your business through out the year. Wouldn’t it be ideal to involve them in your goal-setting process?

Imagine how important and valued will you make them feel? It will be the perfect and easiest way of 100% employee engagement. Plus, you will benefit by getting some great business ideas that might not have come to your mind. So the more, the merrier!

2. Set regular reminders of the goals

Have you ever set a goal only to remember about it at year end? Or has it ever happened that your team has forgotten about the new year goal in the next meeting itself?

Well, conducting a fancy New Year goal planning session is of no use, unless proper reminder measures are put to place. That means, once goals are created, ensure that you have some mechanism in place that keeps everyone (including you) reminded of the new year’s resolutions. But while there are dozen ways to do this, be careful of the technique you choose. Under no circumstances should it look like micro-management or nagging. Rather the act of reminding should be such that it seems an encouragement to all.

3. Get organized

Before you start with your work for 2016, throw the clutter out of the window. But wait a moment – throwing the clutter does not means only removing the unnecessary stuff. It means better organization of your business data. And just in case you think that organizing data means buying new file cabinets – think again!

In a time when the most advanced businesses are using online CRM solutions to store the customer data, do you still want to stick to the old style of piles of papers, notebooks and sticky notes?

Preferably with a minor investment, you can have your business powered with a CRM software that streamlines and stores all your customer data in one centralized repository, which is accessible from any location and time on any internet-enabled device. Think of the benefits, now.

4. Improve your time-management skills

Now while this is literally on everybody’s to-do list every year, very few manage to pull it off. That is because, there lies a big loop between planning and execution. So while every business owner knows what it needs to do, very few actually know how to do it.

This year – make the change and tick off this resolution, right at the beginning. How? By laying your hands on a new-age cloud CRM with strong automation capabilities. With this power by your side, you will be saved from wasting your hours at those administrative behind-the-scenes work. You will get enabled to efficiently and effectively spend your working hours and also extract time for the leisurely activities you love doing.

5. Set an example

A business expert got quoted saying – ”How can you expect your team to be polite to your customers when they have never seen you doing it? ”

In any business, across any stream, team always looks up to its boss. It watches the owner and emulates the same mannerisms in work. Now the question is: whether your behaviors are the ones you want your team to practice? The best way to find out is by looking at the way your team works.

If you like what you see, great! If not, then it’s time that you look into the mirror, reflect upon yourself and identify the areas of improvement. Work upon your attitude, work habits, and customer approach and come across as a new, improved and better BOSS.

6. Make stronger connections with your customers

Business people need to have a positive relationship with their customers. But it can take a backseat when life gets busy. However, this somewhere leads to slow customer attrition. Why? Simply, because customers do not want to remain associated with your brand if you are ungrateful. So promise yourself that you will make it a habit to reach out to your customers and acknowledge them for their contribution. Of course, you do not have to say thanks to them every day. Keep in touch with customers through emails. Set a reminder on your calendar to send brief casual emails to them, on regular intervals.

Final Thoughts

Like many New Year’s resolutions, this list may seem a bit daunting. However, the effort involved is worth it. Because all these new year’s resolutions, when put into practice, will show a marked difference in your business productivity.

Manash Chaudhuri
Manash Chaudhuri is a co-founder of ConvergeHub, headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. Holding more than 19 years of experience in Operations, Sales and Project Management, his company's CRM product has been positioned as the #1 Easiest Converged CRM for SMB and has been successively nominated twice in CRM Idol competition.

ADD YOUR COMMENT

Please use comments to add value to the discussion. Maximum one link to an educational blog post or article. We will NOT PUBLISH brief comments like "good post," comments that mainly promote links, or comments with links to companies, products, or services.

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here