Spring is here, and with the first quarter in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to check up on how you’ve been doing with your business New Year’s resolutions. If you’re like most people, chances are you’ve already fallen behind on your 2019 goals. Almost a quarter of the population abandon their New Year’s resolutions, within a week, a University of Scranton study found. By the end of January, nearly half of New Year’s resolutions have fallen by the wayside.
If you don’t want to fall behind on achieving your goals this year, now is a great time to review your progress and regroup your resolve. Here are three types of common resolutions you may have fallen behind on, along with some tips for how to get back on track.
Increasing Your Marketing Activity
Increasing your revenue is a goal for most business owners, whether it’s New Year’s or any time of year. But there are only three reliable ways to increase your revenue:
- Increase the number of clients you attract through your marketing efforts.
- Increase the average amount each client spends per transaction.
- Increase your volume of repeat business.
If you’re not pursuing one of these actions, your chances of increasing your revenue are low.
The third of these methods, increasing your repeat business, can be one of the fastest ways to increase your marketing activity and your revenue. Consider whether there are any ways you can make a sales outreach to your existing or past customers. For instance, if you have a mailing list, you might send out an email announcement letting customers know about a new product line you’re selling, a sale you’re offering or something you have available that complements one of their prior purchases. Or you might reach out to customers who haven’t purchased from you in a while to see if you can reconnect with them.
Upgrading Your Technology
Another common business goal is increasing your efficiency so that you can boost your productivity while lowering your expenses. One of the easiest ways to do this is by upgrading your technology. For instance, a cloud-based accounting app such as QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks or Zoho Books can significantly reduce your bookkeeping work, allowing you to automatically enter sales and expense data into your books, while syncing your financial data with other apps such as tax preparation and inventory software. Software upgrades such as this can save you labor, time and money.
Technology hardware upgrades can also help your business. For instance, if you’re concerned about the security of your business, but you can’t afford an on-site security guard, a cost-efficient solution might be installing a wireless security system that can be remotely monitored through an app.
Improve Employee Engagement
With a low unemployment rate aggravating the skills gap, retaining talented employees by improving worker engagement is a priority for many businesses. One excellent way to boost employee engagement is to train and coach your workers, says the Society for Human Resource Management. The more your workers feel like you’re investing in their future, the more engaged they will be. For instance, a tuition reimbursement program or paid continued education can be a compelling incentive for workers who want to advance their careers at your company. If you lack the resources for this, another option is having workers within your company cross-train each other to expand their skill sets.
Another cost-efficient way to boost employee engagement is to publicly recognize worker achievements. This can be something as simple as mentioning an employee achievement in a newsletter, posting an employee of the month award on the bulletin board or giving a worker a free pair of tickets to express appreciation.
If you’ve fallen behind on your business resolutions for 2019, or if you’re not progressing as fast as you’d like, it’s not too late to accelerate your movement in the right direction. Making a marketing outreach to your customers, investing in a technological upgrade and taking steps to boost worker engagement are three simple ways to get the ball rolling toward achieving your business goals.
