With the Christmas trading period and 2024 now a distant memory, the focus shifts to the year ahead. This month, we explore five New Year’s Resolutions to consider to give your business a starting boost to 2025.
1 – Be Positive
It’s a challenging market out there. The cost-of-living crisis is squeezing disposable incomes and consumers are looking for the best deal where there can. Other industry challenges, from inflation to energy costs, present particular problems and can lead to many grumbles and becoming disheartened. However, the trick is to try and stay positive. Create an environment where customers enjoy being in your store or engaging with your business (could be over the phone or online). Filter this positive energy and mindset to your staff too. Try to leave problems at the door and enter your workplace in a positive mindset each day. This will have a wider impact on morale.
Celebrate every win! When your business closes a sale, make sure the staff know about it – be positive and congratulate and encourage, while also go the extra mile for the customer. They will remember it and more than likely pass on the positive experience to whoever they talk to. Keeping the place buzzing with ideas, and keep the mood high. If people are struggling, talk to them, engage and make them feel heard. There are positives to take even when it looks bleak, and focusing on these positives will build more and naturally provide the best customer experience possible.
2 – Service with a Smile
Linking in with the positive mindset, make customer service a key priority in 2025. You may already offer such a service – and that’s brilliant, but there is always room for some improvement. Ask yourself, when was the last time you were blown away by the customer service you received in any store? Why not explore what other shops are doing and see how it can relate to your business? This could be great for fresh ideas. The most important thing to remember is to always welcome every customer with a genuine smile so that their first impression is a positive one. Find out about their reasons for visiting and try to make it personal. Go the extra-mile where you can and always thank them when leaving. Small gestures always go a long way.
3 – Delegate and Give Back
Two points here. Firstly, learn to delegate tasks to team members or outsource them to avoid overworking yourself. This also helps build trust within the business and allows your staff to grow in confidence and skillset. Secondly, give back to the community or charity. Have you thought about supporting an organization in your area to boost goodwill for your business? There are always plenty of opportunities to give back, whether its through raising money through events, hosting one-off in-store experiences, or partnering with other independent businesses.
4 – Visit Events
With events in mind, the UK offers plenty of industry shows to attend throughout the year. Kicking off the New Year is the January Furniture Show and the INDX Furniture Show, with both events serving up fresh products and insight for the year the ahead. It offers a great launch pad into a new year, while also providing great networking opportunities too. Meeting fellow industry people, sharing ideas and discussing challenges can help with your own plans, while also potentially being a catalyst for something new you may not have thought about. There may seem like a lot of shows in the calendar throughout the year, so it’s important to earmark those that are worth your time and money to visit. While you are attending events, be proactive and arrange meetings with key clients, but also remain some flexibility for that product that catches your eye you weren’t expecting to find.
5 – Sustainability
Adopting and adapting to become a more sustainable business is so important in today’s landscape. Not only does implementing sustainable practices boost the green credentials of your business activities, but it also offers a commercial advantage where customers are looking for greener alternatives. Examine and evaluate what your business is doing in terms of sustainability and how you can improve this further. This could be through offering more sustainable-focused products on the shop-floor to cleaning up business operations with an eco-mindset. Think about logistics, waste, recycling, lighting and energy. How can your business improve in these areas? Then when you hit a sustainability-target – shout about it so your customers know too. It’s a great source of marketing that is on topic, hits hard and shows others you’re working hard to become a greener business.
In summary, New Year’s Resolutions are a great way to reflect on the past year and work towards some goals for the year ahead. What New Year’s Resolutions has your company committed to for 2025?