If Christmas is a busy time for your business, then the week after and into January is likely quieter. Much of retail stills, as people retrench after the big spends on food and presents in the run up to Christmas Day, and hospitality sees a dip as the party season gives way to the season of diet and self improvement.
This makes it a good time to look back and look ahead, to crystallise your plans and ambitions for the new year. Today we’re taking a look at some different business ambitions so you can get the most constructive results out of this time of planning and the best out of your year ahead.
Opening New Premises
This is a popular (and very literal!) form of growth for your business, and a common ambition when people are setting their plans over the next year, five or ten. Its attractions are clear to see: a new location means new customers – you go to them and they repay that by coming to you and spending their money!
There are several things to be wary of here. Look at your finances. Any new expansion like this comes with upfront costs – new equipment, increased stock levels, fees for permits and leases, as well as paying for new staff and for new stock to be stored and shipped – and it takes time for a new location to stabilise its revenue and support itself. Make sure you’ve budgeted for this, and can support your new venture without risking your existing locations or compromising your business by taking on bad debts or obligations. This kind of expansion, perhaps more than any other, requires carefully planning and slow movement to avoid potentially fatal business damage.
Growth Without Expansion
All businesses are looking to grow – very few owners, at any size or business model would turn down more customers and revenue, if only for the stability that having a wider constituency through your doors brings – but not all businesses are necessarily placed to easily expand their premises, staff or inventory. The ideal is to surface your existing offering to new customers until you’re working at your optimal capacity.
This entails better, smarter, but not necessarily more expensive marketing. To get the maximum return on your marketing spend you’ll likely have to work with an agency. Modern digital marketing is a fine art, distilling your customers into different audiences and targeting them with precise keywords in exactly the right place to generate clicks and conversions – it’s an investment that’s well worth making!
If you’re struggling for ideas to propel your business forward in the new year it may be worth looking for a match in the many business growth consulting firms London is home to. These specialists help you translate diffuse aims and ideas into concrete business strategies you can put into action.
