Every business owner should want to protect their interests and ensure their company thrives in the new year. There are a million and one ways to achieve that goal, but sometimes we all need some expert advice. The suggestions below should help almost everyone to identify the right moves and begin to creating their strategy. As most people are aware, making a plan is the best way to guarantee you don’t overlook anything important. The last thing you want is to discover you missed something critical that causes issues later. So, put that coffee down for a couple of minutes and let us point you in the right direction.
Invest your profits
It’s often tempting to pay yourself a substantial bonus at the end of the year if you’ve made a profit. However, sometimes you need to hold the money back in case of emergencies. Also, it’s wise to invest some of the cash in helping improve your operation. With that in mind, you should refrain from handing out any large bonuses this Christmas. Reward your team for their efforts, but don’t become too generous. You can use that money to help fund better marketing attempts or expansion. You never know when an opportunity might present itself, and so you have to make sure your accounts are as healthy as possible.
Improve your promotional efforts
Promoting your company and advertising its products and services is essential. You’ve almost certainly done that for a long time already. Even so, there might be many new ways in which you can reach the right people. So, now is the time to perform some research and see how you could improve your results. Online marketing is simple and efficient in most instances. If you haven’t made a massive effort to dominate social media, that’s a good idea too. Just make sure you know how to use services like Google Adwords for the best results. Modern internet marketing platforms allow you to target people with ease.
Hire more staff
If you’re receiving more orders than ever before, now is a good time to hire more employees. The last thing you want to do is run your team into the ground. Sure, some of them might be willing to work lots of overtime, but everyone needs a break at some point. So long as you are confident that you have enough work, run and ad and start holding interviews as soon as possible. You probably won’t manage to secure any more permanent staff until after Christmas, but at least you will initiate the ball rolling. If you’re concerned about paying wages, you could always opt for temporary contracts. They allow you to employ people for a short time rather than permanently.
Fund employee training
Paying for staff training is another excellent way to ensure your business thrives in 2017. Maybe you’d like one of your team to learn accounting techniques so you can promote them? With many new projects on the horizon, perhaps you could assist someone in getting a PRINCE2 qualification. You are always going to need a responsible project manager for your firm. Also, experts at https://www.simplilearn.com/project-management/prince2-foundation-and-practitioner-certification-training say they achieve a 98.6% pass rate. That means if you choose a reliable training provider, you are almost guaranteed to see positive results.
Network with other business owners
Networking is often the key to success for most entrepreneurs. Like it or not, sometimes you have to work with other companies to secure your prosperity. While you won’t team up with any competitors, there are plenty of other entrepreneurs who could help. For example, you might own a brand that sells clothing or fashion items. If that’s the case, you could make a killing by joining forces with a popular high street retailer. You get the idea, right? You just need to find people who could assist you in boosting sales. Websites like LinkedIn are a good place to start, but you should also attend relevant conferences. That will make sure you have the opportunity to meet the right people.
Expand your operation
Expanding your service and trading in new territories is always a sensible move. There is potential for you to reach many more customers and clients if you’re smart. Just make sure you understand all the financial ins and outs before plowing ahead. The last thing you want to do is sell products to someone abroad only to discover you didn’t consider the import fees. If that happens, you could lose money on every sale. However, all the information you require is freely available online. So, there should be no excuse for making such a silly error. No matter what products or services you might supply, you could make a fortune if you dominated the global market.
Outsource wherever possible
Sometimes the process of employing more team members is far too costly. Also, there might be certain jobs within your company that are repetitive and time-consuming. If that’s the case, you should consider your options when it comes to outsourcing. Regardless of the task, some people are willing to perform it on your behalf. Many business owners find that outsourcing their customer service department is a valuable first step. Your customers expect a professional response when they make a complaint or raise an issue. Thankfully, some specialists will handle the entire process working from your script. So, the customer will never know they weren’t dealing with a member of your permanent staff. Also, it’s often cheaper to hand those roles over to outsiders. They won’t charge the Earth for their assistance.
Consider a business loan
If you haven’t got enough cash in the bank to pay for all these ideas at the moment, you should consider applying for a business loan. It says at https://www.sba.gov/loans-grants/see-what-sba-offers/sba-loan-programs that getting money from the government is always an option. Depending on your business model, you might find they offer you funding straight away. It all comes down to how prosperous your operation has been during the last few years. Of course, even new company bosses can get a loan if they satisfy the right criteria. So, make sure you research your options. You never know; an extra few thousand in the bank could make all the difference to your expansion plans.
Ask your customers for their opinions
Maybe you want to secure the prosperity of your business by keeping your customers happy? As we mentioned early, offering them the best service is your first step. However, you might want to go a little further than that, and questionnaires are a fantastic idea. Most people won’t have time to complete them. Even so, the small percentage who do could assist you in gaining a better insight into their perceptions. You might learn about new products they want you to stock. You might also discover and thus rectify some issues with your ordering and delivery process. At the end of the day, the best way to understand your company from a customer’s perspective is to ask them.
Modernize your website
Web design trends change around every six months. So, if you launched your website more than a year ago, it would benefit from some renovation work. Perhaps you could add a live chat option, so people don’t have to keep using their telephones? Maybe there is a new and better way of securing those online transactions? Whatever you think, a reputable web development agency will know how to realize your goals. Just find some local specialists, give them a call and arrange a meeting. Ask to see their portfolios, and it should be easy to work out if they have the required skills. With a bit of luck, you could have a new and improved site up and running in a matter of days.
Plan for the future
Future planning is essential for all business owners who want to keep their companies afloat. You should already know how your operation will progress during the next twelve months. However, now is the time to put pen to paper if you don’t. While you need to ensure you remain flexible, you also have to set some goals to achieve. Don’t stress too much if you don’t reach them on time, just try your hardest to move in the right direction. We all know that issues can arise at any time that alter our plans. Even so, you just need to keep moving forward.
With a bit of luck, you now have a good idea of how to protect your business and make it thrive in 2017. If you take some of the advice and suggestions from this page, you can’t go wrong. Just make sure you keep a close eye on the competition and any moves they might make in the new year. While you don’t want to copy them outright, replicating their actions is often wise. That is because they might have discovered some new information that you have overlooked. So, if your rival begins to offer next day delivery or something similar, you should aim to compete. Failure to do that could mean they steal the lion’s share of the market and leave you with no customers.
Good luck!
