The New Year is a great opportunity to have a new start in your business. If you were thrilled to see 2018 come to a close, now is the time to build a plan to execute your best year ever in 2019. Instead of focusing on personal resolutions like losing weight or learning a foreign language, make a resolution to get on top of the things that are needlessly cost you time and money in your small business. Here are a few small business resolutions for the New Year to help you run a new and better business.
10 Small Business Resolutions for 2019
Want to accelerate your growth this year? Pick a few of these small business resolutions and get to work on them in 2019!
1. Review Your Numbers Monthly
Get on top of your accounting early. Do not be one of those business owners who scramble at the beginning of every year to get accounting done and taxes ready before the IRS’s March 15th deadline. Review your numbers by the 15th of every month, so that you understand how much profit is in every sale, and what you might need to adjust.
2. Leverage Technology Better
Learn how to use your apps and software so that you can stay on top of appointments and customer requests. The goal is to communicate effectively and avoid rework. Some of my favorites are Dropbox.com, Evernote.com, Mixmax.com, and Expensify.com.
3. Check Your Keywords and Hashtags
If you are using a content strategy to build your brand online, it is only as good as your keywords and hashtags so that people can follow the conversation. Keywords change over time, so one of your small business resolutions for 2019 should be to stay up to date on your target customer’s search habits and adjust accordingly.
4. Create Monthly Sales Goals
Annual sales goals are useless without monthly accountability. Develop your monthly sales goals and then develop your marketing action steps to accomplish your goals. If you need twenty sales per month, figure out how many phone calls, emails, blog posts, tweets, LinkedIn connections, videos or Facebook ads you need to post to generate enough leads per week to close your required sales. It’s a lot easier to manage your business cash flow and sales productivity with this kind of plan.
5. Upgrade Your Customer Experience
Managing and upgrading your customers’ experience should be on your list of small business resolutions for 2019. Survey your customers this year and retrain your team in customer service procedures. Think of at least three ways to boost your customer experience. Can you shorten your shipping time? Upgrade your packaging? Add more freebies with upsell products? Or create a loyalty program? Do a few things.
6. Start Mobile Marketing
There are a large number of adults who only access the internet from a cell phone. Are you building a mobile marketing list yet? I use mobit.com to gather mobile information when I’m connecting with new audiences on the road. Make sure your website is mobile friendly. If not, it’s time for an upgrade to your website.
7. Big Growth Boom
Stay on top of trends in your industry, and look for an opportunity to grow. Did you notice a potential opportunity with an existing customer that you could exploit this year? Is it time to go international? Are you going to create a new product or write a book this year? Is there a new niche you should pursue? Your big growth boom could be around the corner.
8. Create a New Giveaway to Build Your Facebook Fans
Social media is great for brand awareness and lead generation. Do you have some new awesome content that you can create, such a video series that is helpful, easy to follow and shows that you are invested in your target customer’s success? Give it away as a FREE download and redirect them to like your Facebook fan page. It’s the beginning of a relationship.
9. Review Your Analytics
Use your Google analytics to learn more about how effective your content is with your regular website visitors. What is your best social media referral source? What content do they visit the most? What is your bounce rate? Also look at the activity in your shopping cart and track conversions over time. Then use the information to generate the content that your target clients want.
10. Try One New Thing in Social Media
If you have spent the last year or so focusing on one social media platform, one of your small business resolutions should be to check your Google analytics to see if it’s working and add one more site or content type to your regular social media mix. Start a Facebook group or try out FB Live, start using Pinterest, post videos on Instagram, start using Alexa Flash Briefing, and remember that Youtube is still the #2 searched site online. These are great options to consider. Don’t be afraid to stop doing something too.
Got any other small business resolutions for 2019? Please share!
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