I don't know about you but my business is completely different than it was just a few year's ago. I talk to a lot of people in a lot of different industries and it is a common theme that competition is more fierce than it's ever been and there are seemingly less people to sell our products and services to. It makes times like these incredibly challenging. This year rather than hope I can get by for another year I am going on the offensive to change how I run my business and how I compete in the marketplace. Maybe you're like me and for many years you could get by being a "nice guy" and someone who provided good (not great) customer service. If that still works for you, good luck but I am going to suggest that you ratchet up your efforts because if your business has been affected yet by more competitors and less customers I suspect it's only a matter of time.
Here are a few challenges that I have for myself. I hope they'll resonate with you and cause you to change your course in the New Year:
- How often do you talk to your best customers? Your most important vendors or suppliers? If they're not talking to you, who are they talking to that's trying to take your business away from you? Do you know what their goals are for the New Year?
- Are you focused on your company's needs or your customer's needs? Just because your a well run company doesn't mean that you're providing value to help meet customer's needs.
- While you're busy building in to your business, service or product are you equally focused on building up your co-workers and employees?
- Have you considered what you need to say "no" to this year so that you can say "yes" to the most important things that only you can do?
- Are you spending the majority of time working on areas of strength or trying to compensate for your weaknesses? There's a big difference in your performance and satisfaction on the job, depending on your answer.
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