The beginning of a new calendar year is an excellent time to review last year and reflect on what worked, what didn’t, what you’d like to change and new things you want to implement.

Take the time to review the year and acknowledge all that has happened, good, bad or indifferent. Examining the year with an objective perspective can provide valuable insights to prepare for the coming business year. Planning and goal setting will help provide a focus for your business efforts.

Your Yearly Business Review

• • • What were the most significant impacts on your business in the last 12 months? How well did you meet the challenges?
    • What worked well last year? What systems, technology, products or services were successful?
    • What accomplishments can you celebrate?
    • What situation, event or experience provided the biggest learning opportunity?
    • What is the biggest challenge or frustration you face as you prepare for the year ahead?
    • What did you most enjoy during the year? Do more of it. What did you least enjoy? Do less of it!
    • Analyse your financial reports. Are you earning what you’d like to? Is the business sustainably profitable?

Get Ready for a Great Year

While there are many metrics you could evaluate to track business performance, we’ve given you just a few ideas to inspire your business planning for a positive start to the year.

If you’d like to chat about what you can do differently this year to enable your business to thrive, book a time with us today.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Being able to evolve over time is vital if you want your business to last. The market doesn’t stand still, so it’s important to diversify and to keep your offering fresh.

In this series, we’ll look at some key ways to optimize your business, exploring different avenues to evolve your enterprise and create a legacy you can be proud of.

We’ve got some suggestions on ways to diversify your business offering.

5 ways you can diversify as a small business

You may well have a product range and a customer base that’s ticking over nicely. But customer and market needs can change very quickly. Blockbuster, for example, had a huge international business, but the invention of on-demand movies killed that business in just a few years.

If you want to bake longevity into your business, it’s crucial to keep moving and reexamining the value that you bring to your audience.

Here are five potential strategies for diversifying your business:

1. Introduce new products or services

Expand your offerings by developing complementary products and/or services. This could mean bundling existing offerings, or creating entirely new lines to cater to existing and new customer needs.

2. Diversify into new sectors

It’s easy to get comfortable in your existing market niche. But you’ll find more opportunities by entering new, related or unrelated markets. This cuts your reliance on a single market, cutting down the risk of putting all your eggs in one basket. It also introduces your brand to a whole new customer audience.

3. Deepen your market penetration

Going deeper into your existing target market can reveal a whole new audience. Think about what you can add to make your offering more attractive. Put cross-selling and upselling strategies in place to increase the sales potential from existing and new customers and listen hard to customer feedback.

4. Expand into new territories

Having a new market to sell into is a great way to boost your sales opportunities. Find an international market that has a relevant customer demographic and tailor your products and services to this new foreign audience. Bear in mind though the compliance, customs and tax requirements of going international.

5. Form strategic partnerships

Your reach and revenue potential is greater when you collaborate with other businesses. Entering into a partnership helps you offer joint products or services, leverage your partner’s customer base, or explore new distribution channels. This could be a partner in your existing market, or in a complementary market.

Talk to us about diversifying your business offering

If your aim is to optimize your business, diversification is a real must. It introduces you to new sectors and audiences, increases your sales opportunities and reduces risk.

Talk to our team about ways to diversify your offering and add a new angle to your strategy.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Recent years have been demanding and exhausting for many business owners. Are you one of them?

The challenges have been relentless, and we know many small business owners have had to navigate unprecedented challenges first because of the pandemic and then from inflation and other market impacts.

Burnout results from long-term stress and can manifest in emotional and physical exhaustion, which may affect your enthusiasm for running the business you once loved.

So, What Can You Do About it?

We understand that as a business owner, you have many responsibilities, and often you do everything on your own. So we know how hard it can sometimes be to keep on top of all your legal obligations.

The most important step is to acknowledge you feel burned out and need a break.

Take a break as soon as you can. Plan ahead for time away from the business. However, while getting some rest in the short-term will help, long-term stress will take commitment to recover from.

Strategies to Help Recover from Burnout

What can you do differently to avoid prolonging or retriggering the burnout?

• • • Delegate – Look at the low-value tasks you spend time on and pay someone to do them for you. This will free up time and energy.
    • Re-energize – If you’re struggling with a lack of enthusiasm or purpose, talk to colleagues or a business coach for support. If possible, connect with people in the same industry so you can share among others who may be facing similar challenges.
    • Stand back – Take an objective look at how much you are working and how effective you are. For example, is it time to streamline your work activities and put boundaries around working hours?
    • Reassess your goals – Do you have clear business goals for the short-term and long-term? Either set some realistic goals or revise them if they are too difficult right now.
    • Commit to some regular self-care actions – Think about what you love doing outside your business that is nourishing. Regular exercise? Time in nature? Going on a retreat? Learning something for fun? Improving your diet? Get an app on your phone that reminds you to take mini breaks throughout each day. Whether that is movement, mindfulness or music, use technology to help.
    • Celebrate milestones and achievements – When overwhelmed with stress or exhaustion, it’s easy to forget the positives. Remind yourself of just how much you have done in the last year!

Need Some Support?

You’ll be better able to face challenges, run your business well and assist others if you are looking after yourself well.

We’d love to help support you back to passionate engagement with your business. If you’re feeling burned out and need help in managing systems, technology, payroll or other financial and administrative management, talk to us today, and we’ll back your recovery.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Customers are the true bedrock of your business.

Loyal customers become repeat buyers, spread word of your brand and provide a steady income stream of sales. But what can you do to build the very best relationships with your existing and future customers.

In this series, we’ll look at some keyways to optimize your business, exploring different avenues to evolve your enterprise and create a legacy you can be proud of.

Let’s take a look at some important ways to improve your customer relationships.

Getting to know your customers inside out

Customers want to know that you understand them. That you know their needs and tailor your products and services to make their lives easier.

The closer you can get to your customers, the better. That means getting to know your audience and doing everything you can to nurture the customer relationship, at each stage of the journey.

Here are five important ways to achieve this:

1. Improve your customer service

Make sure your customer service is second to none. Respond quickly to customer enquiries and aim to come back with a resolution, or the extra advice they need. Be welcoming, resourceful and effective with your customer support, so customers feel like they’ve had a positive experience from your brand.

2. Listen to customer feedback

You might think no-one knows your product better than you. But the reality is that it’s the customer that drives the evolution of your offering. Regularly ask customers for feedback and ideas for improving the product. Listen, pull out the action points and make sure you act on the feedback to create a better product.

3. Do your customer research

To meet the customer’s needs, it’s vital to know what drives them. Market research is a valuable tool, giving you both quantitative and qualitative data about the people who buy your products. By grasping your audience’s behaviors and motivators, you can tailor your product to their requirements.

4. Analyse your customer data

Research can also begin at home. With today’s cloud-based sales tools and customer research management (CRM) software, you have a huge goldmine of customer-related data you can analyze. Dive into the data to look for trends and patterns, areas for improvement and information on which product lines are selling (and which are tanking and failing to thrill your customers).

5. Get forensic with your targeting

Access to customer data makes it easier than ever to target highly specific customer groups. Online advertising helps you to zero in on specific age, location, income bracket and interest demographics. This helps you run highly tailored and focused marketing campaigns, increasing your chances of building relationships with the best customer groups.

Talk to us about ways to engage with your customers

If your aim is to optimize, grow and build a better business, having a solid customer base will be integral to this goal. Evolving your approach to customer relationships really is a must.

We’ll help you assess the sales, revenue and CRM data in your systems, so you get to know your customers like the back of your hand. Our team will also help you sketch out a strategic approach for nurturing your customer relationships and creating loyal advocates for your brand.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Keeping on top of your finances is a critical part of keeping your business on track. 

But are you doing everything you can to optimize your financial management?

In this series, we’ll look at some key ways to optimize your business, exploring different avenues to evolve your enterprise and create a legacy you can be proud of.

Let’s see how you can better control over your financial numbers.

1.  Having the right numbers at your fingertips

One of the biggest causes of business failure with new startups is poor cashflow and a lack of capital. Having enough money to cover your expenses, pay your workforce and invest in growth is what separates the successful businesses and those that fall by the wayside.

But what can you do to improve your cash position and keep yourself in the driving seat when it comes to managing the financial side of the business?

Here are five simple things you can to get more proactive with your finances:

2.  Embrace financial technology and cloud accounting

Make sure you’re using cloud-accounting solutions like Xero or QuickBooks, with integrated bank feeds, expense tracking, simple invoicing and a real-time view of your numbers. You can also use the advanced reporting features to get deep insights into financial performance. Use financial metrics and KPIs to monitor performance

Develop a framework of financial key performance indicators (KPIs) including gross profit margins, operating expenses, customer acquisition costs and revenue growth rates. By tracking these metrics, you can gauge your performance, spot any financial threats and make well-informed decisions about your financial management.

3.  Forecast your cashflow position and potential challenges

Use the latest cashflow forecasting tool to track your expected cash inflows and outflows. These projections give you an overview of your cash position for the months ahead, allowing you to top up your cash as required. It’s also sensible to build up some meaningful cash reserves, so you have capital behind you when cashflow gets tight.

4.  Work on your aged debt and debtor management

It’s important that customers pay on time and that your payment terms are clear. Use your accounting software to send out automated reminders and have structured follow-up procedures in place for overdue payments. It’s also a good idea to offer early payment incentives and to nurture strong customer relationships to minimize your aged debt and improve cashflow.

5.  Get strategic with your working capital and access to finance

Having a viable level of working capital in the business is a must. Explore the various financing options for boosting your capital. This can include business lines of credit, invoice financing or term loans to, all of which help to increase funding and raise the company’s capital.

Talk to us about ways to improve your digital transformation

There have never been more tools to help you manage your finances. By embracing the best in financial and accounting tools, you give yourself (and your finance team) the superpowers to become cashflow positive, with capital behind you to drive your business to new heights.

If you’re looking to upgrade your financial management, come and talk to us. Our team will suggest the ideal accounting tech stack and the best ways to control your numbers.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.