Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a fun and safe holiday.  Here we are…starting off 2008.  We’ve all made resolutions- some personal, some professional.  Setting goals is a good thing; however, we need to be SMART when setting them (many of you have probably heard of SMART goals; SMART is a goal-setting acronym, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant and Time-based goals).  Another easy way we talk about setting goals inside of HP is the following formula:

Noun + Verb + Date = Results

I picked up my local paper after the new year and read Rhonda Abrams’ column titled “Resolutions for Small Businesses” (she is the president of The Planning Shop, a publisher of books for entrepreneurs- our paper features her once a week).  She had a good list of twelve resolutions for small businesses but a handful of them stood out to me in particular:

*Evaluate what you did right

*Treat your employees right

*Increase your efforts with best customers

*Market, Market, Market

*Keep Learning

Evaluating what you did right and treating your employees right are two things you can do to really set a positive stage for the year.  Employees are the backbone of a business’ success.  You can have a great product or service but if employees don’t like what they do, if they are treated poorly or if good employees aren’t retained, you will have a challenge growing your business.  Good employees are a key asset to success.  Also, evaluating what you did right in your business and continuing to do those things well as you improve other areas is important.

Increasing your efforts with your best customers is an area not everyone thinks about very often.   We’ve all heard the research that getting a new customer costs 8 times more than retaining an existing one.  If you foster the relationship you have with existing customers, you build customer loyalty.  The higher the loyalty, the harder it is for that customer to switch and go somewhere else.  Also, loyal customers will often provide you a chance to sell them other products and services. 

Based on what we’ve heard from you and research we’ve seen, Rhonda is right on by telling businesses to “market, market, market.”  Being able to effectively market your business is critical to your success.  There are so many opportunities to market your business that range in price and complexity.  In this economy, you may have to get creative on how to market to your customers.  Most importantly, every time a customer or potential customer sees or hears about your company, you need to convey your brand identity.  There are multiple in-house marketing solutions from HP that can help you along this continuum- whether you are just starting out and need your logo and business cards created or you are ready to create new marketing brochures.

Finally, a focus to keep learning is a mantra I try to live by every day.  We all have to keep up with market trends, industry trends, and other areas that impact both our professional and personal lives.  Rhonda had a great quote in the article: “Your brain is your most important business asset.  Add to it.” 

As a small business, what are your resolutions for 2008? Does this list of resolutions apply to you?  What other ones would you add?

Lastly, I have to apologize.  I did not plan to take such a long break over the holidays from writing for this community!  Well, I wasn’t on holiday this whole time…just got a little consumed with work since January 1^st.  I promise to get back in the saddle to bring you relevant content. Please remember to share your thoughts with me about what else you’d like to discuss.

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