A business meeting with people passing papers over a table

5 Things to do for Your Business Before the New Year

To prepare your business for the coming year you need to create a road map. Take some time out of your day to bring focus to what has been accomplished, what needs to be incorporated into your habits, and how you plan to accomplish the day-to-day activity to make it happen. Here are 5 areas to focus on:

 

1. Step Back – Review

Set aside thirty minutes to look back on the year. Ask yourself: What did I do right? What did I do wrong? Many times, we think about where we went wrong vs. what we’ve done successfully. Think about ways to modify or to simplify the previous system. For example, if the first thing you do when you wake up is check your email and you notice that it takes 30 minutes of your morning from you, change your system to spend the morning getting ready, having breakfast and watching the news. Save the email for 8:30am when you step into the office.

 

2. Build Your Marketing Plan

Take an hour and develop your marketing plan for the upcoming year. Gather the marketing tools and avenues you’ve used the previous year and review what worked and what did not. Search out the most cost effective options for your branding as well as immediate strategies for each month, quarter, and year. Make sure you are looking at factors such as initial investment, lead generation, ROI and total number of sales generated.

 

3. Thank Your Customers

Hunting and Farming. While your goal for the coming year is to gain new sales, you need to maintain your current customers. Take this time to show them how much you appreciate their continued support. Send a hand-written card, a small gift, or a discount of future goods/services.

 

4. Spruce Up Your Website

The internet is the largest resource today for investigating businesses, services and product. Having an up-to-date website is extremely important to show the industry you are live and active. You can update the look and feel to reflect your businesses current status, or add in the latest links for search engine optimization. Adding a blog to your website, or a page for reviews is helpful. Research competitors to see what they are doing and brain storm new ways to lead your industry.  Whatever it may be, give your website the attention it deserves.

 

5. Set New Goals (and create deadlines)

Planning is everything. Think ahead to what you want your business to accomplish in 2017 and map out a plan. Sit down and strategically plan for how, and when to reach each specific goal. Break down your goals between the immediate, long-term, and overall. Once you have that down, separate each goal and write out the daily, weekly, and monthly tasks you must complete to reach these goals. Check out this quick 4-minute video on setting goals for your business: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzx3qhEgyZQ

 

No matter how fresh or seasoned your business is these are 5 steps every business should take to prepare for a new business year. Make 2017 a year of growth!