Five Business Resolutions For 2008

Posted on December 31, 2007 
Filed Under Uncategorized

Fresh and rested, now is the best time of the year to look ahead and make plans to improve your business. The phone calls and deadlines are right around the corner, and pretty soon the day-to-day events of life are going to start driving themselves. So while you have a chance to think about it, what are your small business resolutions for 2008?

If you haven’t made any, consider these:

1. Find more and better allies. The fatal flaw of many small businesses is the owner’s psychological need for autonomy. The success of your business directly depends on the quality of your partners, friends, associates and long term customers. Work harder to win and keep better ones.

2. Learn better methods for tracking ROM (Return On Message). Is your marketing directly translating into revenue? Do you know, or are you working from assumption? Resolve this year to read more books on marketing statistics and to learn more about how to scientifically determine the success and failure rates of your marketing efforts.

3. Become more diligent at maintaining your contact list. If you’re not systematically tracking who you talk to during the year, you’re effectively starting your business over from scratch every time the sun comes up. Get a good contact database like ACT! and keep records of every phone call, letter mailing, prospect and sale. Once a name is in your database, resolve to stay in regular contact with that person for at least the next couple of years. (Book recommendation: The Referral Of A Lifetime, by Tim Templeton.)

4. Know thyself: contract, expand and contract again. A healthy business is not one in a constant growth phase, but one that steadily grows, contracts, and then grows again - each cycle forcing the business to eliminate waste and concentrate more fully on the most important aspects of its market and resources. Make that cycle your friend this year. (Book recommendation: The 80/20 Principle, by Richard Koch.)

5. Exploit technology to the fullest. Are you wringing every last ounce of power and usefulness out of your technology budget? Probably not. Resolve this year to improve your technology skills and to make the absolute best uses of your computers, USB sticks, Internet access, cell phones and other digital toys. A twenty-dollar investment in the right hands can easily transform into a healthy revenue boost as the year rolls on.

Happy New Year, everyone. Take 2008 by storm!

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