6 Tips for Ensuring a Successful Start to Your New Year

Taking the time to think about ways to start the New Year off right is never wasted effort. Each new year brings the promise of a brighter future for professionals willing to take stock and make a conscious effort to achieve greater business success, by either increasing revenues or decreasing costs. Below are six tips that will help you launch this year with new energy and positive changes.

1. Sit down with all employees and have an open and frank discussion about suggestions for increasing efficiency or revenues. Employees see things that owners and managers sometimes miss. This often untapped resource offers a wealth of valuable information. Meeting with employees to discuss ways the company can improve is good for employee morale and also a great way to obtain fabulous ideas to improve your bottom line.

   
   

2. Prepare cash flow projections for the new year. One of the major downfalls for many businesses are cash flow crises. In fact, this is how many businesses end up failing. By having a clear picture of the cash the business needs from month to month, management can plan ahead. One strategy that has proven to be a lifesaver to many is to obtain a line of credit while business is good, so that it will be available for the proverbial rainy day that most businesses experience at some point.

   
   

3. Get visual on social media sites to attract more attention. Research shows that photos, infographics, and video are the most shared data on the Internet. Since the purpose of social media for business purposes revolves around attracting prospective customers, then increasing the probability that your messages get noticed makes good sense.

   
   

4. Review the past year and decide what business strategies are working, and which need to be reconsidered. Proceeding into a new year with strategies that aren't working due to lack of analysis, or as the result of old habits, is a fool’s game! By evaluating marketing strategies, customer service results, and production efficiency, management can begin each new year with confidence they are maximizing the benefits of workable strategies and adopting new ideas in place of old, failed ones. Smart entrepreneurs recognize the constant need for ongoing analysis and business model adjustments to adapt to the changing business landscape.

   
   

5. Be sure that your company website is compatible for mobile screens (i.e. responsive). Trends indicate that increasingly people are using smartphones to conduct research for buying purposes. If a customer pulls up your corporate website, you want them to be able to navigate and read it easily.

   
   

6. Survey your customers. Offer a gift card or free products or services as a prize for the best innovative idea to improve your business. Getting customers involved in your business success achieves two positive goals. First, customer involvement breeds loyalty; second, customers can tell you what they want changed so they will be happier. By making this a contest of sorts, customers may take the survey more seriously and really think of some new ideas about how to improve your business.

   
   

Smart entrepreneurs recognize the need to make healthy changes to ensure continued success. Given the trial and error nature of running a successful business, it is important to anticipate industry trends and get a jump on the competition. Many businesses fail because managers, or owners, refuse to make necessary changes in order to adapt to shifting market conditions. An annual check-up incorporating the ideas listed above is a good way to be sure your business is positioned for future success.