10 Straightforward Ways to Improve Your Business for 2022

With December quickly coming to an end at MentorsOnline.Com we are planning for the New Year and setting our plans and goals for 2022. From all the work we have put into this we have distilled this list of 10 straightforward ways to improve your business for 2022:

1. Motivate Employees

“Treating employees benevolently shouldn’t be viewed as an added cost that cuts into profits, but as a powerful energizer that can grow the enterprise into something far greater than one leader could envision.”

Harold Schultz

You can’t improve your business if your employees aren’t on board. As business owners, to really improve our businesses in any capacity, we need to motivate and incentivize our employees to work smarter and with the greatest productivity.

Some easy and cost effective ways to do this are:

Recognise Good Work:

You could offer a bonus, paid days off or a gift in recognition of good work. At an absolute minimum make it a habit to always recognise good work verbally and in front of other team members to motivate and empower your entire workforce.

Make Work More Fun:

Don’t make work – all about work – all the time. Here are some easy ways to make work more fun:

• Have a games area – Motivate, encourage team interaction and regular breaks.
  • Dress up days – It doesn’t necessarily have to be full costumes, you could do crazy shirt days, pick something that ties into your team and company culture.
  • Social events – organise social events outside work.
  • Special days – organise events at work to celebrate easter, big race days, bring a dog to work.
  • Celebrate small wins – always find a way to celebrate the small wins with your team.

Get your team to brainstorm ideas with you so your activities and other ideas are fun for everyone.

Provide Flexibility:

Since COVID businesses offering flexible workplaces are becoming destinations of choice. Motivate your employees by offering flexible hours, remote work, and being understanding about personal and family commitments, appointments, and emergencies. Employees who receive and appreciate this flexibility will pay you back in quality of work, dedication, loyalty, and productivity.

Professional Development:

Encourage and offer training, coaching, and other professional development to your team members to build your people so they are best equipped to help you improve and build your business.

2. Stay on Trend

In today’s rapidly evolving and ultra competitive digital-first business world it is imperative that we stay up-to-date with trends and on the lookout for opportunities and threats that arise for all aspects of our business including:

• Your Ideal Client
• Your Market – globally and locally
• Technological advances
• Marketing strategies
• The economy

“In order to stay relevant, you have to stay open to new trends and keep educating yourself. You have to keep evolving.”

Natalie Massenet

3. Know Your Numbers

Few businesses have an accurate and efficient system in place so they have a good idea of the daily, weekly, and monthly numbers and financial trends taking place within their operations.

It is imperative for any business that wants to improve, succeed and grow to know their numbers across all areas of their operations, especially always keeping current on cash flow.

This may not be the most exciting item on our list but it is one of the most vital and one we should all aim to continuously improve.

4. Set Written Goals

The end of an old year or the start of a new one is a great time to start this area of improvement for your business. Planning and setting goals is essential to business improvement and from there business success.

Make the process of planning and establishing your business goals impactful by:

Writing Down Your Goals

People Who Write Down Their Goals Are 20% More Successful In Accomplishing Them Than Those Who Did Not – Prof. Gail Matthews, Dominican University of California

Forward Planning and Establishing Goals with Your Team

A study on Participants by Locke and Latham revealed that 90% Of People Perform Better With Relevant And Challenging Goals.

5. Nurture Your Email Nurture

Another vital area of our businesses that often gets overlooked, put on the backburner or patched over is Email Nurture.

There are 3 very big reasons why email nurture needs to be put in the spotlight and added to your business improvement list for 2022.

Email Nurture Increases Sales

According to Invesp, nurtured leads bring 50% more sales than non-nurtured ones.

Email Nurture Improves Marketing ROI

Email generates $42 for every $1 spent, which is an astounding 4,200% ROI, making it one of the most effective options available – Hubspot

Email Is Effective and Efficient at Nurturing Leads

Emails are super easy to automate making them one of the most effective and efficient ways to nurture leads.

31% of B2B marketers say email newsletters are the best way to nurture leads. – Content Marketing Institute

6. Build a Business Toolbox as You Go

A business toolbox can include:

• Business Plan
• Marketing Plan
• Financial Dashboards
• Employee Manual
• Overview and key details on your IT infrastructure
• Documentation of your business Process

I learned the big lessons of building your business toolbox As You Go, especially as it pertains to documenting your processes when I started my first business and wanted to go on vacation.

It took me two weeks with many long nights and weekend work just to bring my process documentation up-to-date, just to go on holidays, without the fear of the business imploding in my absence. I NEEDED that holiday by the time I was finished and had to spend the first few days just recovering from all the work I did to get there!

Doing it as you go, everytime to you develop a new process for your business will make the documentation so much better but it is also less labour intensive and stressful chipping away at it as you go.

Remember too, that process documentation today doesn’t have to be wordy documents describing each step, where relevant put together looms and zooms of your process to actually demonstrate the steps.

7. Don’t Leave Sales to Last

Every time I come across an article offering a numbered list of Business improvements with advice for Business Owners it has sales on them. EVERY TIME! Sales appears at least once and often several times to cover sales skills, sales process, sales strategy, or developing your sales presentation.

What this demonstrates is that as Business Owners we continue to put sales at the bottom of our must do lists.

The businesses that will come out on top in 2022 will be the ones that prioritise the development of their sales function and aim for best practice with their sales skills, sales process, sales strategy and their sales presentation.

In our last newsletter, we looked into the idea of Rethinking Your Sales Presentation Before Your Marketing Strategy which highlighted 4 competitive advantages of reviewing and redeveloping your sales presentation. Check it out to discover these advantages.

The article also explains that marketing can gain some great insights from your sales presentation along with listening to sales call recordings to reinject what they learn back into their marketing strategy to speak directly to your ideal client in their own language so they feel understood. Doing this will set you apart from your competition and make you stand out like a sore thumb (in a good way) to prospective buyers.

8. Make Professional Development A Priority

We have all heard about the changing workforce priorities since COVID particularly the desire for more flexibility and opportunity for growth outweighing money for a lot of employees these days.

In 2022 the businesses that can offer flexibility and opportunities for growth by offering good professional development to their employees are the ones that will be attracting and retaining the best talent in their sectors.

70% of employees would be somewhat likely to leave their current job to work for an organization known for investing in employee development and learning. – The Lorman Blog

If you really want to improve your business, your team is who is going to help you do that. You need to make sure they have the skills, tools, and strategies to take your business where you want it to go.

74% of surveyed employees feel they aren’t reaching full potential at work due to lack of development opportunities – The Lorman Blog

9. Enlist Help

I said this in a recent Live Training Session about 6 NOW Strategies to Avoid Owner Dependence, Burnout, and Overwhelm: “Just because you are the boss doesn’t mean you should have all the answers or that you can solve all the problems alone.”

You should enlist help if:

• You’re not sure about how to do something or the best strategy
• It’s is going to take you too long
• It’s too hard to figure out

In these circumstances look for the right mentors, advisors, and peer groups to advise and guide you. It will get you where you want to be a lot faster and usually more profitably if you enlist the right help.

Do this for yourself as a business owner and do it for all members of your team.

9. Be Your Best You

I left this one till last not because it is the lowest priority but because it is probably the most important and it’s the one I wanted to leave in your thoughts.

To be the best version of yourself, you need to put yourself first.

“If you want to have enough to give to others, you will need to take care of yourself first. A tree that refuses water and sunlight for itself can’t bear fruit for others.”

Emily Maroutian

Put yourself first and be the best version of yourself for you, your business, and everyone else:

• Take regular breaks during the work day encouraging your team to do so as well.
• Establish a daily routine to put yourself first that helps you to look after your physical and mental health and make it a daily habit and priority.
• Maintain Relationships as well as your business.
• Keep up with your own professional development. One great way is to read or listen to a podcast every day to improve your knowledge and expertise.
• Regularly do something for yourself i.e. a hobby, some pampering, an outing or outdoor activity.
• Know your limitations and enlist the help you need when you need it.
• If you’re not having fun and things are becoming a grind it is time to stop and reassess.
• Plan a getaway, holiday or vacation. Getting away helps restore batteries and reignite passion to improve your business.