Businesses always want the next year to be better than the past one. It doesn’t matter if you are selling Toyotas, tacos, term life insurance or even newspapers…you want the next year to be a greater success. So how do you do it?

If you are a restaurant, you might change up your menu. If you have served the same food for the past five years, people may begin taking your menu for granted. Shake it up a little bit. Drop some of the menu items that you rarely serve and add some new exciting items to your menu.

Business should also think about the market. Is your business open when people want to shop with you? Honestly, if I were in the food service industry, I would probably be open on Mondays since so many other restaurants are closed on that day. It’s not about convenience for me as the business…it’s about making money. You hate to see employees working on holidays, but I’ll bet you Walgreen’s does excellent sales on those days when everyone else is closed.

Check out your budgeting for the year. Does your business spend any money on advertising? A single small ad in the paper or an ad once a week on the radio doesn’t give you any return on your marketing investment unless it is a piece of magical advertising. If you want people to shop, dine or invest with you…you have to let those potential clients and customers know you are here.

If you are open at night, from the outside does your business look like it is open? Many owners and manager never really practice M.B.W.A. (Managing by Walking Around) after dark. Well, try it some time. Walk around the outside of your business to see if your sign is visible at night. Does your business look friendly after dark? Is your parking area well-lit at night? During the day, can people look through your windows to see what kind of business you have? There are some businesses in town that cover their windows with event flyers so much that a patron can’t see inside…and often many of those flyers are out-of-date.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t care to visit a dive unless their food is exceptional. There are things a business owner can do to show they have pride in their business, and hopefully the customers will be proud to spend money at those businesses that look nice. Think about it, how many times have you gone to a restaurant and the seat cushions or the bench seat material was ripped? We all have seen it. It makes you wonder if the business owner/manager has ever noticed the problem. Or how about when you call a business and it takes 3 to 4 minutes to listen to all the options of an automated phone attendant, just so you can push another button to leave a message. Admit it, you want to hang-up after the first couple of minutes. Mr. and Mrs. Business Owner/Manager…when was the last time you actually called you general telephone number to see how your phones are answered and how long it takes? Do it today!

There’s no doubt that the things discussed in this column are simple, every day, common-sense things to try.  If you would like some help coming up with ideas for your business, call the Chamber of Commerce office at 538-3785…or call the Small Business Development Center at 538-6320. Our offices may be able to share some great ideas and thoughts that will make your business more profitable in 2019. Let’s work smart to grow our businesses and grow our communities in 2019.