It seems the message is everywhere this time of year, New Year - New You. Everyone seems to be telling you that now is the time to reinvent yourself. What if 2014 was a good year for you and your small business? As an example, we saw crazy growth for our small business inventory tool. So then should you still start fresh and make big, bold changes in 2015? Probably not. How do you know which direction to take in 2015? If you’ve been following our blog then you already know how to answer these questions. If you’re new to our site or have missed a few posts we’re going to provide some tips here to help you out.
- Process mapping. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Process mapping is the best way to clearly see what is working within your company and where the slowdowns and problem spots are. It’s much easier to devise a plan of action for improving your small business when you know which areas you need to focus on. Not only does process mapping make things clear to you, it can clarify issues for your employees as well. Process maps are a visual, shareable representation of your company’s inner workings.
- Technology. In 2014, we devoted a number of posts to discussing technology and how you can use it to grow your small business. Check out the link above to read the recap of our series. From there you’ll be able to find any previous posts that you’d like to review further to get more details. By now you should be harnessing the power of technology to help your small business compete with the big guys. Your employees should be working smarter and getting more done in less time. Your data should be stored in the cloud so that it is secure and accessible anytime from anywhere. Inventory management tasks should be handled by Stockpile. If you’ve been following our suggestions all along, you are ready to hit the ground running in 2015.
- Employee Retention. Hanging on to your employees will continue to be a big priority for 2015. Your employees are a valuable resources and in some cases they may even be your competitive advantage. You can’t afford to lose them. To review our suggestions for employee retention, check out our previous posts here and here.
- Customer Retention. Attracting new customers is great but you need to keep your current customers coming back. Hopefully you’ve tried some of our suggestions over the past year, both the technology and the in-store ideas. By now, you should have a good idea of what worked for your business and what didn’t. Start with what worked last year and look for ways to improve or change up that plan for this year. Don’t feel like you have to completely create a new plan. Take what is already working for you and look for ways to capitalize on it.
Yes, it’s a new year but that doesn’t mean that you have to reinvent your business. If we completely changed our small business inventory tool overnight, we'd most likely not be in business in any longer. That being said, incremental change is okay. So definitely look into eliminating any processes that didn’t provide the desired results last year but keep the ones that did pay off. Review your process map, use technology (like Stockpile) to work smarter and look for ways to keep your employees and your customers happy. If you follow this formula for success 2015 should be a very good year for your small business. Remember to keep checking back with us for more posts with tips and suggestions to help your small business succeed.
If 2014 wasn’t the year that you began using Stockpile as your small business inventory tool, now is definitely the time. Get started today!
