New Year, new resolutions - same great people and service!

January is well underway, but it is not too late to adopt some last-minute resolutions.  As is custom at the beginning of each year business owners across the world will make resolutions (some of which will be adopted, some of which will go by the wayside) to improve themselves as well as their organisations. 

It is in this spirit that, here at Blue Box, we would share with you some of our resolutions for 2014.  All of these are designed to move our business forward and some are more challenging than others.

Join us throughout the year to see how we are getting along with implementing these.

See below our 10 New Years Resolutions for 2014;

1. Make the most of what we have got

We are going to get the best out of the technology that we deploy both in our office and with our customers.  We will use technology to save us and our customers time, money and effort.  We will be developing our mobile side too – as the majority of the business world works at least some of the time on mobile devices, we will update and improve our systems to ensure that we do too.  We will not be defeated by technology in 2014!

2.  We will become (even more) organised

We are all guilty of leaving things until the last minute, but this year we are going to be well organised.  This will include keeping an organised inbox, automating the majority of our accounting processes and then cleaning up our business contacts database (so they are complete and organised and accessible – see point 1, above).  Never again will we be burning the midnight oil to meet a deadline that we have known about for ages!

 3. Get closer to customers

 As we head into 2014, one of our key resolutions is to continue innovating the ways in which we engage with our customers. We view our customers in terms of relationships, not transactions, so it is critical that we are delivering value to them in every interaction, before and after the sale. We will use social media to help us to create and manage our online communities and strengthen our relationships (so be warned!).  Find us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook

4. Make customer service a priority

It's a fact: customer service can make or break your relationship with current and even future customers (see our previous blog article about poor customer service). Looking ahead to 2014, customer service should be a priority for every small business. We see small businesses taking advantage of the cloud to work smarter and make customers happier.  A recent survey showed that over 25% of small business owners would rather go to the dentist than pick up the phone and speak to a customer!  We will continue to promote customer service as a differentiator in our industry and we will champion the cause (so, again, be warned)

5. Focus our marketing efforts

In 2014, we plan to grow spending on marketing along with revenue. In the age of digital marketing, everything is now measurable, and marketing is more accountable than ever.  We will learn from any mistakes that we have made in the past and focus on what we know is successful.  We will look to develop all potential sales and marketing efforts in order to build a sustainable sales pipeline which will be maintained throughout the year.  We will not be scared to admit when something has not worked – instead we will move on – stronger for the experience.

6. Revamp social media strategy

 We (kind of) embraced social media more than ever in 2013 – we even included it in our sales and marketing strategy.  In 2014 we will take this further by embracing other social media platforms and ensuring that we get the very best return on our investment.

7. Be SEO- and data-savvy

In late 2013, Google began blocking keyword referral data in Google Analytics. Before, you used to be able to see which keywords users entered to bring them to your site and how many visitors came from each keyword.

As identity theft and cybersecurity dominate the headlines, this is Google's way of making sure consumers feel safe using Google products and platforms.

In 2014 we will use SEO to better understand our target markets and our customers target markets in order to create a better customer experience

8. Perform a security audit

We have been fortunate to have never had our security compromised, but if we did we are sure that we could contain and manage the situation.  This year we will test our plans and audit our processesto ensure that our confidence is not misguided!

 9. Delegate

We, like many others, are a small business where everyone pitches in and does what they can to serve our customers in the best way that we can.  We are probably all guilty of believing that it is easier to do something ourselves rather than delegating it to someone who has a more appropriate skill-set.  In 2014 we will challenge ourselves to ensure that each task is being carried out by the right person for the job – and if it is not, then it will be delegated!

10. Become (more) LEAN

We may be coming out of a recession – and we are still here, but we need to become a consultant to ourselves and learn to take our own medicine!  This means that we need to look at all of our internal processes and reduce any inefficiencies and remove any waste – helping us to become (an even better) lean, mean, customer driven machine!

All in all, we predict that 2014 will be an excellent year for business that will see us helping new and old customers alike – defining new levels of customer engagement and satisfaction

If you would like some help to implement your New Years Resolutions (or even if you wuld like some help defining what your resolutions should be) then don’t hesitate to contact us on 084 3289 3288 or by email at enquiries@blueboxconsultancy.com

We look forward to speaking to you soon