The feedback I receive from clients is that 2024 has been a very challenging year for business and the prospect for 2025 does not fair much better.
Business owners who have been trading for many years have had to overcome great challenges, either being personal or economic. It is therefore understandable with all that is currently going on in the world that predictions for 2025 do seem rather concerning.
But we must carry on regardless.
How do I plan my business development?
Personally, I spend the early part of the Autumn planning how I am going to development my business for the new year, using the downtime over the Christmas period to recharge myself and finalise my plans, so I am hitting the ground running come January 1st.
It goes without saying that if our businesses are not achieving what we aimed for when we started out, something must change!
So, the key to Business Development is FOCUS!
Consider how much time we spend working IN our businesses and the amount of time we spend ON working on our businesses?
What does my business development look like?
My first duty of the day was to spend the first 15 minutes reviewing my emails. I decided to make this my second duty of the day and to spend the first 15 minutes coming up with one or two ways that I could develop my business.
My first port of call was considering what was working and what was not working:
- Out of the services I am offering which generates the highest turnover and profitability and which generates the lowest?
- How much of my time is spent on these services?
- Considering my lowest achieving services how can I improve the service levels or is it something I should discontinue?
- Considering my highest achieving services, why are these services performing well? Can I improve these?
- And then most importantly, what service could I introduce that would add to and enhance my services package overall?
Make sure you revisit and review your original business plan
Of course, as human beings we are averse to change, but our businesses are their own separate entity and to survive we must roll with the times and supply what is now relevant.
It also may be beneficial to revisit the original business plan that was conceived prior to commencing the business and review the SWOT analysis:
STRENGTHS – WEAKNESS – OPPORTUNITITES – THREATS
Are these still relevant today?
This is such an important question to ask yourself. Regularly reviewing your business plan is essential for keeping your business aligned with current goals, market conditions, and growth opportunities. A SWOT analysis can be a useful tool for this. As the market evolves, so do customer preferences, industry trends, and potential risks. You can identify these changes and adapt where you need to. Ultimately, regularly updating your business plan keeps your business agile, competitive, and positioned for sustainable growth.
The most important thing though to consider is FOCUS!
Don`t wait for the opportunity to arise, go out and grab it!
How can Tandem help with your business development?
If you would like to find out more about Business Development and how we at Tandem Business Solutions can assist you please click on the BOOK A CALL button at the top of our website for a Discovery Call.