With 2014 coming to an end, it might soon be time for you to evaluate your current business strategy. Here are some key factors that you should definitely look at.
Am I Rich Yet?
Let’s start with the standard financial metrics. What were your revenues for 2014? Were you profitable? Are these results better than last year? This should give you a very quick view of how your business is doing. You can go even further and evaluate how sales were in terms of categories. From there, you might find that some categories are simply not worth the investment since they are unpopular and do not have high profit margins. On the other hand, you might find a gold mine. If you see that a category is very popular and has a high profit margin, you might want to try specializing in it.
What’s Happening with My Clients?
Having a growing customer base is key to a lot of businesses’ success. However, the cost of acquiring a new client can be very high.
In my opinion, businesses often overlook the importance of good customer service as a marketing tool. In many cases, the real product is you. This is especially true if you are a service provider. For example, any mechanic should potentially be able to fix my car. However, I will only go to a mechanic that was recommended to me by someone I trust. Therefore, his quality service leads to word-of-mouth advertisement (at no cost to him).
Similarly, offering excellent service will also help you develop long-lasting relationships with your clients. Never forget that keeping a client is much more cost effective than acquiring a new one. Do your best to let your customers know they are appreciated.
Am I Allocating My Resources Correctly?
Analyse your expenditures to better understand each investments’ payoff. Most people tend to look at marketing expenses, but there is so much more. Take location for instance. You might have thought that you needed to rent a spot in a very busy mall. Is the premium you paid leading to an increase in customers? If not, don’t invest so much in real estate and spend your money on something else that works.
Another important asset is time. You only have a finite amount of time to run a business. Make sure you are using your time efficiently in order to generate the most return on your investment. For instance, it might take you 2 hours a day to manage your appointments. In those two hours, you could have instead served 2 clients and made an extra 150 dollars. In this type of scenario, you might want to start using online appointment booking software to get those extra sales in and still be able to handle your schedule like a champ.
