You’re in the midst of your fourth quarter. If not already, you should soon be preparing your business for 2014. In addition to creating budgets and plans, here are bold ideas that you should consider as you move into the New Year—ideas and concepts that could refocus your energies and help you have a banner year.
Think Different
The very best businesses are founded on the idea of doing something better. Consequently, they usually change the way everybody else is doing things, making the old way obsolete. This is what’s called “disruption.” For example, Dropbox™ almost made external hard drives obsolete—and that’s not all. The service also ended up creating a whole new market complete with competitors in the rapidly expanding cloud-storage niche.
You’re obviously not creating a completely new industry. Consider: What can you do to drastically differentiate yourself from the competition? Is there an additional service you can offer? Is there a way you can position yourself in your market that no one else has attempted? By thinking different and acting different, you set yourself apart from the rest and stand out to potential consumers.
Apply the 25% Rule
One way to think about your service, especially in a crowded market such as ours, is to think about how your service will compete. One of the easiest ways to do this is to employ what’s called the 25% rule. Your product or service should be able to do what competitors can do for your customers, only 25% faster or more efficiently.
How can you be faster or more efficient? Are your trucks neat, organized, and filled with every part needed to provide service so your techs aren’t wasting time? Are you answering your phones 24/7 and able to help homeowners immediately? Do you offer online booking? Are you offering weekend and after-hours appointments? If you can be just 25% faster and 25% easier to book with, you will find yourself—at a minimum—25% more successful in the New Year.
Be Prepared to Fail Fast
With the risk of incorporating a new idea is the risk of failure. But failure, too, can help you learn and improve a product or service. The key is to take the risk, and if you find failure, make changes immediately to get back on track. Even huge companies have learned the importance of failing fast in an effort to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation. Don’t let your business be any different.
Build a Strong Supportive Network
Business owners need a support system—you can benefit from a loyal group of friends and colleagues that can help you sustain by giving you feedback and offering constructive criticism. That’s the benefit of being in a group like SGI™. Make connections at your next Expo. Contact your Client Success Manager to help you find fellow members in your market. Network with other business owners outside of the organization—every city or town has them. Leverage other people’s experiences to help you become more successful!
Get Lean
The number of small businesses that fail every year is staggering. The reason they struggle is their inability to manage expenses. In your business, you should be reviewing your financials to see where you can rid yourself of dead money.
Are you buying too much product that’s not being used? Even better, is there a BuyMax® vendor that can help you save more money? Are you measuring your marketing efforts? If so, what return are you getting on each medium? There’s no point in throwing more money at an initiative that’s already getting a measureable return.
Look at your field employees’ performance numbers—are they maximizing every opportunity? What are their closing percentages? Is it a training issue—or do you have people that you should consider replacing? Business is tough and that means making tough decisions—even if it’s replacing people you like. You’re not doing them or yourself favors by not helping them move on to another opportunity.
Take these 5 ideas into consideration when planning for 2014. Maybe you’re employing several of these tactics already. Maybe you could benefit from incorporating one of them. Whatever your situation, create a plan for making changes in the upcoming year—set some goals and chase those goals. Every year you work on getting better and working smarter, you increase the probability of having a more successful and profitable year.