By Ajay Bangale (Financial Education Intern)
What do you want to achieve this year? More new customers per week? Higher average order amounts? Better customer service ratings? No matter what it is you are shooting for, goal setting to drive your business to the next level is one of the most important things that you will do in the New Year. Here are a few tips to help you get there.
Business growth is largely based on three factors: quality products, great customer service and the proper amount of marketing. If you know you have the quality products taken care of and you still aren't experiencing healthy growth then you need to take a serious look at your customer service trends and marketing methods.
A. Strengthen Customer Relationships
Build off of great relationships with your best customers and encourage them to let their friends know about your business. 80% of your business' income will come from just 20% of its customers, so keep your best customers satisfied. Use diligent record-keeping to track the products that are most popular with your customers. Offer customers more of what they want and get rid of excess. By properly tracking trends on both sales and expenses you will become a more able strategic decision maker.
B. Get Active Online
You can propel your business to the next level by utilizing social media at minimal cost to your business. For example, you can get a free web template and free hosting at several places online: www.yola.com , www.1and1.com, www.godaddy.com . You can also pay a small initial fee to buy a domain name with webnode and generally pay less than $10 a month for storage space.
Other ways of getting your business online are to create a profile at sites such as: www.onlinebizdirectory.com; www.yelp.com; www.citysearch.com (often divided by area and business sector), Facebook and Twitter. As you get more web savvy, you can even create a video about your business and post it on www.youtube.com
Rules of Thumb to Keep in Mind
While we have talked about customer relationships and social media, it is also important to remember some other basic rules of thumb when goal setting.
1. Write All Your Goals Down.
You may say to yourself on January 1, "I want to get 20 more new customers per week this year." A few months later you will be saying "Did I say I wanted 20 or 30?" Or more realistically, you will have forgotten that you even made that goal. If you have all of your goals written down you will be able to not only go back and check them, you will also be able to go down the list every few months to see how many you have fulfilled.
2. Assess Your Current Situation.
To set goals you have to know where you are at right now. Send out a survey to all of our customers to rate different aspects of your business. You can even send the survey to every customer after every order. This way you can keep track of how you are doing and if there is ever a hiccup you can fix it quickly. Don't assume anything. Always assess the current situation before setting a new goal.
With these tips in mind, it's time to sharpen your pencils, start calculating and decide how rapidly you want your business to grow.
Please take a moment this week to sit down and decide on your goals for the New Year. Even if it is past the New Year and even well into the year, it is never too late to set your goals for growing and improving your business.