The start of the year is the right time to create a roadmap for your business.  Here I would like to present 10 impactful new year resolutions that will be helpful to any business, no matter what industry.

1. Create a Holistic Digital Presence

A ‘digital presence’ simply refers to how your business appears online; it’s what people find when they search for your business or company on the internet.

There are several digital touchpoints that you must have a presence on. These include:

• Your website
• All social media sites (GlobalLinker, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Office or store locations (Google Maps, etc.)
• Business Listings
• Online Reviews (Google, Yelp, etc.)
• Digital Ads (Social ads, Google ads, Bing ads, etc)

All of these together form your holistic digital presence from where you can get leads. Be wherever your customers are. If your customers are on Youtube then your Youtube channel should be part of your holistic digital presence. 

Also read: 5 reasons your B2B business needs an ecommerce website

2. Have Clear Sales & Revenue Goals

Why is it important to have clear sales and revenue goals? Let’s try to understand this with a simple example: If I asked you to go from point A to B and if there were obstacles in between you will find a way to go over or around those obstacles and will reach point B. Without a clear target, when there is an obstacle, you will falter.

Here is a sample of how clear sales goals can be defined from the year to the daily level.

• Sales Goal for the Year: INR 1 Crore
• Average Order Value: INR 5000
• Transactions: 2000 (Average Order Value 5K)
• Transactions Per Month: 180 
• Transactions Per Day:  6 
• Daily Leads: 30 (at the rate of 20% conversion)

If have your goal in place, and you will be more likely to reach it reasonably. Motivational speaker Les Brown says, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”

3. Have a Clear Roadmap

A roadmap is defined as a strategic plan that defines a goal or desired outcome and includes the major steps or milestones needed to reach it.

The below table clearly indicates that in order to generate a certain number of leads you need to drive traffic to your website via emailers, social media, online advertising and other initiatives. 

For this you will need to create:

• Social Media Calendar (Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly)

• Emailer Calendar (Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly)

• Online Advertising (Monthly/Quarterly)

• SEO Calendar (Monthly/Quarterly)Social Media Calendar (Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly)

• Emailer Calendar (Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly)

• Online Advertising (Monthly/Quarterly)

• SEO Calendar (Monthly/Quarterly)

4. Network with Skill & Purpose

Networking has been defined as the exchange of information and ideas among people with a common profession or special interest.

How to network with skill and purpose?

• Build a Networking Plan:

• Who you will networking with?

• How many you will network with?

• Why should you network with them?

• Where will you network?

• How will you network?

• How will it benefit them?

• How will it benefit you?

• How do you plan to be in touch with them?
  
  

• Create standard communication material
  

• Dedicate time to networking

Also read: 5 easy ways to grow your business network on GlobalLinker

5. Improve Process Efficiency

Business process efficiency has been defined as the amount of effort or input required to produce the desired output.

How to make business processes more efficient?

1. Understand your existing process

2. Set business goals and KPIs

3. Redesign the process

4. Implement the improved process

5. Monitor, measure, and optimise the new process

6. Strengthen Customer Relationships

Customer relationship is defined as the relationship a business has with its customer. Also includes the methods a company uses to engage with its customers and improve the customer experience.

How to Improve Customer Relationships?

• Be easily accessible

• Get to know customers

• Be timely in response

• Communicate regularly

• Actively seek feedback

• Sincerely work on resolving issues/challenges/grievances

• Reward customers

• Thank your clients

7. Harness Full Potential of Human Capital

The term human capital refers to the economic value of a worker's experience and skills. Simply put how skilled your workforce is.

How to improve Human Capital?

• Consider Human Capital improvement as an important task

• Understand the skill and education requirement

• Provide education or skill training

• Create a work culture that encourages creativity

• Provide ongoing coaching/counseling

• Work on improving the health of your workforce

8. Constant Improvement of Content

Content is pretty much anything which is there on your digital properties, such as website, social media channels, directory listings, email communication etc. And it consists of text, photo, graphic, videos etc.

Why it is important to improve content?

Your digital content will define, how the world will interpret your information and the impression they will form about your business. 

• Better engagement with audience (Traffic)

• Better traction on social media

• Better credibility

• Generate more and better leads

• Business will become more visible thanks to SEO

• Position your company as an authority in your industry

• Build brand awareness

• Cultivate loyalty

• Save money on marketing effort

How to improve the quality of content?

• Use AI and Tools 

• Know your audience

• Know your industry/category

• Create the content the way you speak

• Use examples/anecdote

• User visuals (images & videos)

• Format properly

• Edit and proofread

• Do an SEO review of content

Also read: Power of content: How to generate traffic to your eStore using content

9. Actively Seek Automation Opportunities

Automation implies utilising technology to reduce human intervention in processes.

How does Automation help your business?

• Improved efficiency

• Reduce manual error

• Improve productivity

• Reduce cost

• Gain data-led insight

• Scalability

Easy to implement examples of Automation:

• Website with Online Ordering Facility

• B2B Digital Supply Chain

• Digital Quotation Generation Feature

• Calendly

Also read: Why is supply chain digitisation a must for your business?

10. Work on Lowering Your Costs

How to Reduce Cost of a Business Process?

• Understand your existing process

• Identify the cost at each stage of the process

• Understand how to reduce cost incurred at a stage

• Increase output

• Reduce cost

• Implement the change

• Monitor, measure, and optimise 

To explore business opportunities, link with me by clicking on the 'Connect' button on my eBiz Card.

I recently conducted a webinar on ‘10 New Year Resolutions Every Business Needs in 2023’. Watch the highlights of the webinar below.

Image source: Canva

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, official policy or position of GlobalLinker.